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Episode 8: Certification – Labels, labels everywhere: To certify, or not to certify?
Sponsored by Lemongrass
Holly and Richard discuss certification, what it is, whether there are too many labels, and whether it’s worth the investment with expert guests Rochelle Turner, Head of Impact EMEA, Intrepid Travel and Kees Jan Boonen, Head of Policy and Government Affairs, Travalyst.
In this episode, we unpack:
How EU regulation will soon impact all travel certifications
Whether certification is worth the investment, and whether they are affordable for SMEs
The pros and cons of certification
How the industry could make the certification landscape easier for consumers to navigate
What’s next for the industry and certifications
Quotes from our guests:
Rochelle Turner, “We have big issues in our industry and I think certification is a way that can help companies go on a journey that will make them better. It's not the only way, but it is a way. And if it is done with an independent third party verification that has very strict environmental and social standards that look holistically at what an organization is doing, then I think, yes, think certification can be a way to help companies move towards greater sustainability.”
Kees Jan Boonen, “If you talk to travellers, they would like to travel more sustainably. They see a role for certifications here. But a couple of conditions that need to be met. It needs to be clear, needs to be consistent, and it needs to be credible.”
Rochelle Turner, “Sometimes (certification) does require a little bit of a shake up and asking yourself some hard questions along the way.”
Kees Jan Boonen, “Incoming legislation is setting conditions for the certification schemes to be compliant to install trust. What it does not look at is to what extent certification has maximum impact. So, I think that's a different question and perhaps a next step for us as an industry.”
Find out more about our guests in this episode:
Some useful links to things mentioned in the show:
The Empowering Consumers Directive, also known as the Directive on Empowering Consumers for the Green Transition, is a new EU law that came into force in March 2024, with an application date of September 27, 2026.
Rochelle authored this report on how being a B Corp has helped Intrepid: Our B Corp Certification Report | Intrepid Travel EU
The second iteration of Travalyst’s certification benchmarking was released at the end of Jan 2026. You can read a press release here and more information on Travalyst here.
Read more about Booking.com’s stats and latest opinion on certifications here.
Follow for more:
And helpful information from our sponsors, Lemongrass PR:
- Communicating Impact: Why It Matters for Travel Brands and 10 Ways to Communicate It Effectively
- Economic Leakage In Tourism: What Is It, And What Can Travel Brands Do About It?
- Our Impact Report – and 6 top tips for doing your own
- Overtourism: A Wicked Problem in Need of New Solutions
- How we are reducing our Carbon Emissions with Carbon Budgets
- 5 things we learnt from Carbon Literacy training and how it can help your travel business
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It’s a Journey is a ground-breaking podcast series hosted by Richard Hammond, Publishing Director of Green Traveller Media and Holly Tuppen, sustainable travel writer and expert. Sponsored by Lemongrass, it tackles the uncomfortable, complex, and often overlooked questions facing the travel industry as it strives to have a better impact on people and places.
Thanks for listening! Please submit any questions or comments to itsajourneypodcast@gmail.com
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