Sustainability

The ATTA’s mission is to empower a global travel community to deliver experiences that protect natural and cultural capital while creating shared economic value. Our events, which bring together our vibrant, diverse community periodically throughout the year, are important to achieving our mission. As part of our commitment to sustainable tourism, our Events Sustainability Policy, adapted from the Global Sustainability Tourism Criteria strives to:

  • Maximize social and economic benefits to the local community and minimize negative impacts
  • Maximize benefits to cultural heritage and minimize negative impacts
  • Maximize benefits to the environment and minimize negative impacts

In agreements with live event host partners, ATTA collaborates to align the ATTA community’s values and goals with that of the destination’s in order to purchase and hire locally whenever possible, conserve water, reduce plastic use, avoid food waste, and limit energy consumption and transport within the context of each event.

Recognizing that the travel sector contributes 8 percent of all global carbon emissions, we measure the carbon emissions associated with our events, including staff and delegate travel, and budget for a combination of carbon offsetting and removal of these emissions. (Carbon offsetting is a way of compensating for emissions by paying for emissions reductions elsewhere or by funding tree planting, for example. Carbon removal describes processes that result in carbon being taken out of the atmosphere and put into permanent storage.)

For the 2021 AdventureELEVATE in Sedona, Arizona, ATTA and our host partners are working together with the event venue, to support the best overall event sustainability, as possible.