Travelife Partner

Small. Now. Together.

Operational Materiality Analysis

Supply Chain Collaboration

Founded in 2010, Lusso is a luxury tour operator specialising in tailor-made holidays worldwide, working exclusively through travel agents. Based in Alderley Edge in Cheshire, they are now three years into a responsible tourism journey that has touched every corner of the company.

Their journey began, as it does for many SMEs, with a desire to become more sustainable. They were aware of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) — but like a lot of businesses, weren’t sure how to do it, or where to begin. That changed in June 2023, when Lusso appointed its first Responsible Tourism and Sustainability Manager, Zoe Savage-Morton, giving the business the dedicated resource to begin embedding responsible tourism across the organisation.

Having worked in nearly every corner of the industry, from airlines to tour operators, and having lived and worked abroad — including a formative period on a small island off the coast of Cebu in the Philippines — Zoe joined Lusso partway through a Masters in Responsible Tourism Management at Leeds Beckett University, graduating in 2025.

Photo by Nick Fewings on Unsplash

Opportunities

She recalls her first conversation with the directors; they demonstrated genuine curiosity, a willingness to explore and learn. What emerged from that conversation was the beginning of a shift away from CSR towards something that better suited their aims: responsible tourism, measurable and embeddable into how the business operates day to day.

“The starting point was exploring how responsible tourism could provide a broader framework than traditional CSR.”

Lusso felt there was a real opportunity to change the perception of luxury travel, for luxury to lead the way in responsible tourism, and the leadership team were keen to be at the forefront of that movement.

Recognising those opportunities shaped everything that followed. As the work progressed, one recurring theme emerged through conversations with industry colleagues and other SMEs: many assumed becoming more responsible required significant investment and resources.

“One of the questions we get asked quite a lot is how much does it cost? And in fact, it doesn’t need to cost a lot to become more responsible and sustainable.”

The experience reinforced a simple message that LUSSO now shares widely through its own work and industry engagement. The Small.Now.Together philosophy — introduced by Zoe at a sustainability panel for the Association of Independent Tour Operators last year — has become central to how Lusso talks about this both internally and with trade partners. Start small, start now, and don’t do it alone.

Understanding the Business

The approach Lusso took from the outset was deliberate. Rather than chasing carbon offsets or high-profile initiatives, the first months were spent simply understanding how the business worked.

“We spent months understanding how every department worked, identifying where sustainability already existed.”

What emerged surprised people. Sustainable practices were already happening in places without anyone having named them as such. That process of recognition helped bring the wider team on board. That’s when people began to understand what responsible tourism actually meant.

The focus then turned to finding a framework to give the journey some structure. Travelife provided the practical roadmap Lusso had been looking for, covering internal operations, supply chain management and destination impact within a single recognised framework. B-Corp was also considered but didn’t go as deep into supply chains and destinations in the way Lusso needed.

Lusso recognised much of its impact lies beyond its own offices. By working collaboratively with suppliers, travel agents and destinations, and by providing practical resources, guidance, training and shared learning, the company aims to help others embed responsible tourism across the wider travel industry.

Changes

Using the Travelife framework, the work began in earnest and started in house: new policies, staff training, a dedicated responsible tourism team, supplier engagement, measuring their impacts, reviewing animal welfare standards, and working towards Travelife Partner status — a milestone reached last year and one the team are proud of, while recognising there remains much still to do. Every member of staff has completed Travelife training, now written into job descriptions and contracts.

Office operations were tightened up, and communications changed, both internally and in customer-facing material. Alongside responsible tourism content in brochures, Lusso developed practical guidance for travellers, helping clients understand how their choices can positively support destinations, communities, wildlife and the environment. Responsible tourism at Lusso is very much a team effort — by design. The aim is not simply to sell holidays, but to encourage more responsible travel.

But it’s the improvement in staff awareness that stands out most — colleagues across the business now think differently about what they sell.

“A staff member stopped me the other day and asked, can we sell dog sledding in Canada? Because they know animal welfare is an ongoing concern.”

That one question meant due diligence on the supplier before any answer could be given — a small moment, but it wouldn’t have happened three years ago. Today it reflects something much bigger: responsible tourism becoming part of everyday decision-making rather than a separate sustainability initiative.

The practical changes have added up too: reduced water and power usage, proper recycling systems, and food waste separation introduced under England’s new Simpler Recycling legislation. Beyond the environmental benefit, something else has followed.

Photo by Frames For Your Heart on Unsplash

“People feel better for doing it. I know that people feel intrinsically better that we’re benefiting the environment, that we’re doing more.”

Volunteering days, a recent charity walk for the Breast Cancer Foundation — it’s all part of the same movement, and staff wellbeing has followed alongside it.

Supplier relationships have also deepened. Asking questions about sustainability opens conversations that weren’t happening before — suppliers sharing what they’re already doing and what could be done better, with dialogue building from there.

Success is increasingly measured not by the number of initiatives introduced, but by the conversations taking place across the business and the questions people now instinctively ask.

LUSSO is careful not to present the journey as complete. Responsible tourism is viewed as a process of continual improvement, with every claim expected to be evidence-based and capable of substantiation, reflecting the expectations of the Competition and Marketing Authorities’ Green Claims Code and Advertising Standards Authority guidance.

Where the Journey Goes Next

As Lusso’s responsible tourism programme has matured, the team has begun tackling a challenge faced by many tour operators: how do you fairly compare responsible tourism performance across very different types of suppliers?

A beach resort, a safari lodge, a cruise and a city hotel all have different impacts, opportunities and responsibilities. Judging them against exactly the same criteria risks overlooking the issues that matter most in each context.

Photo by Paweł Wielądek on Unsplash

“What we’ve had to do is identify what’s relative to responsible tourism in a product that’s sat on an island in the Seychelles, compared to, say, a safari lodge.”

Photo by Meg von Haartman on Unsplash

To address this, Lusso has developed its own Operational Materiality Analysis, working closely with suppliers to assess the responsible tourism issues most relevant to their type of business and location. Rather than simply assessing suppliers, LUSSO developed and shared practical responsible tourism resources, guidelines and best practice to help suppliers strengthen their own approaches.

This will underpin a new Responsible Tourism Product portfolio, identifying businesses not only meeting recognised standards but demonstrating genuine leadership in the areas where they can have the greatest positive impact. It also gives suppliers greater clarity about the issues most relevant to their business, encouraging continuous improvement rather than simply recognising current performance.

Alongside this, carbon measurement work continues with Ecollective, supplier engagement keeps deepening, and in-house training courses are being developed to keep the whole team engaged and refreshed, rather than treating responsible tourism as a one-off exercise.

Advice for Others

Start by understanding your own business. Take the first energy reading. Note the water meter. Keep a record of the waste being created. Then build from there — look at what can be reduced and measure it regularly. KPIs help track progress, and being able to substantiate any claims matters more than ever.

A materiality analysis is worth doing if you’re ready, though it isn’t essential. Sometimes it’s simpler to walk around the office, talk to the team, look at your suppliers, ask questions. Most businesses find they’re already doing more than they realise.

“Responsible tourism isn’t about being perfect. It’s about making better decisions, one step at a time, doing them now, and doing it together.”

Use what’s already out there, get involved in forums, find the people having the same conversations.