JAKARTA – tiket.com, one of the pioneers in online travel agency (OTA) industry in Indonesia, is introducing its latest feature to highlight accommodations involved in the sustainable tourism movement, called tiket Green.

According to Gaery Undarsa, Co-Founder and Chief Marketing Officer of tiket.com, tiket Green is an attempt and a form of responsibility of tiket.com in contributing in sustainable tourism initiative.

This feature will attach “tiket Green” label on the tiket.com profile if said accommodation has met set green criteria. This label may even be directly filtered by users.

“This is a part of our commitment, so that we can help customers choose better options,” said Undarsa during the Press Conference of tiket Green Launch today (22/4).

Meanwhile, on the same occasion, Cisyelsa Bunyamin, SVP of Accommodation of tiket.com, believes accommodation is the factor that has a huge role in sustainable tourism.

“According to the last study in 2021, hotels committed to sustainability principles may contribute to energy conservation by up to 20%, and help reducing emission by up to 10%,” she added.

According to Bunyamin, up until now, there are 5,400 accommodations globally listed at tiket.com that have adopted sustainable tourism values.

“For Indonesia and Southeast Asia, there are approximately 700,” she added. These accommodations are spread across Bali, West Java, East Java, even Nusa Tenggara.

Bunyamin said that there are 6 criteria of “green” accommodation, adopted from Global Sustainable Tourism Council (GSTC) and Green Hotel from Kemeparekraf. These criteria include food processing (F&B), water usage, energy conservation, biodiversity, waste management, and mindfulness.

Unfortunately, this feature has yet to grant benefits and economic impact for property owners or users (e.g., points or discounts). However, Undarsa said that tiket Green development will continue to take place.

“We are still in the position of trying to educate that this issue [sustainable tourism] is vital; it will take time. That is why, at first, we are trying to create something simple yet impactful, particularly as we have an extensive user base,” added Undarsa.

John Flood, President and CEO of Archipelago International, a partner of tiket.com, is appreciating the effort of tiket.com in launching this tiket Green feature.

According to him, the cost and energy spent, be it by property owners for investments of green property and accommodations, or by tiket.com to verify the criteria and curate these green accommodations, are not scant.

“For us, the more recognition for sustainable hotels, the better,” said Flood.

“Not many people do it, but tiket.com took the effort. I hope people appreciate this, use the system, and gravitate more towards hotels in the program,” he concluded. (ZH)