AMSTERDAM — The Duke of Sussex — along with Booking.com, Ctrip, Skyscanner, TripAdvisor and Visa — has co-founded a new global partnership aimed at improving conservation, environmental protection and expanding local community economic development by encouraging sustainable tourism practices across the travel industry.
The initiative, Travalyst, has been created to mobilize the travel industry as a catalyst for good, aiming to transform the future of travel for everyone. It aims to capitalize on the strength and breadth of the global travel market, foster increased collaboration across the industry and stimulate and support new solutions and initiatives in sustainable travel.
“Travel has the unparalleled power to open people’s minds to different cultures, new experiences and to have a profound appreciation for what our world has to offer,” says His Royal Highness, The Duke of Sussex. “As tourism inevitably grows, it is critically important to accelerate the adoption of sustainable practices worldwide and to balance this growth with the needs of the environment and the local population. Bringing companies, consumers and communities together is our best chance to protect destinations and ecosystems for future generations.”
Working with companies, consumers and communities, the partnership will initially explore and promote solutions that help drive sustainable practices and consumer choices in areas including; supporting local people, protecting wildlife, tackling climate change and environmental damage and alleviating overtourism.
“The commitment from these different brands to work together and help build a global network of like-minded social entrepreneurs, NGOs and policymakers is truly inspiring,” says Gillian Tans, chairwoman, Booking.com.“Collaboration is the only path forward if we want to create a real paradigm shift in travel. We want to protect the destinations we all love and guarantee that they are happy and healthy for generations to come, but we can’t do it on our own. Even though we don’t have all the answers yet, we are determined to find them together.”
Further details of new initiatives launched by the Travalyst partnership will be announced in due course.
