Introducing Sustainable Suzie: USTOA’s Superhero for Responsible Travel

It’s a bird, it’s a plane ... it’s Sustainable Suzie! Last month, The United States Tour Operators Association (USTOA) introduced Sustainable Suzie, a comic book superhero who saves planet earth by promoting responsible travel.  By day, she’s a USTOA tour operator guide named Susan whose mission is to provide sustainable travel tips to her guests, ensuring there is a world to explore for future generations. Meanwhile, her alter-ego, Suzie, battles with villains determined to contaminate the planet.  

The storyline artfully uses the classic comic book plot – superhero defeats villains – to depict that sustainable travel is about making choices. The motivation behind creating Sustainable Suzie is to make ‘sustainability’ approachable and achievable so that we can all make responsible travel decisions that leave a smaller footprint, respect the places and people we visit, and, most importantly, do no harm to our natural environment.

Among the main responsibilities of sustainable tourism highlighted in the comic is the need to protect the natural resources and wildlife in destinations, and to conserve cultural heritage while creating immersive and authentic experiences for tourists on a trip to the experience-rich destinations of Tenerife, Korea and Norway, all while flying with United Airlines, a sustainability pioneer in the transportation industry.

While a comic might seem unconventional, we wanted to craft a unique campaign during our 50^th anniversary year to convey the core messages of responsible travel with humor, a much more digestible way to understand the issues, the stakes and the solutions.

Traveling sustainably means being aware of the impact of tourism on the environment and the communities we visit, and our goal for the comic book is to break down the barriers that travelers might have to understand that even small steps can make a big difference. Examples of small steps include shopping locally, participating in environmentally friendly activities, taking sustainable transportation to sightsee, using recyclable material while traveling, etc.

This campaign is one of my favorites that we have conducted during my tenure with USTOA. It’s such a special, engaging way to bring attention to industry key issues and goals that we are working to combat one step at a time.

More information about Sustainable Suzie can be found on the USTOA website at www.ustoa.com/sustainablesuzie

About the Author

As president and CEO of USTOA, Terry Dale is a global leader in travel and tourism. A sought-after speaker addressing travel and leadership audiences around the world, he serves as an advocate and ambassador for USTOA and the industry at large. He is guiding USTOA “50 years forward” focusing on the most pressing issues of sustainability and DEI during the association’s milestone 50th anniversary year.