Copenhagen, Zealand, Denmark - From today onwards, Bookmundi, the global online travel portal, will automatically offset the carbon footprint generated by all tours booked through its website — a first in the world for online package tour booking platforms.
The initiative is aimed at making travel more environmentally conscious and attractive to eco-friendly customers. It applies to all the CO2 emitted for the 15,000 plus package tours Bookmundi currently offers for sale online in more than 135 countries.
In collaboration with professional UK-based climate consultants, Bookmundi has developed a system to calculate the carbon emissions per traveler per trip, from the starting location of the trip to its end location. Everything from accommodation, transportation, meals and planned activities on tour are being tracked since greenhouse gas emissions from package tours are primarily coming from those four sources. The company has made large-scale calculations possible by tagging more than 250,000 data points and processing this data via machine learning and data handling algorithms, helping to dynamically compute the CO2 footprint per tour.
Bookmundi then invests in carbon reduction projects around the world to offset the CO2 emissions from each trip. Some of these projects include planting 8 million trees in Columbia, investing in a conservation project in the Peruvian Amazon, and developing solar power in Turkey to replace fossil fuels.
Bookmundi sells tour packages with all kinds of durations, but as an example, in carbon offsetting for an average 8-day tour available on the Bookmundi booking platform, 16 trees would need to have been planted for one year to cover the CO2 impact. The company has already purchased the necessary carbon credits in advance to ensure that all tour bookings are carbon offset from the start.
The travel and tourism industry has long been criticised as a heavy contributor to greenhouse gases. It is estimated that tourism accounts for 8% of all greenhouse gas emissions worldwide. Currently, some travel companies offer tourists the option of paying extra to have their trip or tour carbon offset, but Bookmundi’s initiative takes on the responsibility as a company, covering all costs and by default carbon offsetting for all tour bookings. If all tour operators and online travel agents followed this path, it would result in large investments into renewable energy and carbon offsetting projects around the world.
CEO and founder of Bookmundi, Rasmus Juul-Olsen: “Everybody has a responsibility to help combat climate change, including online travel agents and booking portals.
“In an ideal world, considering that the travel industry accounts for a significant portion of CO2 emissions, it should in fact be neither possible nor lawful to sell a tour without it being carbon offset.
“As a traveler, you do not have to worry about additional fees, as the carbon offsetting is already embedded into the cost of each trip and we still offer a best price guarantee for all the tours we sell.
“Customers finally have the choice to buy a carbon offset package trip around the world.
“The good news is that a future will soon emerge where marketplaces and tour operators, and, in principle, any supplier of tourism-related services, should transition to more sustainable trips and services, not only to help combat climate change but to remain competitive and survive as a business.”
Juul-Olsen sees this initiative as the way of the future for the travel industry and he hopes that more international and local booking engines and marketplaces will join the carbon offsetting efforts too to cover their bookings.
Bookmundi is offsetting CO2 emissions on behalf of more than 1,500 tour operators, both local and global, who offer more than 1 million departures via more than 15,000 adventures and package tours on the bookmundi.com website. The company also offsets all indirect carbon emissions resulting from servers and users browsing bookmundi.com.
You can read more about Bookmundi’s carbon offsetting initiative here.
About Bookmundi:
Bookmundi is one of the world's largest tour booking platforms, offering more than 15,000 tours and package trips available in over 138 countries. The Bookmundi booking platform allows travelers to effortlessly book private, group and tailor-made tours and trips organized by more than 1,500 local and international tour operators and travel experts around the world. Since its founding in 2015, Bookmundi has successfully helped thousands of travel enthusiasts book travel experiences they’ll never forget - from a safari in Serengeti, a sightseeing tour through Europe, a beach holiday in Costa Rica, or a trek up to Everest Base Camp.
Media Contact
Company Name: BookMundi
Contact Person: Rasmus Juul-Olsen
Email:Send Email
Phone: 45 51665799
Address:Lergravsvej 72, 2.MF
City: Copenhangen
Country: Denmark
Website: bookmundi.com
