The ANVR will work in the coming months to modernize the special advertising code for travel offers. This emerged Friday during the annual ANVR congress in Asturias, northern Spain. Here ANVR presented its renewed ambitions in the field of sustainable travel. ‖ Increasingly, there are calls from certain quarters for advertising bans on products that use fossil fuels. We think that is completely the wrong way,” says ANVR director Frank Oostdam. ‘Bans are complicated, unnecessary and, by the way, unenforceable. With self-regulation, we can actually take steps towards desired and necessary behavioural change among both travel companies and consumers. In addition, the current special advertising code for travel offers dates from 2014 and is therefore due for revision.’ During the annual congress in Oviedo, the ANVR presented renewed and far-reaching sustainability ambitions. For example, the intention is to start reducing emissions immediately, and the sector will work with chain partners to make all activities in the chain more sustainable. ANVR also wants to reduce the negative impact on destinations and increase the positive impact of travel and tourism there. ‘With agreements in the Travel Offers Advertising Code, we can actively translate these ambitions in the field of making the travel sector more sustainable into the way we communicate about this with the customer and how we advertise. And something completely different, we have also made great strides in terms of price transparency in the past year. They must also be reflected in this advertising code,’ says Oostdam. The Travel Offers Advertising Code is a shared code between ANVR and industry associations Barin, KNV Bus Transport and Hiswa Association (now Hiswa-Recron). ‘The invitation to these parties to get started with the review will go out today,’ says Oostdam. Do it yourself During a panel discussion on Friday morning, industry experts discussed the topic. Since there is still little demand from consumers for a sustainable travel product, it is the task of the travel industry to enthuse customers about sustainable travel, was the conclusion. Here, sustainable supply can stimulate demand. So don’t wait for partners/suppliers to offer a sustainable product, but do it yourself. Photo: the panel discussion with Gert Nieuwboer (SNP), Martine de KNoop (The Travel Club), Eva Mulder-Visscher (Transavia), Chris Oskam (Sunweb) and Frank Radstake (ANVR). On the right, discussant Frank Oostdam.
