Can luxury travel be sustainable?

Episode 10: Paying it forward: Can luxury travel be sustainable?

Sponsored by ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Lemongrass⁠⁠⁠⁠

Holly and Richard discuss whether luxury tourism and hospitality can be sustainable with guests Anne-Kathrin Zschiegner, Director of The Long Run, Geetie Singh-Watson, founder of The Bull Inn, and Lucy Cleland Co-founder and Editorial Director of Country & Town House.

In this episode, we unpack:

• Whether luxury and sustainability are inherently in conflict or collaboration.
• The tension between independent, values-driven businesses and large corporate groups, and whether demand is leaning back toward smaller operators.
• A shift in luxury away from status and materialism toward connection, learning, nature, and meaningful experiences, with sustainability embedded as a baseline expectation.
• How sustainability can enhance a guest experience by offering unique, in-depth, and authentic activities and moments that go beyond traditional “luxury” expectations.
• How businesses can clearly communicate their values and be willing to say no to unsustainable demands.
• Busting the myth sustainability is expensive; in reality, it’s often about mindset, operational changes, and efficiency, which can increase profitability.

Quotes from our guests:

Anne-Kathrin Zschiegner

“Sustainability is not expensive. It’s a mindset and a way of operating.”

“Sometimes it’s important to say no… just because people are paying guests doesn’t mean they need to be served everything.”

Lucy Cleland

“Luxury now is connection, time, and coming away feeling enriched.”

“It has to feel joyful… if it’s really hard, people are just going to say, ‘I can’t do it,’ and then you’ve lost them.”

Geetie Singh Watson

“What I’m trying to do is demonstrate that they can still have their beautiful, delicious, luxurious lifestyle, but can have a much, much lighter footprint.”

“The consumer has the power to change the planet overnight through how we spend our money.”

Find out more about our guests in this episode:

Anne-Kathrin Zschiegner

Geetie Singh-Watson

Lucy Cleland

Some useful links to things mentioned in the show:

• The Long Run members Nikoi Island and Sala’s Camp were both mentioned as examples of employee training to communicate sustainability decisions.
• Read 10 ways sustainability can benefit your hospitality business, according to The Long Run.
• Find out more about Geetie’s businesses The Bull Inn, Albatross Totnes, Baddaford Collective.
• In 2025, The Bull Inn launched the UK’s first regenerative hospitality course. Find out more about it here
• Country & Town House Future Icon Awards are running for the third year with nominations for 2027 now open. Find out more here.
• In 2024, Country & Town House were one of the first magazines to publish sustainability guidelines for writers.

And helpful links from our sponsors, Lemongrass:

• 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, Publisher 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

Get in touch about opportunities at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠itsajourney.fm⁠