Tricolage, first GSTC certified company in Japan for sustainable tourism

Sustainable travel means making conscious and responsible choices when traveling to minimize negative environmental impacts. This involves reducing carbon emissions through using public transport or cycling instead of driving, conserving natural resources by staying in eco-friendly accommodations, supporting local businesses and communities, and minimizing waste by refusing disposable items and properly disposing of any trash. Ultimately, sustainable travel promotes a more balanced relationship between humans and the environment.

As a keen traveler myself, I have written on topics such as sustainable travel through means of transport in relation to climate change. I cannot ignore the economic, environmental, and social consequences of traveling. I want to take all three aspects into account daily and proudly say that I am trying to travel sustainably.

I happened to chance upon the first travel consultancy in Japan to obtain a Global Sustainable Tourism Council or GSTC certification, called Tricolage. Tricolage Inc. offers two services. “Tourism Consulting Services” advises governments and tourism operators like hotels to assist in creating sustainable local tourism, developing new travel plans, designing tourism content, and conducting lectures and workshops for workforce development. “Travel Planning and Management Services” operates as a travel agency, providing high-value, sustainable travel services, including hotel reservations, transportation arrangements, and overall tour planning for inbound (travelers from overseas) businesses and individual travelers.

I couldn’t help myself messaging Tricolage. Meeting the Duo of Tricolage revealed the pair to be complete opposites. Benjamin Wong is a calm and soft-spoken ex-banker, while Fumiko Yoshida, a former inbound event and tour conductor, speaks clearly and assertively.

Meeting the Duo of Tricolage

Q. What brought the two of you together to set up Tricolage?

Wong: “We are, as you can see, two people with different personalities. I originally worked in banking and had no connection to sustainable tourism. But I was an unparalleled lover of traveling. As I traveled to different countries around the world, I wondered if it was enough to just travel as I pleased. I am happy to travel, but what impact does my traveling have? I thought, maybe there is a solution that can make more people happy when they travel. So, I invited Fumiko, who had just quit her primary job, to start this company with me.”

Yoshida: “I was always interested in environmental issues and originally studied environmental law and social issues at a place called the Department of Legal Studies of the Global Environment when I was a student. Back then, I wanted to find opportunities to contribute to environmental conservation, but quickly realized that I was uncertain about the available job options that would allow me to actively engage in this field. So, instead, I first ventured into the IT business, before making a shift into the world of luxury inbound business, organizing and managing events and tours for wealthy people. It was a completely different world.

“While facing my daily challenge to satisfy my clients, I struggled to be completely satisfied with myself doing daily tasks and turning a blind eye to certain social problems that I always cared about. The pandemic allowed me time to look at myself more closely, then quit the job. Right about that time I had an opportunity to meet up with my friend Ben, which led me to establish Tricolage with him.”

Q. What is the meaning behind the company name, Tricolage?

Yoshida: “Tricolage is inspired by the French word ‘Bricolage,’ which means to construct or create something out of a diverse range of available things. It contrasts with engineering, where a plan or design comes first, followed by gathering the necessary materials. Under the philosophy of Bricolage, no goal is set in stone. Instead, we aim to achieve our objectives by observing existing characteristics and contemplating what can be derived from them. This concept is similar to the journey we want to create. Rather than designing and building something totally new from scratch, our approach is to start from studying Japan’s existing attractions and create an interesting journey by connecting them, reflecting the kind of tourism we aspire to achieve.

“Secondly, ‘Tri’ in Tricolage stands for both “Trip” and “Three.” The three signifies the pillars of sustainability: environment, society, and economy that we are familiar with. Tricolage carefully evaluates the offerings of tourist destinations, shaping sustainable trip plans based on existing features rather than creating grandiose package plans merely to amuse customers.”

Q. I already love Tricolage. What are the main philosophy and goals of the company?

Wong: “When we started the company, we spent months thinking carefully about what we set out to achieve as a business, our vision and mission. We still carry the same mission that we decided in the beginning and continue to follow. Our mission is to create ‘a world where happiness is experienced through sustainable journeys.’

“Everything we do in our business, we try to do it by achieving this mission. The journeys we mean are not necessarily travelling but let’s start with travel. Ultimately travel is a meansto help revitalize regions and communities in Japan.“

Importance of the inbound industry (incoming tourism industry)

Q. You mentioned the word inbound. Why does Tricolage focus on Inbound business?

Yoshida: ”To be honest, both Ben and I have more business experience helping international travelers than domestic travelers. Therefore, rather than daring to target customers in Japan, we decided to use our experience and connections to do inbound business.

“As newcomers, we decided to enter the travel industry, which has a long history, and rather than daring to set domestic targets when there are many domestic players, we decided to start in the inbound field, where the language and needs are different from those of the domestic travel industry and we can utilize our own background and strengths.

“In general, when speaking of sustainable tourism, foreign customers are more sensitive to sustainability than Japanese customers. We hope that we can provide the kind of sustainability that they seek when they come to Japan for tourism in the form of “reimportation,” and that their discovery of sustainability in Japan will have a ripple effect on domestic travelers as well. For these reasons, we started our business with the goal of realizing sustainable tourism that first targets travelers from overseas.”

Q. Now can we shift the topic to local tourism consulting which is a part of your tourism consulting service? Could you tell us some examples of those services you conducted in the past?

Yoshida: “We conduct a variety of projects for entities such as the Japan Tourism Agency, local governments, and private businesses. For the Japan Tourism Agency, we’ve partnered to enhance Sustainable Tourism (ST), offering training programs and business development support. In local government contexts, like in Nikko City and Yamaguchi, we’ve provided council advice and brainstormed ways to integrate ST into tourism policies. We’ve co-created content like sustainable overnight tours. Recently, we assisted a luxury hotel in Yamanashi prefecture in devising a Sustainable Stay Plan, involving local businesses and incorporating carbon offsets and community donation incentives.”

Q. Could you give us some specific examples of trips that Tricolage has provided?

Yoshida: “We tailor travel plans to our clients, be they corporate or individual inbound visitors. For a domestic company, we organized a three-day work vacation to a declining village in Nagano. We worked with the residents and the Destination Management Organization (DMO) to offer authentic experiences, such as a local cuisine lunch served by a resident grandmother and a discussion with a grandfather about traditional house construction. This created a strong connection with the local community that encouraged return visits.

“For wealthy individual inbound clients, we curated a two-week plan with a week’s stay in Ishikawa Prefecture in Kansai, excluding Tokyo. The itinerary included an extended stay in Kanazawa and the lesser-visited Noto area, where guests could enjoy local nature walks, learn about Wajima lacquerware directly from a craftsman, and visit local museums.

“We prioritize sustainability in every plan. An example is Nanao City in the Noto area, internationally recognized as a green destination but lesser-known due to its location. Tricolage conducts preliminary surveys of accommodations and guides, ensuring sustainability efforts align with our service.”

Q. When it comes to workation, what kinds of companies or industries do participants engage with?

Yoshida: ”The participants of our workation program engage with many different industry sectors in Japan such as hospitality (food and beverage, hotels, etc.), medical, and construction. Therefore, we designed a three-day-two-night itinerary, with a different theme for each day, such as a hospitality day, a medical day, etc. For example, we could experience harvesting and direct conversation with a local organic farmer in the food field, make connections, and then promote this farmer to the rest of the country to influence the industry.

Q. Where do individual inbound clients usually come from?

Yoshida: Our clients come from various regions such as Europe, the North America, and Africa. The customer I introduced before was from Singapore, who had visited Japan many times. They wanted to visit a less-travelled area. So after we brought them to Ishikawa prefecture, they were guided to Ine, a city by the sea in Kyoto and visited Shiga one day during their stay in Kyoto.

Q. I have the impression that Singapore is home to many wealthy individuals. Do you feel that travelers are more interested in sustainable travel than travelers in Japan?

Yoshida: ”I got the sense that they weren’t particularly interested in sustainability, especially from an environmental perspective If anything, they seemed to be more interested in Japan’s niche culture. This was a good match for our services. I have the impression that European and American tourists are highly interested in the environmental aspects of their trip.”

Wong: “I think it depends on the person or group. Everyone is different. Just because a person is from Europe doesn’t mean they are automatically interested in sustainable tourism. But for us, regardless of who they are, we always propose sustainable options and encourage them to make more sustainable choices. One thing to say about Singapore as a country is that the country is working very hard to promote sustainable tourism.”

Q. In selecting tourist destinations, do you intentionally select areas with few tourists, or purely choose the ones already selected as sustainable destinations?

Yoshida: “When selecting a region, we don’t necessarily opt for places that are certified. We consciously plan to stay for a day or two in places that are not frequented by tourists. However, some customers may not find a place that is not well-known to them attractive enough. When a customer says, “I still want to go to Tokyo or Kyoto,” we have to find a way to include minor destinations without making them feel uncomfortable. Logistics must also be considered.

“In addition, if a destination is within Green Destination Top 100, it is easier to promote a local business that already has a specific activity, and as a counterpart, it is easier to discuss new activities based on the philosophy and GSTC criteria. In this sense, if there is a Green Destination near a well-known tourist destination that customers want to visit, we actively try to include it in the plan.”

Fulfilling the responsibility Global Sustainable Tourism Council status

Q. Can you tell us a little bit about the process and how you obtained GSTC certification? Why and how did you obtain the GSTC?

Wong: “We started business three years ago. We wanted to make sure we gained in-depth knowledge necessary to develop this area of specialization, the meaning of the label, its significance, and what it represents to the global community. So, we both, as individuals, started studying the GSTC sustainable tourism course, which is uncommon in Japan.

“After we both, completed the GSTC course, we decided, as a company, we should aim to achieve the GSTC certification. The GSTC certification is challenging to obtain; it’s the gold standard. Either you get it or you don’t, there are no smaller and incremental levels to achieving full certification status. Actually, it was a rather difficult process and it took us 10 months as we started in March and finally got the certificate in December. But we wanted to understand it thoroughly and how to apply the GSTC criteria into real life.

“Usually, suppliers are asked by their customers to get certified in order to remain as their suppliers, but we wanted to take initiative ourselves. It involves an independent third-party audit who checks if an organization is certifiable. Through audit we learned a lot, for example what we can still improve on. We are very proud to get certification and we are the only one [as of August 2023] in Japan to be certified.”

Q. As the first ever travel consulting company to get GSTC in Japan, could you share what the benefits of having the certification are?

Wong: “An increasing number of companies are offering travel plans that are more sustainable. We are one of them. Having said that, I think a lot of travelers expressed their concerns about which tour operator is offering travels that are truly sustainable instead of simply greenwashing. So, credibility is the one of the leading benefits of having an internationally recognized certification. Differentiation is another benefit. We are the only travel consultancy company in Japan that holds this prestige GSTC certification.

“Thus, having the GSTC certification benefits us by communicating our credibility and differentiating us from other businesses. Also, internally it really helps us to use this independent third-party audit process and continue learning about sustainable travel and improving our business. The certificate is not like a life-long driver license. It needs to be renewed every 12 months, which allows us to keep up with sustainable travel knowledge and standards.”

Q. I’ve read on your website, there is a phrase “Sustainable Travel Pledge.” I am curious to know what it is. Is it something that travelers have to sign before the trip?

Wong: “Not exactly. It is more like an encouragement rather than a pledge, more about a ‘mental preparation.’ We provide this piece of pledge before our travelers come to Japan, so they’d be more conscious and mindful. Most travelers seldom contemplate the implications of visiting local communities and beyond. The pledge gives some ideas to ponder about being conscious and helpful for society and the environment when they come to Japan. It is not something to force them to do specific things but a chance to encourage them to be mindful and committed to a sustainable trip.”

Q. What specific tools do you use to estimate CO2 emissions and what kind of travel plans do you offer to address greenhouse gas emissions?

Wong: “To the best of our knowledge, there isn’t a universally accepted tool to calculate travel emissions and their impact. And even if there were, it would not be easy to calculate for Japan. We have used different tools in the past but we basically do our own calculation using publicly available data from the Ministry of Environment.

“As a tour operator, we focus on reducing indirect carbon emissions. As such, we propose less carbon-intensive accommodation, transportation and activity options.

“Notably, the method we use to calculate carbon emission was approved by the external third-party audit during the process of GSTC certification. The impact of indirect emissions through proposing more sustainable options to our clients may not be the most significant, but we try our best to plan the travel route to be as efficient as possible.”

Yoshida: “We make sure to give our clients choices. For example, we visualize the difference in CO2 emissions when traveling by train and by car and show it to our clients. If you search for “transit” on the Yahoo transportation search app, you can see the CO2 emissions for each means of transportation. These tools provide information that become new decision-making factors. That is a direct commitment to our clients.

“However, we also offer another service: the consulting business. As an example. we are currently working on a project to support a project with Japan Tourism Agency to raise the level of Sustainable Tourism knowledge for travel businesses across Japan.

“There exists a tool, by Tobu Top Tours DeTS, designed to visualize CO2 emissions specifically for tourism businesses. There is also a tool that allows you to check the price of a room and the amount of CO2 emissions when you use the room. If more hotels use this tool, users will be able to choose hotels where they can stay with less emissions.

“Through these activities, we hope to influence environmental sustainability in the tourism industry.”

Q. As a travel consultancy: how would you like to be involved in the development of sustainable travel in Japan in the future?

Wong: “I think there are number of areas we want to focus on. Getting the certification was just a start for us. Now, we need to apply everything we say we do. We want to use the process of certification as an opportunity to keep learning and to help businesses in Japan by sharing how we got the certification. We also want to take opportunity to engage more foreign experts to share about sustainable tourism in Japan. We aspire to assist Japan from a global perspective, emphasizing community. While this has always been our goal, the certification now empowers us even more to do so.

“In addition to that, we want to bring happiness to all the stakeholders. We want to make sustainable travel a default travel option for travelers.’ We include sustainable options in all our travel plans because if the sustainable options are already included by default, it is easy for travelers to choose. Presenting sustainable options directly to customers simplifies their journey. The easier the customer journey, the more likely they will choose. Moreover, for a community aspect, we want to engage more local partners and communities and spread the idea of sustainable tourism.”

Yoshida: “Adding to those, we think that the environmental aspect in sustainable travel cannot be ignored. In Japan, sustainable tourism tends to prioritize the cultural, social, and economic aspects, while often overlooking the environmental component. The environmental aspect is not well approached. Tricolage is no exception in this regard, and this is an issue that we are currently facing. We need to visualize our environmental impact and how we can make it easier for people to choose travel that has a less negative impact on the environment by defaulting to less environmentally burdensome options. As the only company in Japan with GSTC certification, we would like to proactively improve these issues in the future.”

Authors Reflection: What is Sustainable Travel?

As worries and social restraints from COVID-19 abate, Japan has been attracting more tourists from abroad this year. Some people are concerned about the resulting concentration of tourists in well-known tourist spots.

On the other hand, many areas in Japan are suffering from depopulation and shrinking economies, and are disappearing without anyone’s notice. It might seem presumptuous to expect tourists from abroad to understand such distortions in Japanese society.

I can understand that since their vacation time is limited, they should be allowed to go where they want to go without additional concerns. However, Japan’s beautiful nature, culture, and food are not only found in famous tourist spots. While these features are common to all countries, we, as modern travelers, should strive to understand the culture, society, environment, history, economy, and other aspects of each nation, planning and acting with a mindful approach.

Interviewing Tricolage gave me hope that mindful stakeholders in the travel industry will increase in Japan in the future. At the beginning of the interview, Fumiko mentioned that Tricolage’s goal of sustainable travel has three important aspects: environmental, social, and economic. Personally, I’ve come to believe that the “Tri” in Tricolage represents the aim to create new and sustainable travel by connecting travelers, local communities, and private companies.”