Luxury Gold is a proud member of The Travel Corporation’s (TTC) family of brands. The Tollman family behind TTC is guided by service and giving back. Together we believe that travel is a great privilege. With the education, compassion, and lifelong memories travel provides us also comes a great responsibility. At Luxury Gold, our mission is to ensure that travel has a positive impact on the planet we call home, the people and communities whose home we visit, and the rich wildlife we find there.
The TreadRight Foundation is a not-for-profit organization created as a joint initiative between The Travel Corporation’s (TTC) family of brands. TreadRight has supported some 55-plus sustainable tourism projects worldwide to date. Support is provided through donations and grants to leading partners across the sustainable travel spectrum. These projects all fall under the three pillars of TreadRight: People, Wildlife, Planet.
1- PEOPLE – Community Support and Cultural Preservation
Luxury Gold enables communities to see the benefits from tourism through economic empowerment. Luxury Gold guests have the opportunity to enrich their journey by participating in a variety of unique community-led tourism experiences that directly support employment and preserve the community’s distinct heritage.
Meet Sarain Fox, TreadRight’s People Ambassador
Sarain amplifies the voices of her Indigenous community through preservation of culture and stories. “When we make authentic connections with local people our travel becomes infinitely richer. My First Nation Anishinaabe heritage serves as the lens through which I view the world, seeking to build a bridge to the people whose lands I am grateful to visit and whose stories I am privileged to tell. Throughout the Americas, you will find rich cultures to discover and support – and fascinating people to meet.”
The Centro de Textiles Tradicionales del Cusco encourages a 10,000-year-old Andean textile tradition and provides support to the 500 individuals working in this heritage industry from the Cusco region. Meet Nilda Callañaupa Alvarez, president of The Center for Traditional Textiles of Cusco, and learn about her mission to preserve traditional weaving techniques and how she has succeeded in bringing weaving once more to the forefront of her community.
2. Planet – Conservation and Protection
We are committed to reducing the environmental impact of our business and safeguarding the future of our planet. Initiatives include: targeting climate change, sustainable food production and responsible consumption through carbon management, renewable energy, the food cycle, waste reduction, and the elimination of single-use plastics.
Leading environmentalist and explorer, Céline has been highlighting various sustainable travel topics and showcasing amazing projects helping to protect ecosystems all over the world through her films. She has been TreadRight’s Planet Ambassador since 2015. We encourage people to hear the stories of local projects, discover what different communities are doing to protect our planet. If you can get involved and understand what people are doing, you can see where we, as humans can make a difference.
3. Wildlife – CONSERVATION AND PROTECTION
The world’s wildlife is balancing on a dangerous precipice, so it is our responsibility to help protect some of these species most at risk from extinction. Through Luxury Gold’s partnership with the TreadRight Foundation, we to help protect and rehabilitate elephant, rhino and big cat populations around the world, while also educating our guests on ethical wildlife experiences.
Meet Ami Vitale, TreadRight’s Wildlife Ambassador
Awarded “Best Image of the Decade” for her depiction of the final moments of a northern white rhino, former war photographer Ami Vitale captures compelling stories of wildlife and nature on film. Ami has travelled to over 100 countries and is committed to making a profound difference to the future of conservation. There isn’t just one thing you can do for the planet, there are many things, but one of those has to be choosing travel companies that offer ethical experiences. Supporting companies that choose sustainability means prolonging the existence of certain species.
Visit the former private hunting grounds of the maharajahs of Jaipur, in search of the elusive Bengal tiger and other wildlife on an early-morning game drive. More common wildlife sightings in the dry, deciduous forests o Jaipur include wild boars, monkeys, spotted deer and antelope. Return to your resort for breakfast before you head out on another safari adventure into the National Park, led by an expert naturalist. Besides wildlife, you’ll discover lakes, palace ruins, traditional Chhatri and even a majestic 1,000-year-old fort.
How We Tread Right Strategy Implementation
Going beyond our partnership with The TreadRight Foundation How We Tread Right is our new five-year sustainability strategy. At the heart of this strategy are 11 goals, developed to address both the environmental footprint and the community impact of our business and operations. These 11 HWTR goals are anchored to the United Nations Global Goals for Sustainable Development, which we’ve prioritized based on our impact potential. Our goals were developed in consultation with 30+ TTC brand and business leaders, as well as our Make Travel Matter Team, a passionate group of team members tasked with embedding sustainability at our offices and within our operations around the world.
Make Travel Matter (MTM) Experiences
NEW for 2022 at Luxury Gold Make Travel Matter Experiences are conscious travel experiences available on our journeys. MTM Experiences are chosen with great care based on the positive social or environmental impact they have on their communities and those who experience them. Using a proprietary assessment tool endorsed by industry experts and developed exclusively for TTC’s family of brands, MTM Experiences are assessed against a robust set of criteria directly tied to the UN Global Goals. Through HWTR, we are committed to integrating at least one MTM Experience on 50% of our trips by 2025.
Take The Pledge – In It Together
As mentioned our ethos of #makingtravelmatter permeates our entire business and mandates that each member of the Luxury Gold team does his or her very best to walk the talk. As a global family connected through our love of travel and our commitment to sustainability, we have each signed the #MakeTravelMatter Pledge we hope that you will join us before embarking on your Luxury Gold journey.
As we approach the end of 2020, we look back with a sigh at the year of travel that was not – then turn our focus to dreams of future travel.
Like you, those of us at The Travel Corporation have been watching closely for signs of progress on vaccines against Covid-19, even as we implement the innovations for traveler hygiene and wellbeing described by Gavin Tollman in October’s blog posting. While each of us will need to decide exactly when we are ready to journey onwards, one thing is clear – we will travel again. Difficult and frustrating as this year has been, it has not diminished our desire to travel. If anything, this time of limited movement and isolation has increased our desire for the freedom to explore distant destinations and rediscover the world.
For this month’s blog post, we thought it fitting to look forward, wondering what might be different when we do travel again. The challenges we face in life transform us, leading to learning and growth, and that is especially true with challenges of the magnitude of those we have been through this year, which have had such an impact on all of us.
How might this period of time shape our future travels?
For insights on this question, we turned to TreadRight’s Travel Ambassadors, Céline Cousteau, Sarain Fox, and Ami Vitale, three of the most inspired and inspiring travelers in the world. They represent the three pillars of our company’s non-profit, TreadRight Foundation – Planet, People, and Wildlife, respectively. We invited each to tell us a little about what this time of limited travel has been like for them – and their thoughts on when we travel again.
Céline S. Cousteau, TreadRight’s Planet Ambassador As a documentary filmmaker and gifted storyteller, Céline has travelled the world working to help amplify the voices of the amazing individuals who are doing more to protect ecosystems, wildlife, and people. The daughter of ocean explorer and filmmaker Jean-Michel Cousteau and granddaughter of the legendary Jacques Yves Cousteau, Céline brings a profound understanding of the importance of legacy and the necessity to experience the world in a way that ensures future generations will have the opportunity to do the same. She has recently published her first book, in French, Le monde après mon grand-père (The World After My Grandfather).
“People protect what they love.”
This is what my grandfather taught us all. I believe this is why immersive travel experiences are so important, for they help us come to know our beautiful, fragile planet – and fall in love with it.
I have been thinking about this more lately, from my home in a small village in southern France. Since I returned here from travels last March, my journeys have been local, as you can see in this TreadRight video. As I write this, France has just entered a second lockdown.
We are but one of so many places that have slowed down or shut down now, which is especially difficult for communities worldwide that depend on travel and tourism. So many people are suffering, faced with uncertainty and loss of employment. While I am TreadRight’s Planet Ambassador, in truth it is impossible to see our planet as disconnected from people and wildlife too. During this pandemic I have thought particularly of the challenges faced by the women ofIraq-al-Amir, a TreadRight sponsored project in Jordan. Having worked with these women to build a business selling their beautiful, authentic creations to travelers, including guests of TTC brands such as Uniworld, Insight Vacations, Luxury Gold, Trafalgar, and Contiki, I know this past year has been exceedingly difficult for them.
Challenging as it has been, my hope is that this pandemic will serve as a reset for us humans, helping us to appreciate what a magnificent privilege travel is, and how fortunate we are to live on Earth. I have always thought of humans as just another species on our planet, one of many, but we’ve rarely seen ourselves in this light, nor have we treated our planet with the love it deserves. Now, as we see how an unseen virus can impact every country/culture/people/ population in the world, let us take this as a powerful reminder of just how interconnected we all are.
My hope is that when we do travel again, we will do so more thoughtfully, consciously, and intentionally. Businesses, for example, may discover that while some meetings ultimately require a flight half-way around the world, others can be as well accomplished on a video call. Travel should be special, a chance to go to places and have experiences that can only be done in person. And, when you do go somewhere – make the most of it.
This process of re-thinking travel is one that TreadRight and TTC have been engaged in since well before the pandemic. It led to the TreadRight Pledge to Make Travel Matter – if you’ve not yet taken it, I invite you to do so, as a guide to your future travels. But please, don’t just sign it – let it be a mantra that moves you to take action. I also invite you to look at the plan we have just released, How We Tread Right, our ambitious five year sustainability roadmap, which also identifies the 11 of the 17 United Nations’ sustainability goals which we will continue to contribute to and benefit. And, when we travel again, we will be introducing many more special Make Travel Matter (MTM) experiences over the next several years.
As you consider your future travels, I further invite you to think of the many ways to ensure your travel has a positive impact. Start by bringing your own water bottle and cutlery, as encouraged by our single use plastics elimination initiative. Rather than shopping for new clothes before you travel, buy them when you arrive, thereby supporting local businesses in these destinations. Give back to local initiatives when you can as well.
Most of all, when you do travel, take the time to really connect with the people you meet. Listen to their stories, then bring them back to share with others. So you – like my grandfather and I – can be an ambassador for our planet, helping others learn to love and protect it – when we travel again.
Sarain Fox – TreadRight’s People Ambassador Born in Batchawana First Nation in Canada, Sarain Fox is an Anishinaabe dancer, broadcaster, and activist and one of Canada’s most prominent Indigenous voices. She has worked professionally as a dancer and is a graduate of the New York Film Academy. Sarain’s work is rooted in her passion to represent and lift up Indigenous people and her commitment to climate justice, which includes her position as a board member for the Center of Biodiversity. Sarain believes that everything we do in our lives should contribute to positive change.
When I was two years old, my mother did something radical. She gave me a name. Not the kind of name that goes on your birth certificate – a name to connect me to our people, who are storytellers.
Wabunangokwe.
It is a name with many meanings – Truth teller. Reconciler. The star in the East. Light at the end of the dark.
As TreadRight’s People Ambassador, it is my privilege and responsibility to be all these things, starting by telling you the truth about how this pandemic has impacted native communities we support. While not an easy truth, per the other meaning in my name, there is light at the end of the dark.
For my people, this is not our first pandemic. As with so many indigenous tribes just a century or two ago, those early settlers arrived with diseases including tuberculosis and small pox that killed many of our people. Some of these were intentional, offering infected blankets as “gifts.” Our grandparents tell stories of these times. They therefore make us sensitive to what we may bring with us, whether we know it or not, when we travel.
Covid-19 is a virus that teaches us all this same lesson. We must all become more conscious of what we carry with us when we travel. As the name TreadRight implies, this is our purpose. While I’ve always tried to be a conscious traveler, these past months have given me an even greater understanding and appreciation of what it means to have the privilege of visiting another person’s homeland, knowing the harm we can do if we are not careful.
TreadRight exists to make travel a force for good, as in the example of a project I have worked with here in Toronto, Manitobah Mukluks Storyboot School.
Based at the Bata Shoe museum, the project is a win-win situation. Artisans create beautiful footwear, and receive one hundred per cent of the proceeds from their work. What’s more, they teach traditional methods to indigenous students and visitors from around the world, so the culture is passed on. It has been a regular stop for guests of TTC companies such as Trafalgar,Insight Vacations, Contiki, and Costsaver. The picture above is of me learning from my dear friend Sage Petahtegoose, a craftswoman and teacher at the school. You can also see a short video we made about the school here.
The arrival of Covid-19 instantly ground the classes to a halt, shutting down the program. Very soon, sixty per cent of the staff, including Sage, were laid off. I think of the challenges that Sage and others have faced with the loss, both of income and of shared culture. This is just one of many such TreadRight programs around the world promoting indigenous culture through crafts, including Centro de Textiles Tradicionales del Cusco, (Peru), Ock Pop Tok Village Weavers (Laos), and Tria, Etc. (Greece). All these programs await the return of travelers, though I am pleased to confirm that TreadRight did fund all of its projects this year.
And yet, such challenging times bring gifts as well. I have noticed that with offices closed and people working from home, vulnerability has become more acceptable. We are becoming more honest about who we are – our race, our gender, our diversity. Now is a time when we are invited to see the truth. This attitude toward openness and honesty is good for the world. It lets us open our doors to the world and share our stories.
This has been the case for me, personally, as a storyteller. I have long meant to make a documentary telling the stories of my Auntie Marie, the oldest living matriarch in my family. I have just completed “Inendi,” which tells her story. What’s more, as you can see in the picture below, I was able to hire Sage as camerawoman for the film, another outlet for her creative spirit.
This is the way it is in hard times – even when doors are closed, the creative spirit finds a way. That is the spirit which keeps me optimistic. It is the star in the east, the light at the end of the dark, and the one that will guide us – when we travel again.
Ami Vitale, TreadRight’s Willdlife Ambassador Ami Vitale’s journey as a photographer, writer and filmmaker has taken her to over 100 countries where she has witnessed civil unrest and violence, but also surreal beauty and the enduring power of the human spirit. Ami is a founding member of Ripple Effect Images, a collective of scientists, writers, photographers and filmmakers with a mission of creating powerful stories illustrating the very specific issues women in developing countries face. She is also an Ambassador for Nikon and a National Geographic magazine photographer, explorer and speaker. Her talks shed light on the conservation value that tourism holds for wildlife – when done right.
Nature has sent us a strong message with this pandemic, reminding us just how small and deeply interconnected our world is. This is a powerful moment to reimagine our relationship to nature and to one another.
In the early days of the pandemic, we were hearing heartwarming stories. It seemed that wildlife was getting a much needed break from humans and thriving in the era of lockdowns. Finally, we thought, animals were able to roam freely in our cities and national parks!
Unfortunately, the reality was much different. Tourism is what has largely funded major conservation projects around the world, protecting wildlife, restoring habitats and creating awareness. When travel crashed this past spring, so did the much needed protection for these animals and ecosystems. Contrary to popular belief, an empty national park is not always a good thing for wildlife. During this pandemic we have seen a dramatic rise in poaching in wildlife parks. What people need to understand is that tourism is what keeps wildlife alive in many parts of the world – including giant pandas, as in my photograph below – and international travel is essential for that. You can see examples of this connection in TreadRight projects such as Wildlife SOS, the WCS Big Cat Fund, and The Endangered Wildlife Trust.
When we travel again, I hope people will focus on traveling responsibly, to destinations that act to sustain wildlife areas, choosing companies that put money back into supporting habitats and ecosystems. We may also wish to think about the range and pace of our travels. When we go abroad, rather than trying to see it all, we need to slow down and really engage with one place at a time. In addition to reducing our environmental footprint, this kind of travel is what allows us to truly build relationships with people and places, creating authentic connections.
My own travels have slowed dramatically since the start of the pandemic. I have lived out of my suitcase and on the road for many years, and for the past few years have been home no more than 21 days in a year. The pandemic changed all that overnight, as it did for the rest of the world, when my work came to a grinding halt. Difficult as this has been, there has been an upside as well. Like so many these times, I have turned my attention to exploring my own back yard. For me, that is Montana, which is rich in wildlife, as you can see in this TreadRight video and the photograph at the very top of this blog, as well as the one below, taken in Centennial Valley.
People connect to the horses in Montana’s Centennial Valley just outside of Yellowstone National Park in July, 2020. Here, people seem to measure worth by how comfortable you are around animals and they are around you. I have seen young toddlers on horseback nestled between mother and mane. By the age of two, they are nuzzling calves. Children learn to throw a rope before they can talk. It is a place where people are shaped by the land itself and they in turn help shape the land. (Photo by Ami Vitale)
While this pandemic has been devastating in so many ways, it has also shown us how we are able to unite and act as individuals for the collective good. This is a moment when we can look outside ourselves and take individual action for the good of the planet. With the sudden stopping of travel this year, I wanted to find a way to raise much needed funds for communities and conservation. I reached out to some of my favorite photographers and asked for their support to start a fine art prints sale. Have a look at Printsfornature.com, where you’ll see stunning prints by some of the most acclaimed photographers in the world, who have all donated their work. All these prints are available for purchase for holiday gift giving, with 100% of the proceeds benefiting Conservation International. It is a unique way to collect fine art for a fraction of what it normally costs, and your purchase will be helping wildlife around the planet.
In the end, saving nature is really about saving ourselves. Our fates are linked and interconnected. We all need to do all we can to care for the plants and critters that inhabit the earth. They are fellow travelers, and our only friends, in this cold dark universe. Our future happiness depends on them.
Let us keep that in mind – when we travel again.
When We Travel Again
When We Travel Again…We shall go forth with renewed gratitude for the amazing gift that travel can be – and the awe that comes from finding ourselves at home in places we have never been.
When We Travel Again…We will see the world through new eyes and deepened appreciation for this truly magnificent planet we all share. Not only will we take in the sights, but we will hear the sounds. Breathe in the smells. And savor the tastes – all waiting to be experienced.
When We Travel Again…We will do so with renewed joy and purpose – Joy as we create memories that last a lifetime, and purpose that comes from knowing our travels play a crucial role in the recovery of communities we visit around the world.
When We Travel Again…We will venture forth with open hearts, letting ourselves be guided by wonder and curiosity ready to connect to those we meet along the way – our hosts, our guides, and our fellow travelers, joined together in a journey of discovery.
When We Travel Again…We will make travel matter more than ever before. Knowing that how we travel is just as important as where, as we explore this wild and precious planet we call home, meet people around the globe who welcome us into their homes. And discover magnificent wild creatures whose homes we visit.
When We Travel Again…We will journey to places both near and far with those we love – our partners, our parents, our children, and grandchildren and dear friends, some we’ve known for years – and others we have yet to meet, making memories all over the world. When the time is right, we shall go forth again. Until then, we shall do what we have always done – and dream of distant shores. For while something deep inside us sleeps, we know the sleeper will awaken –
This year, Earth Month arrives with particular poignancy. As The Travel Corporation celebrates its first 100 years, we also mark the fiftieth anniversary of the first Earth Day – April 22, 1970 – which was the seed that grew into Earth Month. Now, in 2020, Earth Month comes in the midst of a world-wide pandemic, bringing much of life – and virtually all travel – to a standstill.
Difficult as this is for all of us, it offers an opportunity to reflect on our relationship to this planet we all call home. This is especially true for those of us who have the great fortune to travel. If ever there was a time for a reset, this is it. With plans suddenly put on hold, it is a time to step back and ask ourselves some important questions. Why do we travel? What responsibilities come with our journeys? How do we want our travel to impact the planet we discover, the people we meet, and the wildlife we see?
While this pandemic is new territory for everyone, for those of us at TreadRight, these questions are not new. They are what led to TreadRight’s founding over a decade ago, what drives us to do the work we do each day. For me, personally, these are questions that have shaped my career.
I am not exaggerating when I tell you I grew up in Paradise – just outside of St. John’s, Newfoundland, an island off the east coast of Canada. For me, as a child, the name of the town fit – from my front door I could run through empty fields and make it to Topsail beach to maybe spot a seal or two. Depending upon the time of year, every direction led to skiing, hiking, or paddling.
Back then, the economy of Newfoundland & Labrador was largely based on the fishing industry, particularly cod. That all changed in the summer of 1992, when years of overfishing by multi-national interests had reduced the northern cod population to near zero. The Canadian government banned the practice of cod fishing and, overnight, the industry was near collapse. By the time I was 16, the tourism industry was kicking off quickly, and I soon found myself working as a sea kayak guide along the island’s rugged southern shore, with jagged cliffs above, swarms of jellyfish below, and, nearby, pods of fin, and minke and humpback whales that returned to the Grand Banks each summer to feed.
Incredible a backyard as it was, what I saw in Newfoundland’s growing tourism industry left me perplexed. The same boats that once fished for cod now arrived full of tourists, chasing whales and interrupting their feeding. It seemed that “fisheries” had been replaced by “tourism,” and guided by much the same attitude: Make money quickly, but turn a blind eye to protection. In the process of visiting paradise, tourists were trampling it. While not the intention, it was often the result.
It seemed to me there must be a right way to discover natural beauty – and this was not it. Seeking to understand, I went to university where I studied Outdoor Recreation and Environmental Education, then on to graduate school for a Masters Degree in Tourism and Environmental Management, writing my thesis on “Codes of Conduct for Marine Ecotourism.”
Anxious to put my newfound understanding into practice, I joined the operations team of a niche tour operator, which allowed me to put sustainable practices into place. We worked hard, did most of the right things, and thrived. And yet, when I looked at the big picture, our impact was limited. We were one of many such well-intentioned small operators, each working in our own space – while the damage being done by tourism around the world was vast, and growing. From there I launched and built a tourism consultancy, where I was able to work with destinations worldwide to address the way in which they develop, sell and market their regions. And yet the projects I was working on were again, small, and I was eager to focus on sustainability at scale.
During this time TTC was a consulting client of mine, and as it came time for me to move beyond consulting, it was also clear that TTC wanted someone to take TreadRight and sustainability to the next level, looking to appoint their first Chief Sustainability Officer. I was intrigued, although in any other scenario would have been more than a little wary. I knew full well that the C in TTC stood for “corporation,” and I’m a cynic when it comes to what corporations say and do in terms of sustainability – I’ve never wanted to play a part in corporate greenwashing. However, having worked alongside Brett Tollman and his team of executives for several years, I had seen the depth and sincerity of their commitment. We had worked closely on issues such as plastics in the travel industry, the impact of overtourism and support for micro enterprises. The passion they brought to the work had grown steadily more intense and focused, coming down to three words: Make Travel Matter.
I took the job.
I’ve spoken of two P’s so far – the Power a large organization has to have impact at scale, and the Passion I saw from the teams at TTC. But there is a third P that is most important – Partnership. In order for travel to truly have a positive impact, we need coordinated efforts at every level, with all of us realizing that our efforts are part of the bigger picture.
We began by identifying the three critical areas in which travel has the greatest potential for impact: Planet, People, and Wildlife. With these as the three pillars of TreadRight, we looked to see who was doing the best work in each realm. This has led to us partnering with over fifty-five projects around the world, and a new, soon to be released company-wide strategy aligned with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.
As you now take time to consider your future travels, I invite you to share in the inspiration I find each day from the people and communities with whom we partner, like Rosamira, Executive Director of Proyecto Tití, which protects the critically endangered cotton top tamarin in Colombia. Through WildlifeSOS in Jaipur, India, you will meet the truly impassioned people working to inform tourists and prevent the cruel practice of riding elephants. And nowhere will you find more impressive visionaries than Sam Judd and Camden Howitt, co-founders of Sustainable Coastlines in New Zealand. Last month – before travel was suspended, which now feels like a very long time ago – I spent an inspiring afternoon alongside other TTC volunteers, collecting and categorizing trash found on a New Zealand beach in the name of citizen science.
In her blog posting last month for International Women’s Day, Bea Tollman wrote that supporting women and girls is essential, and many of our projects do just that. When you travel to Perugia, Italy, you’ll meet Marta at Laboratorio Giuditta Bronzzetti. When I was introduced to her, she was working in a crumbling church with a hole in its roof, as the very last in a lineage of hand frame weavers carrying on traditions dating back to the Renaissance. TreadRight partnered with her to restore the church’s roof and develop her gift shop, where she now trains the next generation of weavers. You’ll find a similar story in Peru, where Centro de Textiles Traditionales del Cusco preserves 10,000 year old Andean traditions while providing training and employment to women. And, at thirteen locations throughout rural Laos, you will find women and girls learning traditional techniques through Ock Pop Tock’s Village Weavers Project.
For now, I invite you to learn about all these incredible partnerships and more at TreadRight.org. When the time comes to travel again, you will have the chance to visit and support many of our partners around the world, through the amazing itineraries offered by TTC’s brands.
Some of TreadRight’s most important partnerships are with our ambassadors, who serve as our storytellers – and story listeners – around the world. Céline Cousteau, granddaughter of Jacques Cousteau and an accomplished activist, filmmaker, and explorer in her own right, serves as our planet ambassador – check out her beautiful video telling of the story of Iraq Al Amir Women’s Cooperative in Jordan. Sarain Fox, our people ambassador, is a First Nations activist and artist, helping preserve Canada’s indigenous culture through Manitoba Mukluk’s Storyboot School. Check out her tips on how we make our travel matter. This year TreadRight welcomed Ami Vitale as our first wildlife ambassador. An award-winning National Geographic photographer, she specializes in telling the stories behind the headlines. When travel resumes, she will be sharing stories from some of our projects in southern Africa, including those welcoming Red Carnation visitors to Bushman’s Kloof Wilderness Reserve & Wellness Retreat, South Africa, and Botswana’s soon to open Xigera Safari Lodge – which, by the way will be nearly 100% solar powered.
These are but a few of the places where we work, and I’ve told you why we do what we do – to Make Travel Matter. As TTC’s Chief Sustainability Officer, I also focus on how we put this into practice on a daily basis, ensuring that the positive impact of your travel begins long before your journey, through the practices of each of TTC’s 42 brands. We are eliminating all unnecessary single-use plastics from our offices, in our hotels and on all of our trips. Each TTC traveler is encouraged to bring their own reusable water bottle on their trip and to receive documents electronically, and when you choose to do so, we plant a tree through our E-Documents Initiative. This year, we will be planting in Australia, helping the recovery from the terrible bush fires there. TTC’s Toronto office – where I work – is powered by geothermal power, and a good number of our offices around the world have had solar panels installed.
As you can tell, when it comes to ensuring travel has a positive impact, there are a lot of moving parts – and a long way to go. But, as they say, Paradise was not built in a day.
I’d like to end with our most important partnership: You, our travelers. In addition to the visits you will be able to make with TTC’s companies to see and support these projects, a portion of every dollar you spend with every TTC company funds this work. And, please read and sign on to our travel pledge – which upholds the simple, key tenets of TreadRight and TTC – to help protect and preserve our planet, our people and their communities, and the wildlife of our beautiful fragile planet.
Just as I began this post with questions, I’ll end with one more, for you. The time to travel will come again – hopefully, soon. When it does, how will you make travel matter?
