Why Nature is Everyone's Business

Expedia Group understands this connection. Aditi Mohapatra, Vice President of Global Social Impact and Sustainability, puts it plainly:

“Nature is the product we are offering our travellers. Beaches, coral reefs, rainforests, these are the reasons people explore the world. Connecting and protecting them is essential.” 

In short: it’s about doing the right thing and staying in business. Globally, over 80% of Travel & Tourism goods and services depend on healthy ecosystems. While carbon emissions are closely monitored and often carry a price, the loss of biodiversity and ecosystems is largely ignored. That oversight is risky. Nature-based solutions, like protecting forests, wetlands, and reefs, could provide over 30% of the most cost-effective climate mitigation needed by 2030. Yet they currently receive less than 5% of global climate funding.

Nature-based tourism is also a significantly underused business opportunity. It generates over $600 billion annually and supports millions of jobs worldwide. A World Bank study in Zambia found that for every $1 invested in South Luangwa National Park returned $28 in revenue.

“I don’t think the industry fully recognizes this connection yet, either as a risk or an opportunity,” says Mohapatra. “Nature-based solutions are a critical path forward.” 

Expedia Group is setting a strong example of what environmental leadership looks like in the travel industry. As well as supporting nature-based solutions around the world, it also seeks to embody this ethos in its own operations. Its Seattle headquarters, for example, were designed to preserve local ecosystems and encourage positive encounters with nature. Located on a 40-acre waterfront site, the campus: 

• Restores native habitats
• Reuses local materials like boulders, driftwood, and spruce from decommissioned mills
• Features rain gardens that filter nearly all retained water
• Offers public bike trails that curve along the bay

This space serves as a daily reminder to employees and visitors that nature is central to the company’s mission. That same mindset guides Expedia Group’s global strategy. Across its platforms, travelers can: 

• Filter for eco-certified hotels
• Choose electric vehicle rentals
• Book lower-emission flights

Through its work with the Travalyst Coalition, Expedia Group is also helping to establish shared sustainability metrics across the travel sector, making it easier for travelers and businesses to make informed, responsible choices.

Expedia Group’s most impactful initiative to date is the Nature Positive Tourism Fund, launched in partnership with the Wildlife Conservation Society. This fund supports tourism businesses in some of the world’s most ecologically rich but vulnerable regions. Many of these ventures are Indigenous - or community - owned and nascent, and thus require an additional infusion of capital before they can become self-sufficient.

The fund provides grants, concessionary loans, and technical assistance to growing tourism businesses. Its goal is to ensure that ecosystems and local economies help each other and grow together, creating a mutually reinforcing virtuous cycle.

The fund’s impact can be seen in:  

• Cambodia – funding for a new eco-lodge at the Kulen Prumtep Wildlife Sanctuary
• Belize – long term funding for the protection of Glover Reef
• Guatemala – improved transport links and online marketing for the community of the Uaxactun in the Maya Biosphere Reserve
• Bolivia – funding and support for community tourism operators at the Madidi National Park

Each project demonstrates a regenerative model where environmental protection and economic prosperity reinforce one another.

“We’re trying to show that travel and tourism can be a market-based model for conservation,” says Mohapatra. “By creating incentives for local communities to invest in nature, and by offering travelers unique opportunities to explore some of the wildest places in the world.”

Expedia Group encourages other companies to explore nature-based solutions. But to be effective, action on nature must be integrated with broader climate strategies.

“Start by understanding your exposure,” Mohapatra advises. “What ecosystems does your business rely on? What could you lose?” From there, identify where nature-based solutions align with decarbonization, climate adaptation, and risk management.

This isn’t just about luxury resorts or international travelers. In places like Sicanang, tourism is local, seasonal and often the primary source of income. For this model to endure and expand, action must be shared by businesses, governments, and communities alike.

Nature is not a backdrop, it’s the foundation. And protecting it is both a moral imperative and a business necessity. 

Image credits: ©WCS