DRV, Peakwork and Green Travel Index develop GlobalTypes® with more than 150 attributes for sustainable travel
Berlin, December 8, 2022 – Sustainability and climate action are becoming increasingly important, especially in travel sales. How sustainable is a particular hotel? What are the sustainable aspects of a trip? What is the comparability of different offers with regard to sustainability issues? The software specialist for the travel industry, Peakwork, and Green Travel Index (travel Bridge), the leading international database for sustainable tourism, have expanded the GlobalTypes® for the German Travel Association (DRV) to include of sustainability characteristics for the tourism offers developed. The existing categories within the framework of the DRV data standard that detail the description and comparability of travel services in the booking systems – called GlobalTypes® – are supplemented now by more than 150 attributes for sustainable travel and provided with corresponding codes. For example, measures to save energy, the offer of excursions with locals, cooperation in local climate protection projects, own environmental management, own waste management, elimination of plastic or cooperation with local providers, are now taken into account. This makes it easier to compare different journeys from a sustainability point of view. The new GlobalTypes® are now available to the industry and can be entered into the booking systems. Corresponding licenses are available from DRV Service GmbH.
“Everyone talks about sustainability, but it is rarely really clear what metrics or characteristics are actually behind it when talking about sustainable travel,” says Olaf Collet, Managing Director of DRV-Service and responsible for the GlobalTypes® at DRV.
“By adding sustainability attributes to the GlobalTypes®, the tourism industry will gain a roadmap for integrating sustainable performance components and a uniform labelling for sustainable travel. We hope to give tourism companies valuable support in expanding further investments in climate action and sustainability,” Collet continues.
“Only when we can comprehensively map the topic of sustainability at the point of sale can this become an integral part of and a criterion within the sales processes,” explains Ralf Usbeck, CEO of the software specialist Peakwork. “The integration of definitions of climate action and sustainability into the GlobalTypes® enables technology service providers to also develop the corresponding standards for related advisory processes,” Usbeck continues. “This enables tour operators to effectively develop and expand their contribution to climate-neutral travel – in the sale of trips but also in their development. ” As CEO of Chain4Travel, Ralf Usbeck adds: “We will also integrate these standards into Chain4Travel’s new blockchain initiative, so that the new world can work directly with standardized values.”
“Our goal is to raise awareness of sustainability in the travel and tourism sector – among tour operators, travel agencies and ultimately also among travelers,” emphasizes Elke Brosin, Vice President of Green Travel Index. “Together with Peakwork and the DRV, we have now taken a really big step towards the further development of sustainability and climate action in tourism,” she states. “Only through the uniform labelling of the individual sustainable components of a trip can end customers be able to compare the travel offers and make a decision in terms of sustainability.” This is exactly what Green Travel Index creates: the basic sustainability prerequisites for the development of the corresponding data. “Special thanks go to Prof. Dr. Edgar Kreilkamp, who played a key role in the development of the Green Travel Index,” adds the Vice President.
About the DRV data standard and GlobalTypes®
The association has been offering the DRV data standards as an industry solution since 2010. With this, certain properties can be attributed to tourism offers on the basis of GlobalTypes® and made available via a standardized interface (query logic) in the distribution systems. These are uniform attributes that serve the precise description of the products. The aim is to make operator products more comparable. Travel agencies can use these uniform descriptions to search for and compare package holidays according to certain criteria such as the location of the hotel, the distance to the beach, the facilities and much more.
About Green Travel Index:
Green Travel Index is the first global B2B platform to position sustainable content in the mainstream tourism market. As a neutral and independent platform, the brand belonging to travel bridge provides information from registered, sustainably certified companies in the travel chain. The aim of the world’s leading database for sustainable tourism is to make the sustainable offer easily accessible to the main distribution channels. The increased visibility in the sales channels raises consumer awareness and facilitates sustainable bookings.
About Peakwork:
Founded in 2009, Peakwork AG is the dynamic packaging and distribution software specialist for the travel industry. With the globally unique Player Hub technology, Peakwork has created a dynamic production and distribution network for tourism that combines global supply and demand.
Leading international tour operators and service providers rely on Peakwork solutions for dynamic travel production with connections to global hotel and flight providers. The technology for flexible and internationally scalable travel sales is designed for massive traffic and benefits in particular from the connection to the global metasearcher and distribution networks.
In around 50 markets worldwide, customers can search and book their dream vacation using Player Hub technology.
About the DRV:
The German Travel Association (DRV) represents the travel industry in Germany. As a central association, the DRV bundles a significant economic power. Its members account for the largest part of the turnover in the tour operator and travel intermediary market. The tourism industry provides around 3 million jobs. Several thousand member companies, including numerous tourism service providers, make the DRV a strong community that unites the diverse interests – according to the motto “The travel industry. All destinations. One voice.”
