In conversation with expert guests, Richard Hammond and Holly Tuppen draw on their years of experience in sustainable travel media to tackle the thorny issues and provide practical insights for a more responsible industry. Sponsored by Lemongrass.
It's a Journey - a sustainable travel podcast
Claim This Podcastby Richard Hammond and Holly Tuppen
12 episodes
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Podcast Overview
In conversation with expert guests, Richard Hammond and Holly Tuppen draw on their years of experience in sustainable travel media to tackle the thorny issues and provide practical insights for a more responsible industry. Sponsored by Lemongrass.
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Publishing Since
6/29/2025
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Recent Episodes
May 7, 2026
Can luxury travel be sustainable?
<p><strong>Episode 10: Paying it forward: Can luxury travel be sustainable?</strong></p><p>Sponsored by <a href="https://www.lemongrassmarketing.com/" target="_blank" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer">Lemongrass</a></p><p>Holly and Richard discuss whether luxury tourism and hospitality can be sustainable with guests Anne-Kathrin Zschiegner, Director of The Long Run, Geetie Singh-Watson, founder of The Bull Inn, and Lucy Cleland Co-founder and Editorial Director of Country & Town House. </p><p>In this episode, we unpack:</p><ul><li>Whether luxury and sustainability are inherently in conflict or collaboration.</li><li>The tension between independent, values-driven businesses and large corporate groups, and whether demand is leaning back toward smaller operators.</li><li>A shift in luxury away from status and materialism toward connection, learning, nature, and meaningful experiences, with sustainability embedded as a baseline expectation.</li><li>How sustainability can enhance a guest experience by offering unique, in-depth, and authentic activities and moments that go beyond traditional “luxury” expectations.</li><li>How businesses can clearly communicate their values and be willing to say no to unsustainable demands.</li><li>Busting the myth sustainability is expensive; in reality, it’s often about mindset, operational changes, and efficiency, which can increase profitability.</li></ul><p><strong>Quotes from our guests: </strong></p><p><strong>Anne-Kathrin Zschiegner</strong></p><p>“Sustainability is not expensive. It’s a mindset and a way of operating.”</p><p>“Sometimes it’s important to say no… just because people are paying guests doesn’t mean they need to be served everything.”</p><p><strong>Lucy Cleland</strong></p><p>“Luxury now is connection, time, and coming away feeling enriched.”</p><p>“It has to feel joyful… if it’s really hard, people are just going to say, ‘I can’t do it,’ and then you’ve lost them.”</p><p><strong>Geetie Singh Watson</strong></p><p>“What I’m trying to do is demonstrate that they can still have their beautiful, delicious, luxurious lifestyle, but can have a much, much lighter footprint.”</p><p>“The consumer has the power to change the planet overnight through how we spend our money.”</p><p><strong>Find out more about our guests in this episode:</strong></p><p><a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/anne-kathrin-zschiegner-a5595515/" target="_blank" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer">Anne-Kathrin Zschiegner</a></p><p><a href="https://www.bullinntotnes.co.uk/story" target="_blank" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer">Geetie Singh-Watson</a></p><p><a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/lucy-cleland/" target="_blank" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer">Lucy Cleland</a></p><p><strong>Some useful links to things mentioned in the show:</strong></p><ul><li>The Long Run members <a href="https://www.thelongrun.org/ger-members/nikoi-island" target="_blank" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer">Nikoi Island</a> and <a href="https://www.thelongrun.org/accommodation-site-members/salas-camp" target="_blank" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer">Sala’s Camp</a> were both mentioned as examples of employee training to communicate sustainability decisions. </li><li>Read <a href="https://www.thelongrun.org/stories/top-10-ways-sustainability-can-benefit-your-hospitality-business" target="_blank" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer">10 ways sustainability can benefit your hospitality business</a>, according to The Long Run. </li><li>Find out more about Geetie’s businesses <a href="http://www.bullinntotnes.co.uk/" target="_blank" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer">The Bull Inn</a>, <a href="http://www.albatrosstotnes.co.uk" target="_blank" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer">Albatross Totnes</a>, <a href="https://www.baddaford.co.uk/" target="_blank" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer">Baddaford Collective</a>. </li><li>In 2025, The Bull Inn launched the UK’s first regenerative hospitality course. Find out more about it <a href="https://www.bullinntotnes.co.uk/nobull-learning" target="_blank" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer">here</a></li><li>Country & Town House Future Icon Awards are running for the third year with nominations for 2027 now open. Find out more <a href="https://www.countryandtownhouse.com/future-icons/" target="_blank" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer">here</a>. </li><li>In 2024, Country & Town House were one of the first magazines to publish sustainability guidelines for writers.</li></ul><p><strong>And helpful links from our sponsors, Lemongrass:</strong></p><ul><li><p><a href="https://www.lemongrassmarketing.com/insights/communicating-impact-why-it-matters-2" target="_blank" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer">Communicating Impact: Why It Matters for Travel Brands and 10 Ways to Communicate It Effectively</a></p></li><li><p><a href="https://www.lemongrassmarketing.com/insights/economic-leakage-in-tourism" target="_blank" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer">Economic Leakage In Tourism: What Is It, And What Can Travel Brands Do About It?</a></p></li><li><p><a href="https://www.lemongrassmarketing.com/insights/our-impact-report-and-6-top-tips-for-doing-your-own" target="_blank" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer">Our Impact Report – and 6 top tips for doing your own</a></p></li><li><p><a href="https://www.lemongrassmarketing.com/insights/overtourism-a-problem-in-need-of-new-solutions" target="_blank" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer">Overtourism: A Wicked Problem in Need of New Solutions</a></p></li><li><p><a href="https://www.lemongrassmarketing.com/insights/how-we-are-reducing-our-carbon-emissions-with-carbon-budgets" target="_blank" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer">How we are reducing our Carbon Emissions with Carbon Budgets</a></p><p><a href="https://www.lemongrassmarketing.com/insights/5-things-we-learnt-from-carbon-literacy-training" target="_blank" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer">5 things we learnt from Carbon Literacy training and how it can help your travel business</a></p></li></ul><p>==</p><p><strong>It’s a Journey</strong> is a ground-breaking podcast series hosted by Richard Hammond, Publisher of Green Traveller Media and Holly Tuppen, sustainable travel writer and expert. Sponsored by Lemongrass, it tackles the uncomfortable, complex, and often overlooked questions facing the travel industry as it strives to have a better impact on people and places.</p><p>Thanks for listening! Please submit any questions or comments to <a href="mailto:itsajourneypodcast@gmail.com" target="_blank" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer">itsajourneypodcast@gmail.com</a></p><p>Get in touch about opportunities at <a href="https://www.itsajourney.fm/" target="_blank" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer">itsajourney.fm</a></p>
March 12, 2026
Nature Positive Tourism
<p><strong>Episode 9: Nature Positive Tourism – Long-term plan or short-term jargon?</strong></p><p>Sponsored by <a href="https://www.lemongrassmarketing.com/">Lemongrass</a></p><p>Holly and Richard discuss how tourism can support biodiversity and nature regeneration and whether the term nature positive tourism is jargon or a long-term plan for the industry with guests Kasia Morgan, Head of Sustainability for Exodus Adventure Travels, and Frans Schepers, Founder and Chief Executive of Rewilding Europe.</p><p>In this episode, we unpack:</p><ul><li>The term nature positive tourism - what it is, and whether the approach leads to genuine action. </li><li>How tour operators can drive meaningful action for nature by identifying the right partners.</li><li>Why Rewilding Europe is using nature tourism to support the rewilding of landscapes across Europe.</li><li>How Exodus’ nature strategy and approach has evolved. </li><li>How tourists and travellers can get involved in the restoration of nature on holiday. </li><li>How we can measure our impact on nature as an industry and as individual companies. </li></ul><p><strong>Quotes from our guests: </strong></p><p>“At Rewilding Europe, we actually use the term rewilding tourism to better describe what we stand for. that is moving away from minimizing harm to actually actively contributing to restoring ecosystems… moving away from observing static nature to witnessing its recovery." - Frans Schepers. </p><p>“The tourism industry is uniquely placed to support that global goal to halt and reverse biodiversity loss… through getting involved, emotional engagement, and helping people play an active role.” - Kasia Morgan </p><p>“We work in 11 big landscapes across Europe and that number is growing. In these places we want to build a local nature-based or nature-positive economy, where there's a new narrative moving away from traditional land uses — agriculture, forestry and hunting — to a narrative where local economies build on natural features and natural capital. Of course tourism plays an important role.” – Frans Schepers. </p><p>“I think it's tempting to try and find an area in which we can easily quantify.But I think it's also our role to not risk undermining or oversimplifying the importance of the work (nature restoration) and also making sure that a distinction can be drawn between something that might look good at surface level and that is genuinely really effective and focused on the right thing.” – Kasia Morgan<strong> </strong></p><p><strong>Find out more about our guests in this episode:</strong></p><p><a href="https://nl.linkedin.com/in/frans-schepers-48762018"><u>Frans Schepers</u></a></p><p><a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/kasia-morgan/"><u>Kasia Morgan</u></a> </p><p><strong>Some useful links to things mentioned in the show:</strong></p><p>Read about Exodus Adventure Travels’ commitment to nature <a href="https://www.exodus.co.uk/sustainability/thriving-nature"><u>here.</u></a> </p><p>Find out about Exodus’ citizen science partnership with iNaturalist, launched Jan 2026, <a href="https://www.adventuretravelnews.com/exodus-adventure-travels-announces-partnership-with-inaturalist-to-extend-its-citizen-science-program"><u>here</u></a>. </p><p>How Rewilding Europe is helping nature-based tourism to thrive. Read more <a href="https://rewildingeurope.com/news/rewilding-europe-is-helping-nature-based-businesses-to-thrive/"><u>here</u></a></p><p><a href="https://rewildingeurope.com/news/wilder-places-goes-live-find-your-wild-through-our-new-travel-platform/"><u>Launch of Wilder Places</u></a>, Rewilding Europe’s travel booking platform wilderplaces.com</p><p>Wildlife Watching in the Apennines with Exodus and Rewilding Apennines. Read the article <a href="https://www.wanderlustmagazine.com/inspiration/wildlife-watching-in-the-apennines-italy/"><u>here</u></a> </p><p><strong>And helpful links from our sponsors, Lemongrass:</strong></p><li><p><a href="https://www.lemongrassmarketing.com/insights/communicating-impact-why-it-matters-2"><u>Communicating Impact: Why It Matters for Travel Brands and 10 Ways to Communicate It Effectively</u></a></p></li><li><p><a href="https://www.lemongrassmarketing.com/insights/economic-leakage-in-tourism"><u>Economic Leakage In Tourism: What Is It, And What Can Travel Brands Do About It?</u></a></p></li><li><p><a href="https://www.lemongrassmarketing.com/insights/our-impact-report-and-6-top-tips-for-doing-your-own"><u>Our Impact Report – and 6 top tips for doing your own</u></a></p></li><li><p><a href="https://www.lemongrassmarketing.com/insights/overtourism-a-problem-in-need-of-new-solutions"><u>Overtourism: A Wicked Problem in Need of New Solutions</u></a></p></li><li><p><a href="https://www.lemongrassmarketing.com/insights/how-we-are-reducing-our-carbon-emissions-with-carbon-budgets"><u>How we are reducing our Carbon Emissions with Carbon Budgets</u></a></p></li><p><a href="https://www.lemongrassmarketing.com/insights/5-things-we-learnt-from-carbon-literacy-training"><u>5 things we learnt from Carbon Literacy training and how it can help your travel business</u></a></p><p>==</p><p><strong>It’s a Journey</strong> is a ground-breaking podcast series hosted by Richard Hammond, Publishing Director of Green Traveller Media and Holly Tuppen, sustainable travel writer and expert. Sponsored by Lemongrass, it tackles the uncomfortable, complex, and often overlooked questions facing the travel industry as it strives to have a better impact on people and places.</p><p>Thanks for listening! Please submit any questions or comments to <a href="mailto:itsajourneypodcast@gmail.com">itsajourneypodcast@gmail.com</a></p><p>Get in touch about opportunities at <a href="https://www.itsajourney.fm/">itsajourney.fm</a><br></p>
February 17, 2026
Certification
<p><strong>Episode 8: Certification – Labels, labels everywhere: To certify, or not to certify? </strong></p><p>Sponsored by <a href="https://www.lemongrassmarketing.com/" target="_blank" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer">Lemongrass</a></p><p>Holly and Richard discuss certification, what it is, whether there are too many labels, and whether it’s worth the investment with expert guests Rochelle Turner, Head of Impact EMEA, Intrepid Travel and Kees Jan Boonen, Head of Policy and Government Affairs, Travalyst. </p><p>In this episode, we unpack:</p><ul><li><p>How EU regulation will soon impact all travel certifications </p></li><li><p>Whether certification is worth the investment, and whether they are affordable for SMEs </p></li><li><p>The pros and cons of certification </p></li><li><p>How the industry could make the certification landscape easier for consumers to navigate </p></li><li><p>What’s next for the industry and certifications </p></li></ul><p>Quotes from our guests: </p><p>Rochelle Turner, “We have big issues in our industry and I think certification is a way that can help companies go on a journey that will make them better. It's not the only way, but it is a way. And if it is done with an independent third party verification that has very strict environmental and social standards that look holistically at what an organization is doing, then I think, yes, think certification can be a way to help companies move towards greater sustainability.”</p><p>Kees Jan Boonen, “If you talk to travellers, they would like to travel more sustainably. They see a role for certifications here. But a couple of conditions that need to be met. It needs to be clear, needs to be consistent, and it needs to be credible.”</p><p>Rochelle Turner, “Sometimes (certification) does require a little bit of a shake up and asking yourself some hard questions along the way.”</p><p>Kees Jan Boonen, “Incoming legislation is setting conditions for the certification schemes to be compliant to install trust. What it does not look at is to what extent certification has maximum impact. So, I think that's a different question and perhaps a next step for us as an industry.”</p><p><strong>Find out more about our guests in this episode:</strong></p><p><a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/manisha-pande-65092415/%E2%81%A0" target="_blank" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer">Kees Jan Boonen on LinkedIn</a></p><p><a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/rochelle-turner-19749ab/" target="_blank" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer">Rochelle Turner on LinkedIn</a> </p><p><strong>Some useful links to things mentioned in the show:</strong></p><p>The <a href="https://www.google.com/search?client=safari&rls=en&q=Empowering+Consumers+Directive&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&ved=2ahUKEwjj1J6vlpWRAxXpXUEAHU3gIX0QgK4QegYIAQgAEAM" target="_blank" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer">Empowering Consumers Directive</a>, also known as the <a href="https://sustainablefutures.linklaters.com/post/102lrex/directive-on-empowering-consumers-for-the-green-transition-implementation-in-sel" target="_blank" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer">Directive on Empowering Consumers for the Green Transition</a>, is a new <a href="https://joelsonlaw.com/news/eu-directive-on-empowering-consumers-for-the-green-transition/" target="_blank" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer">EU law</a> that came into force in March 2024, with an application date of September 27, 2026.</p><p>Rochelle authored this report on how being a B Corp has helped Intrepid: <a href="https://www.intrepidtravel.com/eu/download-our-b-corp-certification-report" target="_blank" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer">Our B Corp Certification Report | Intrepid Travel EU</a></p><p>The second iteration of Travalyst’s certification benchmarking was released at the end of Jan 2026. You can read a press release <a href="https://travalyst.org/news/travalyst-initiative-to-drive-industry-wide-clarity-on-sustainability-certifications-ahead-of-the-eu-empowering-consumers-directive/" target="_blank" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer">here</a> and more information on Travalyst <a href="https://travalyst.org/work/certifications-initiative/" target="_blank" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer">here</a>. </p><p>Read more about Booking.com’s stats and latest opinion on certifications <a href="https://news.booking.com/bookingcom-launches-the-next-phase-of-its-sustainability-program-for-accommodation-partners/" target="_blank" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer">here</a>. </p><p><strong>Follow for more:</strong></p><p><strong></strong><a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/holly-tuppen-29b68b21/" target="_blank" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer">Holly Tuppen</a></p><p><a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/richardgehammond/" target="_blank" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer">Richard Hammond</a> </p><p>And helpful information from our sponsors, <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/company/lemongrass-travel-pr/" target="_blank" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer">Lemongrass PR</a>:</p><ul><li><a href="https://www.lemongrassmarketing.com/insights/communicating-impact-why-it-matters-2" target="_blank" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer">Communicating Impact: Why It Matters for Travel Brands and 10 Ways to Communicate It Effectively</a></li><li><a href="https://www.lemongrassmarketing.com/insights/economic-leakage-in-tourism" target="_blank" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer">Economic Leakage In Tourism: What Is It, And What Can Travel Brands Do About It?</a></li><li><a href="https://www.lemongrassmarketing.com/insights/our-impact-report-and-6-top-tips-for-doing-your-own" target="_blank" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer">Our Impact Report – and 6 top tips for doing your own</a></li><li><a href="https://www.lemongrassmarketing.com/insights/overtourism-a-problem-in-need-of-new-solutions" target="_blank" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer">Overtourism: A Wicked Problem in Need of New Solutions</a></li><li><a href="https://www.lemongrassmarketing.com/insights/how-we-are-reducing-our-carbon-emissions-with-carbon-budgets" target="_blank" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer">How we are reducing our Carbon Emissions with Carbon Budgets</a></li><li><a href="https://www.lemongrassmarketing.com/insights/5-things-we-learnt-from-carbon-literacy-training" target="_blank" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer">5 things we learnt from Carbon Literacy training and how it can help your travel business</a></li></ul><p>==</p><p><strong>It’s a Journey</strong> is a ground-breaking podcast series hosted by Richard Hammond, Publishing Director of Green Traveller Media and Holly Tuppen, sustainable travel writer and expert. Sponsored by Lemongrass, it tackles the uncomfortable, complex, and often overlooked questions facing the travel industry as it strives to have a better impact on people and places.</p><p>Thanks for listening! Please submit any questions or comments to <a href="mailto:itsajourneypodcast@gmail.com" target="_blank" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer">itsajourneypodcast@gmail.com</a></p><p>Get in touch about opportunities at <a href="https://www.itsajourney.fm/" target="_blank" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer">itsajourney.fm</a></p>
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