Background: Sustainability communication has become an increasingly important part ofcorporate marketing and branding strategies. Companies are today expected to takeresponsibility for their environmental impact and communicate their sustainability efforts tocustomers, investors, and other stakeholders. At the same time, increasing demands forsustainability have led to growing skepticism regarding how genuine corporate sustainabilityengagement actually is. The concept of greenwashing describes situations where companiespresent themselves as more sustainable than their actual practices demonstrate. This isparticularly relevant within the travel industry, where operations are strongly connected toclimate impact through transportation and increased travel. Travel companies thereforeoperate in a complex position where they must both meet sustainability expectations andmaintain a business model dependent on continued travel and growth.

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to examine how travel companies communicatesustainability in their external communication and how this communication can beunderstood as a strategy for creating and maintaining legitimacy. The study also aims toanalyze how companies’ sustainability communication relates to their sustainability reports,certifications, and other formal documents. Furthermore, the study examines which themesand legitimization strategies emerge in the communication and how companies manage thetension between climate impact and continued travel.

Method: The study applies a qualitative research method with an interpretative andconstructionist approach. The research is conducted through a thematic analysis ofcompanies’ external communication in the form of websites, sustainability reports, and otherpublic documents. Six companies within the travel industry are analyzed: two within aviation,two within bus transportation, and two within ferry/shipping transportation. The analysis isbased on legitimacy theory, sustainability paradox, and an ethical perspective to examine howsustainability is constructed and communicated in the material.

Empirical Material: The empirical section first presents an overall climate context andgeneral statistics regarding the climate impact, emission levels, and sustainability challengesof the transport sector. This section is based on public sources and statistics fromorganizations such as the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency, Statistics Sweden(SCB), and the IPCC, and functions as a reference framework for the study’s analysis.Thereafter, the companies’ sustainability communication and sustainability reporting arepresented based on identified themes and patterns. The material is analyzed both within eachmode of transport and through comparisons between aviation, bus, and ferry companies. Thefocus lies on how companies describe responsibility, climate impact, innovation,technological solutions, and sustainability engagement, as well as how the communicationrelates to the companies’ actual reporting and the broader climate context.

Conclusion: The study shows that sustainability communication functions as a centrallegitimization strategy within the travel industry. At the same time, clear differences emergebetween the different modes of transport. The aviation companies primarily emphasizedfuture technological solutions and innovation in order to manage their high climate impact,while the bus companies to a greater extent portrayed sustainability as something alreadyintegrated into their operations through lower emissions and efficiency. The ferry companiesoccupied an intermediate position where sustainability was communicated through gradualimprovements and alternative solutions. The results also show that the companies’communication often contains both substantive and symbolic elements, where sustainabilityis used to meet increasing expectations from stakeholders while continued travel issimultaneously normalized. The study therefore demonstrates that sustainabilitycommunication in the travel industry is not only about informing stakeholders aboutsustainability efforts, but also about creating credibility and legitimacy in a climate-intensiveindustry.

Keywords: sustainability communication, legitimacy theory, greenwashing, sustainabilityparadox, travel industry, climate impact, sustainability reporting, CSR, sustainability, brandcommunicatio