Inghams, Esprit & Santa’s Lapland Lead The Way On Carbon Neutral & Sustainable Winter Travel Partnerships

As part of the Hotelplan UK travel group’s Climate Action Plan, tour operators, Inghams, Esprit and Santa’s Lapland have taken further significant steps for sustainable travel this week, by;

• Becoming one of the first UK-based winter specialised travel groups to offset flights and ground operations using verifiable carbon credits*.
• Partnering Inghams with Protect Our Winters UK (POW UK) and taking the POW pledge as part of the Hotelplan group’s longstanding commitment to a more sustainable future.
• Teaming up with Eco Ski to encourage skiers, snowboarders, staff and winter holiday-makers to rethink their ‘ownership’ of winter clothing and consider moving toward a circular economy.
• Announcing their plans to support rewilding projects to restore ecosystems. 

From 1st March 2022, Inghams, Esprit Ski and Santa’s Lapland are working to reduce carbon emissions from their operations. As well as working with ClimateCare to offset carbon emissions from flights and ground operations and supporting rewilding projects to restore ecosystems and help nature take care of itself.

Alongside their summer mountain and winter festive holidays, the Hotelplan UK group are very well known for their Inghams and Esprit package ski holidays—and marked the occasion by saying, “We’re not green yet, but we’re doing what we can to stop the slopes getting greener.”

The Hotelplan UK group appointed Prue Stone as Head of Sustainability last year to design and embed a comprehensive sustainability strategy across the brands. The strategy uses a holistic approach, combining biodiversity strategies with climate action, as well as focusing heavily on how the tour operators can work better with destination communities, staff and partners, both in the office and down the supply chains. Prue is working across brands to collaborate with partners who can support the group’s initiatives and goals.

Prue Stone said “In 2021 we announced our commitment to sustainability, a significant first for the ski and Lapland specialists. This year we are putting our words into action and I am thrilled with the progress and engagement so far.

“We are building really meaningful relationships with community led experts, learning from them and really transitioning our product and mind set based on this.

“Now, we are launching our new comprehensive carbon action plan, including carbon offsetting and rewilding, as well as taking our first steps into the circular economy by transforming how we think about uniform and clothing, away from the norm of fast fashion and waste.”

“We are also taking a team, by train, to our core destinations to meet local communities and hear about projects that are leading in this space and see how we can support them and scale the changes that are needed. We have a long way to go to create the perfect product, the perfect business, but these coming months and years will be fast paced and exciting.”

Joe Ponte, Hotelplan UK CEO added “At Hotelplan UK we have 5 tour operator brands across different categories, and we are committed to becoming the most sustainable in each of the categories that we operate in.

“Whilst some of our brands are very well progressed towards this goal, our winter focused brands, Esprit, Inghams and Santa’s Lapland, do not yet showcase high enough standards in sustainable travel.

“However with the definition of our Climate Action Plan, and other key initiatives we are launching, we are making significant steps to our commitment to become leaders in sustainability. We have much work to do, but hope these early commitments will help highlight the importance of sustainable practices in the broader ski and winter sector and raise awareness of the necessity to act now.

“We all have a responsibility to work together to build a more sustainable ethos—and Inghams, Esprit and Santa’s Lapland will continue to look to lead the sector in this area.”

With both Inghams and Esprit providing ski holidays in mountain resorts and Inghams and Santa’s Lapland delivering festive holidays in the snowy, winter wonderland that is Lapland—partnerships with Eco Ski and for Inghams, with POW UK, are important collaborations that will support the group, staff and customers to make more conscious and sustainable choices.

In the coming weeks, Hotelplan UK will be taking the POW pledge, highlighting the sustainability milestones they’ve already reached and the many more they plan to achieve in the coming years. And now, as a POW UK partner, Inghams are making firm plans to support POW UK as they develop more and more ways to help passionate outdoor people become effective climate advocates.

In addition, their partnership with the sustainable winter clothing brand, Eco Ski, will help encourage Inghams, Esprit and Santa’s Lapland customers to make more responsible choices about their ski clothing. Highlighting it’s not always the best option to buy new. The Hotelplan UK group hopes to support EcoSki to educate and encourage less waste and more sustainable choices across the winter travel industry. Hotelplan UK customers can enjoy 15% OFF Eco Ski rental items and 5% OFF new Eco Ski items.