FRONTLINE
Toni: We’re always spotting articles that cause concern and spark conversations. On LinkedIn, one guy said luxury travel is creating problems, [so I said] luxury hotels install solar panels, water filtration systems, use organic food and employ locals and we’ll see that trickle effect in tourism; three-star hotels will benefit from five-star hotels’ investments. On Intrepid Travel trips, you visit projects and the money goes to the people involved. G Adventures plants a tree for each day of a tour and focuses on tourism leakage, making sure money stays in destinations.
DI VICTORY AND TONI SHARP
The Designer Travel duo tell Samantha Mayling about being on the agency’s award-winning Little Steps Big Impact sustainability panel
Q. How have your careers evolved? Di: I joined Bridge Travel in 2000, then Flight Centre and Jetset. After a short career break, I went to Holidaysplease then moved to a support role. After Travel Counsellors took over, I chatted with Designer Travel co-founders Amanda Matthews and Karen Pocock, and became a BDM in May 2023. Toni: I was an employment lawyer for 10 years. It was stressful. I love travel but struggled getting started as everyone wanted experience, so I set up my own website. I ended up in an agency then Holidaysplease. When they sold to Travel Counsellors, I moved to Designer Travel in May 2024.
Q. Tell us about being on Designer Travel’s sustainability panel, established three years ago. Di: The panel was spearheaded by Karen. She’s passionate about sustainability. There are seven of us on the panel to drive our Little Steps Big Impact sustainability policies. I went to Sri Lanka with Exsus, finding out about hotels employing locals and the conservation of wild elephants and now I’m comfortable selling it.
24 4 DECEMBER 2025
Q. How have agents benefitted from Designer Travel’s collaboration with training provider Kiwano Tourism? Di: More than 50 agents are certified; it’s intensive but gives you confidence to have conversations [about sustainability]. Tourism leakage is a big topic, as is gender pay inequality. Ultimately, people are not going to stop travelling, but it’s about the choices you make. Toni: Making our agents sustainability experts will give them the edge. We’ll be at the forefront and reap the rewards. We also do sustainability webinars with suppliers and have a monthly digital magazine with a sustainability spread. The training is eye-opening. What concerned me most was that I’m worried about the environment but I fly a lot. How can they sit alongside each other? These places need tourists, so if we don’t go, that’s not good. We’ve just got to do it better.
Q. Is the sustainability situation improving? Di: More operators and hotels are sharing more information about sustainable practices. We are seeing change and it’s important to share success stories, otherwise it’s all doom and gloom. Toni: If you focus on positives and talk about, say, an amazing five-star hotel with renewable fuel and community initiatives, people will want to go there.
Q. What about the cost of being sustainable? Di: EasyJet is streets ahead of some airlines, making real differences. [Sustainability] shouldn’t be exclusive to expensive hotels – many boutique and family-run hotels employ only locals. They’ve ditched buffets so food wastage is declining, and they grow their own fruit and vegetables. Intrepid has tours that appeal to backpackers. Clients shouldn’t have to pay more. Toni: On a webinar about Nevis, three-star Oualie Beach Resort is incredible; everything is sustainable – they create their own electricity, hot water and use locally grown lemongrass. I always sell the benefits and tell customers: “On this tour, they support the environment, or grow trees, or you can help the community”.
Q. What’s your Loved Again scheme? Toni: It’s like Vinted. Karen decided to have a shop at our Designer Fest so we all took clothes. It reuses material, because so much goes into landfill. Di: The money is donated to three charities.
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TELL US ABOUT WINNING THE CHAMPION OF CHANGE HONOUR
AT THIS YEAR’S ATAS RECOGNITION AWARDS
Di: Going on stage, I was so excited. We’ve written about
the award on our website. Atas is doing its bit too – you can learn a lot from its members. Toni: It’s all about sharing. We create material, such as our animal welfare policy and savvy traveller guide, to share. Train travel has increased, especially in Europe. Intrepid Travel has cut the number of internal flights in Vietnam and ans is using trains. I’ve written tips such as packing a lighter suitcase for flights, or packing donations – agents can ask charities what people need.
Di: Karen [Pocock] knew about a school in South Africa that needed items so we donated a laptop, boots and footballs after our ‘Kick A Coffee’ fundraiser, asking people to
give the money they’d spend on coffee. On the Exsus Sri Lanka trip, we bought food for stray dogs, and we donated after
the Rhodes wildfires. Amanda and Karen made a conscious
effort to support Morocco and Jamaica [after the earthquake and hurricane]. The more we talk about it, the more sustainability is a success story.
Di receives Designer
Travel’s Atas Champion of Change award
travelweekly.co.uk
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PICTURE: Steve Dunlop
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