As we wrap up 2021, it’s time to start thinking about our content strategy for the upcoming year. Content production and strategy should always align with business goals, and be valuable for your audience. So it’s important to first identify who your audience is, and how you might create content that meets their needs and drives your business forward.

One of the ways to design your content calendar is to look at topics that are going to be front and center in your industry, and that relate to your business’s values, mission, services, or products. And if you’re a sustainable tourism brand, you’re in luck!

We’ve compiled a list of ten trending topics that are sure to be spotlighted heavily in 2022… so you can be part of, and leading, some of those conversations.

Upward shot of tall tree in thick green forest — Photo by GLP Films

Climate Positivity versus Climate Neutrality

Some might argue that climate change doesn’t get enough coverage in mainstream media. And that’s probably true. But, in spheres like ours — sustainable travel, tourism, outdoor and adventure — it’s a hot topic.

But it’s no longer enough to talk about climate change. In fact, carbon-neutral is so...2021. This year is all about climate positivity… meaning brands are going to have to find ways to not only offset their emissions, but have a positive impact on climate change by planting trees, or buying extra carbon offset credits.

So, what does this mean for you? In terms of content, think about highlighting organizations or partners that you recognize that are pushing this agenda. Keep up the climate conversation, educating and motivating your audience. And consider some internal changes too… what can you do to not just be part of the conversation, but actually be a part of the solution?

Think donating to OneTreePlanted or purchasing offsets for flights. Whatever you do, do it seriously, and commit. And share your wins!

Transparency

Getting personal with your audience is becoming a way to connect, demonstrate the humanity behind your business, and attract people looking for authentic experiences and companies. Transparency in your sustainability efforts and shortcomings is a great way to show your commitments, recognize where you need to do better, and open up honest conversations with your followers to build authentic relationships.

For your content creation, talk about all the things you do well, where you are looking to improve, and goals you have set for your organization. Keep your audience updated, and watch the positive sentiment roll in about how refreshing it is to see an organization share their sustainability journey with such candor.

Not only will you strengthen relationships with your customers, you’ll be more accountable moving forward too.

Replacing Single Use Plastics

Plastic pollution has never gotten more attention- with the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, videos of sea life with plastic-filled bellies, and endless photos of polluted beaches across the world. And destinations are starting to answer the public’s cry for better options, like compostable straws and drinkware, bans on plastic bags, and refillable water stations around cities, airports, and public spaces.

The prediction is that scrutiny around single-use plastics will continue to increase, whether it’s bags, dining ware, or water bottles. In fact, we think 2022 will become the year when single-use plastics are more often than not frowned upon, and organizations that are sticking to them will be judged...harshly. Companies that can demonstrate a move away from single-use plastic should definitely be building this into their content strategy.

Here’s what this means for you: this is a great space to use behind-the-scenes content. Showing how your company is playing a role in reducing single-use plastics, selecting unique plastic replacements, and supporting the pivot towards more sustainable materials not only demonstrates a strong commitment to sustainability but helps educate the greater public on the options that are available.

And people LOVE behind-the-scenes, personal photos and videos of what brands are doing.

Hotels may share their new drinkware that replaces those dreadful, continental breakfast single-use plastic cups; tour companies might share their refillable water stations with some facts around how many water bottles they’ve saved; destinations can educate the public on plastic bag bans; sustainable product companies can show how their packaging is made from abundant and natural biodegradable material.

This type of content is not only fun and engaging for customers — it’s fun and easy to do for brands, and shows personality and humanity.

Indian women sitting on floor in traditional dress — Photo by GLP Films

Inclusivity

2021 saw a greater focus on Diversity, Inclusivity, Cultural Appreciation, and Intersectional Environmentalism than ever before. The result is a public that is more aware and sensitive to media depictions, language, and messaging, and expects higher levels of inclusion in all brand messaging.

In your content, take a stance, stand by equity, inclusion, and diversity — but be sure you’re walking the walk. When you produce content visuals, include a range of ethnicities and genders. Don’t write your messaging tailored to a single population. Be inclusive with point of view, and consider broadening your team to include those various perspectives.

Share related content, but also meet the needs of a range of groups in your own content. If you’re a tourism destination, consider sharing content and calling out stores and restaurants that are handicapped accessible. Produce content that celebrates the intangible cultural heritage of place, and work with indigenous communities to provide authentic indigenous experiences. Check out Native-Land.ca and consider including information at your brick and mortar about the indigenous lands you’re standing on. Tour agencies should produce content that demonstrates their language capabilities for educational audio or reading, if applicable. Any visual promotional material should be inclusive of races, genders, styles, age, and beyond.

Don’t just say you are inclusive — be sure your content demonstrates it. demonstrate it through your content production.

Environmental Social Governance

Environmental Social Governance (ESG) is a form of Governance, Risk Mitigation, and Compliance that recognizes that social and environmental intangibles should be tracked in order to recognize and mitigate risks that poor practices in these spaces could cause.

Although ESG tracking is an undertaking, the emergence of high-quality technological data tracking tools has made ESG tracking more achievable and widespread in organizations, and it’s becoming more commonplace for investors to request audits or assessments before consideration.

This particular trend for 2022 will permeate the investment space — and although it may feel like a lot to tackle as an organization, you should take some time to look into recognized ESG standards, for instance, Global Reporting Initiative (GRI). This is a valuable resource to help you identify where you’re meeting criteria positively, and help you strategize relevant content, and frame it in a manner that demonstrates compliance in certain spheres. It may also (unofficially) help your business identify spaces where you could improve, giving you general insights before you pursue a more official approach to measuring and collecting ESG data in the future.

For example, whether lodging, a destination management office, restaurant, or tour guide agency, you’re likely working with supply chains. Do you know the environmental and social conditions and regulations of the supply chains on which you depend? If not, get to know them! And if they are positive, start sharing that information, framed in a way that aligns with ESG standards. (If not… well, it’s time to start looking for new vendors!)

Check out GRI - Standards for some ideas on the type of topics you might include for ESG-focused content...and to start considering how to move toward ESG reporting in the future!

And for reference, see Hilton’s ESG report, which has been made publicly available.

Biodiversity Protection

If you’re a sustainable destination or tourism brand, this topic should always be front and center. More than ever, people are looking to explore unique places with vibrant wildlife. Keeping the local ecosystem as part of your content and messaging piques the interest of potential visitors, as well as educates them on why sustainable behavior and responsible travel are important.

For content, consider linking travelers’ behaviors with impacts to local wildlife with images of some of their favorites. Or introduce them to new local species they might not know about! Share ideas on how your brand is protecting local ecosystems, working with local partners on rewilding or other ways your organization is putting value on wildlife, and get people to recognize how their actions impact these ecosystems.

Remote Work

This is no surprise, but after COVID shutdowns and work-from-home orders, a lot of companies had to get agile and find ways to make working remotely feasible. And, after much success, many are opting out of full-time office work altogether.

There are links to sustainability with remote work — less commuting, higher quality of life, work/life balance, and even reduced energy costs with less massive office buildings in operation. And if this applies to your business, you can highlight your remote or hybrid work environment and its positive impacts on people, planet, and profits. But, more generally, we encourage you to see this as a new audience for your sustainable brand, because for the tourism industry, this is part of a major shift — not only adapting to a lack of tourists during COVID-19 travel restrictions, but now considering how to cater to longer-term visitors that are a part of the emerging and growing ‘work from anywhere’ culture.

This new population of remote workers can visit new places and truly get to explore them, deeply and intimately, moving away from popular, highly marketed, over-visited places, and getting to truly engage with local communities.

If you’re a destination, this is a great opportunity to work with other lesser-known places to encourage visitors to explore local towns or rural areas to disperse tourism. And, it’s a perfect time to create content on the merits of Community-Based Tourism. If you’re a tour operator or an adventure business, consider using your content creation as a listening tool to see how longer stays might open up opportunities for your business to create repeat customers from remote workers.

Snow covered mountain surrounded by clouds — Photo by GLP Films

Sustainable versus Regenerative

Although we certainly haven’t even scraped the surface of what needs to be done to achieve sustainability globally, “regenerative” is stealing the spotlight in some places. Enthusiasts for a more equitable, naturally vibrant, and diverse, healthy world are pushing aside the concept of sustainability, with the argument that we can’t sustain the way we are — we have to improve systems, ecosystems, and communities in order to achieve sustainability.

Depending on your business, there may be some opportunities to fold this concept into processes, strategies, and business objectives, which in turn can equate to personal content you can share with your consumers. But, there’s legwork to do in terms of educating alone on the concept, and any conscientious organization has an opportunity to open up the discussion, educate, and help formulate thought leadership on how we move from where we are today, into regenerative practices. Because, although the concept of regenerative seems to surpass sustainable, actually, there is a case for the argument that the only way this planet becomes sustainable now is through regenerative action.

Destination Management

COVID-19 brought attention to the unsustainable and fragile nature of the tourism industry. And the quantification of success via ‘heads in beds’ is no longer applicable, as we see strained resources and environmental degradation accompanying overtourism.

The trend for 2022 is destination management over marketing. Instead of mass marketing campaigns to attract more visitors, attracting the right individuals through your content is key in this industry pivot. Consider how to rebrand language and messaging to accommodate more mindful travelers that want to experience a sense of place and not just shallow Instagram moments. If you’re an adventure brand, don’t just focus on the adrenaline, but develop content that promotes a sense of reverence for the ecosystems and local communities. If you’re a restaurant, pull in some history or culture when sharing dishes and drink recipes, and inform readers of the connection to the land and local heritage. If you’re a destination, consider crafting content that introduces visitors to culture, history, and “aha moments” that offer a deeper sense of the location.

Educating to persuade more responsible travel is key in content marketing to help guide destination management. For a great example of marketing being used as a tool in destination management, check out Sedona’s efforts to disperse visitors away from over-trafficked destinations with their Secret 7 campaign.

Instead of creating content with the intent to lure high numbers of visitors, destinations might consider creating content like lists on how to travel responsibly, and not where or what to see.

Greenwashing Visibility

Although we should be sharing our sustainability wins, the public is beginning to recognize how small efforts are often disguised as company culture. Be sure to be transparent (see above) about your sustainability successes and shortcomings. You do NOT want to present content that can be seen as greenwashing, whether it is indeed greenwashing, or could be misconstrued that way,

One way to avoid this is to mention how whatever you are showcasing is just one small piece of your sustainability efforts. If all you ever post about is recycling, people may catch on and assume you’re not really walking the walk.

Also, don’t be afraid to call out when you know you need to do more. Better you do than your readers or viewers.

Feel comfortable to share, but don’t inflate efforts or skew data to make it look like you are doing more than you are. If the numbers aren’t very impressive, you can always share how you intend to improve upon them in the future.

For instance, hotels or destinations may consider posting on waste management, and share numbers on diverting recycling or compost from the trash. You can frame this in a way that indicates improvement, recognizing how far you’ve come and that sustainability is a journey, and never done. Be hopeful, be positive, but above all, be honest. You can do more damage to your reputation by greenwashing than not mentioning sustainability efforts at all, so do be cautious.

Check out our tips on how to avoid greenwashing here.

River tour boat filled with tourists on water — Photo by GLP Films

As you develop your content strategy for 2022, keep these topics in mind and brainstorm how they align with your business goals. One of the main trends is that consumers are becoming savvier. In fact, 83% of millennials expect the businesses that they spend their money on to be ethical, sustainable, and responsible. So it’s time to start hitting sustainability heavily in your content creation and making it apparent that it is an integral part of your business operations and the tourism experience you’re offering.

Content Strategy: 10 Trends for Sustainable Brands in 2022