Calling All Tourism and Hospitality Professionals: Champion Print — Be Seen, Stay Green, Drive Business

As professionals in tourism and hospitality, you know visibility is everything. Visitors cannot choose what they do not see. Yet one of the most effective and sustainable ways of being seen—printed brochures, guides, and maps—is being undermined by some. Digital is too often promoted as the “green” alternative, while the truth is the very opposite.

Print is the green and sustainable choice. Digital isn't. Data centres consume as much power as major cities. The rise of streaming, cryptocurrency, and artificial intelligence—with its voracious appetite for energy—is driving consumption to unprecedented levels. Devices are designed for short lives, creating mountains of toxic e-waste. Rare minerals are mined, batteries discarded, and servers cooled with vast amounts of energy and water. This is not clean, light, or green.

Print tells another story. Forests in Europe and North America are growing, not shrinking, under responsible management. Paper fibres can be recycled up to seven times. When their life is over, they biodegrade within weeks without harming the earth. Print is renewable, recyclable, and transparent in its sourcing. It belongs to a circular economy that digital cannot claim.

The Tourism and Business Consequences of Greenwashing

So why do the myths about print persist? Because of greenwashing. Sometimes it is ignorant advice—well-meaning but wrong. Sometimes it is lazy marketing—“digital-only” dressed up as innovation when it is really just cost-cutting. And sometimes it is deception — a pretence of going green by people who know better, using optics instead of substance. And sometimes it is the misplaced belief that “going digital” is the same as going green. In reality, it has the opposite effect: it also reduces the chance of being seen by visitors and hotel guests.

And the consequences are real. When print is pushed aside, local businesses are harder to find. Attractions and activities go undiscovered. Restaurants and shops lose passing trade. Local economies lose spending. Visitors lose too. They lose a loved medium in a world where digital fatigue is growing, and where AI increasingly decides what is shown, what is summarised, and what is left out. They lose something tangible, touchable, and trusted — a medium they choose, hold, and opt into, rather than one that interrupts or intrudes.

Take away print, and tourism businesses lose what matters most: visibility, visitors, and revenue.

Why Your Voice Matters

Tourism and hospitality professionals are best placed to say clearly: brochures, maps, and guides are a powerful medium that merits support — because it combines sustainability with effectiveness.

And the effectiveness is beyond dispute. Visitor International’s global research shows that seven in ten travellers use brochures, maps, and guides. Each brochure chosen represents 100% opt-in and often reaches three or more people, multiplying its impact while reducing its footprint per reader. Most importantly, 98% of travellers trust print as reliable visitor information. Digital cannot match that. It is often blocked, scrolled past, or ignored. Print is chosen, green, trusted, and acted upon.

The Call to Action

So let’s be clear. Those that go "digital-only" are not going green. They are only reducing the chances of being seen — and stymying the powerful stream of business that brochures generate for businesses, venues, local economies, and destinations.

This is why your voice matters. By championing print, you defend a medium that is green, effective, and trusted. You help ensure visibility for businesses, discoveries for visitors and guests, and a boost for destinations.

Print is green. Print is trusted. Print delivers. Print is the sustainable communication choice. And that is why print deserves your support, your voice, and your leadership across our industry.