Worldwide, tourism generates significant economic activity and has a very positive effect socially. It can, however, also have less desirable impacts, in particular on the resources, ecosystems, well-being and cultures of communities.

“Sustainable” tourism entails respect for nature, as well as for host communities and their values; it combines positive socio-economic benefits for local populations with an enriching experience for travellers. In that spirit, Transat is striving to maximize the positive impacts of its operations and reducing their negative impacts.

Transat now has a Sustainable Tourism Committee, chaired by Lina De Cesare, whose mandate is to develop and execute a long-term action plan that covers the environmental, socio-cultural and economic aspects of tourism. The implementation of the resulting sustainable tourism strategy is a considerable undertaking that will continue over several years.

In 2007, we attained some important milestones with the creation of environmental committees at all of our main locations, the launch of a community support program, the preparation of a pilot project that will focus on the performance of our suppliers in terms of sustainable development and, lastly, the final implementation phase of a wide-ranging fuel-management program begun in 2003 by our carrier, Air Transat. The program has succeeded in lowering our fuel consumption by 5.5%, reducing by the same amount the greenhouse gas emissions related to our air operations.