Travel is a wonderful gift that people have enjoyed for hundreds of years, but with all the adventure and education it brings, there is also a responsibility to the people and places we visit. The events over the past 18 months have given us a chance to take a breath and reassess. Sustainability has been moving to the forefront over the past few years, but now taking care of the planet matters more than ever.

The Travel Corporation, parent company to Luxury Gold, have sought to MAKE TRAVEL MATTER® since the company began. While other luxury travel companies may only be discovering sustainability, it has always been part of our ethos. Luxury Gold actively seeks to give back, which is why we helped found the TreadRight Foundation .

The TreadRight Foundation was created 12 years ago as a joint initiative between The Travel Corporation’s (TTC) family of brands. It supports sustainable travel organizations and initiatives across the world so that we can MAKE TRAVEL MATTER® for our planet, people and wildlife. TreadRight also partners with projects in the places that TTC brands visit so our guests can engage on a deeper level with the destination, while knowing their travel money is being invested wisely.

Among the TTC brands, we have developed a five-step Climate Action Plan to achieve carbon neutrality by 2030, or sooner.

We include MAKE TRAVEL MATTER® Experiences on our journeys, which are conscious travel experiences that have a positive environmental or social impact on the communities we visit. Through our five-year sustainability strategy, How We Tread Right, we are committed to integrating at least one Make Travel Matter® Experience on 50% of our trips by 2025. This helps guests seeking a more sustainable luxury guided tour to discover carefully chosen conscious experiences that enrich their vacation.

Cities Going Carbon Neutral

Fortunately, governments around the world have woken up to the idea of carbon neutral and some are pursuing inspiring climate action plans.

If you’re considering more sustainable travel, Luxury Gold can help. These top 5 sustainable cities feature on our itineraries, so choose your favorite or perhaps add them all to your travel bucket list?

Stockholm Sweden

Guests traveling on the luxury tour Timeless Scandinavia spend two nights in one of Europe’s most environmentally friendly cities, Stockholm. Not only does it have the harbour front, idyllic islands and a well-preserved old town, but it is a role model for other cities around the world in terms of its sustainable vision.

Stockholm’s history of sustainability stretches further back than many other global conurbations. In the 1960s it launched legislation around protecting the environment. Building on that, in the late 1990s, plans for new urban sustainable districts came to the fore. The most famous of is Hammarby Sjöstad; a delightful regeneration of a former industrial area, now blooming with life.

Eco-conscious guests can appreciate Stockholm as a green travel destination when they see the many attractive outdoor spaces in the city. Parks such as Djurgarden, where you can picnic and watch the boats go by, or Tantolunden, with its array of plants and trees, are perfect to take some time out.  Plenty of the lakes in Stockholm are clean enough to swim in, so guests can refresh with a dip.

The public transport in Stockholm is second to none, with boats connecting the islands and the t-bana metro system connecting the whole city. The city has a pro-cycling approach with a huge number of cycle lanes and measures to protect cyclists. It’s very easy to rent a bike to explore.

For those interested in sustainable dining, Stockholm has a surprising number of eco-eateries. Visitors can discover the freshest local produce and enjoy fine dining with the lowest carbon footprint.

Montreal, Canada

Surrounded by snow-capped mountains and glorious open spaces, it’s no wonder Montreal wants to protect the environment. Travelers on Luxury Gold’s Vibrant Quebec and New England tour can experience the extraordinary beauty of this first hand.

The city was one of the first in North America to ban the use of plastic bags, so if you plan on bringing home some of the incredible produce from the area, be sure to pack a tote bag. Green energy is also high on the agenda, with 97% of electricity supplied from renewable sources.

Greenery is evident here – even the convention center, Palais des congres de Montréal has a verdant rooftop garden. The New Montreal Park is the largest urban park in Canada and is part of the city’s climate action plan. At eight times the size of New York’s Central Park, it has plenty to keep visitors occupied for a whole day out and the protected wetlands are home to many animals and birds.

Restaurants across Montreal offer sustainably sourced options with most dishes created with food grown or caught in the surrounding region. Visitors can also try the highly palatable organic and biodynamic wines at fine dining restaurants.

Montreal is also a great place to tour by bike. It has an inexpensive bike rental program, plenty of cycling lanes and many convenient pick up and drop off points. Just be sure to bring a helmet.

Cape Town, South Africa

Cape Town was acknowledged for its sustainable development program as far back as 2004. It began purchasing from a wind farm in 2008, planning ahead to ensure that at least 10% of the city’s energy comes from renewable sources.  This stunning destination is seventh on the list of the world’s most sustainable cities, which is a remarkable feat for a city that is home to 6.5 million residents.

The city is a global leader in green building with a variety of projects that redefine the relationship between industry and resources. The vibrant V&A Waterfront district is a great example of this – a mixed use sustainable development that makes use of innovative design to minimize demand on water and energy. Many of the buildings have installed solar panels, to take advantage of the frequent hours of sunshine the city receives each year.

Cycling has become more widespread with the introduction of safe-cycle routes and the bus service allows passengers to bring a bike on for free. Much focus has been placed on embracing the outdoor lifestyle, and with the magnificent sights around the city, there’s few places in the world more beautiful to spend time outside.

Join the Spectacular South Africa tour with Luxury Gold and you’ll spend five days basking in the wonders of this modern city. Your accommodation in Cape Town is the 12 Apostles Hotel & Spa, which is also committed to sustainability, having reduced water waste by 42% and on track to remove all single use plastics by 2022.

Sydney, Australia

Long before other countries adopted climate action plans, Australia was making sustainable choices, opting to go plastic free first. In a country surrounded by water, with a vast desert at its center, it makes sense that many Australians wish to protect the abundant resources they’ve been given.

Sydney has made history by becoming the first city on the planet to be wholly powered by renewable energy. This vision was laid out in 2008, and achieved last year with the aid of the wind and solar farms that surround the city. Sydney aims to further bolster its sustainability by reducing CO2 emissions by 70% in 2030. It went carbon neutral in 2007.

It’s easy to go eco in Sydney. It’s a very walkable city with great temperatures practically all year round and a reasonably mild winter. The beaches are one of the main reasons people visit and with well over 100 to choose from, you can easily find your own little slice of paradise for the day.

If you’re feeling adventurous, south Sydney is great for mountain biking and bushwalking with Heathcote National Park being very accessible from the city. Berowra Valley National Park, just north of Sydney, is lovely for boating and has great vantage points for capturing wonderful holiday photos.

Eco-conscious guests can truly experience green luxury travel on the Inspiring Australia tour, which arrives in Sydney on Day Eight, with further time to explore on Days 11 and 12. There is also a day trip to the protected Blue Mountains, known for their dramatic beauty.

Copenhagen, Denmark

If you’re looking for one of the most eco-friendly cities in Europe, then Copenhagen is top of the list. The city has been described as a “transport pioneer” by the European Commission, which is partly thanks to its double cycle lanes and green transport initiatives. Its green credentials have made it one of the most cutting-edge places to visit.

Copenhagen is on a quest to go carbon neutral by 2025 and it has created some innovative initiatives to do so. One of these is Copenhill, a facility that turns waste into energy to power homes and businesses and is also one of the longest outdoor ski slopes in the world.

Although cycling is widespread, should you wish to hop on a bus, it’s easy to find an electric one, as they are all in the process of changing from diesel. If you’d prefer, you can get a solar-powered boat to explore the canals. Even recycling is essential here – you’ll find vending machines to return your can or cup dotted around the city.

Copenhagen is a haven for foodies. It is home to Geranium, the only totally organic restaurant in the world that has garnered three Michelin stars, but even on street corners, visitors will be shocked at the quality and variety of home-grown and sustainable produce. Wander around the Reffen street food market and you’ll see that all the packaging is compostable and food sourced from farms nearby.

If you’d like to spend some time in eco-friendly Copenhagen, join Luxury Gold on the Timeless Scandinavia tour. Your journey begins in the city where you will spend two nights, with leisure time to let you discover its picturesque waterways and eco-conscious vibe.

Take the Pledge to MAKE TRAVEL MATTER®

At Luxury Gold, sustainability is at the heart of everything we do. That’s why every member of our team does their best to MAKE TRAVEL MATTER®. We invite our guests to join us in more sustainable travel and sign the Make Travel Matter pledge to protect the planet, people and wildlife.

It was announced today that MAKE TRAVEL MATTER® Experiences by The Travel Corporation (TTC) and its family of brands has been named an honoree in the Corporate Social Responsibility category of Fast Company’s 2021 World Changing Idea Awards. Fast Company is the world’s leading business media brand, with an editorial focus on innovation in technology, leadership, world changing ideas, inspiring readers to lead with purpose and embrace change. Now in its fifth year, the Fast Company Award honors ground-breaking ideas launched in 2020 that are deeply committed to pursuing innovation for the good of society and the planet.

Selected from thousands of applicants, we are honored our MAKE TRAVEL MATTER® Experiences have been recognized along with the other notable individuals and brands doing incredible, world-changing work. MAKE TRAVEL MATTER® Experiences were developed as a tool for TTC’s brands to advance positive change around the world through the direct participation of travelers. They’re meant to transform the way we think about the travel experience, for the mutual benefit of travelers and the people and places they visit. It is our hope this transformation can shift the way we travel for good, through long-lasting and meaningful impact.

Our everyday choices and actions have an impact on the world around us, and the way we travel is no exception. This has never been clearer than in the present era of COVID-19, with the entire world experiencing an unprecedented pause in travel. Never before have people across the globe collectively appreciated the gift of travel in its absence, in addition to its economic value to communities worldwide.

What sets MAKE TRAVEL MATTER® Experiences apart from other travel experiences?

MAKE TRAVEL MATTER® Experiences are chosen for the ways in which they directly advance the United Nations Global Goals (UNSDGs), widely accepted as the blueprint to address issues such as poverty, inequality, biodiversity and more. Established in 2016, the goals were quickly adopted by governments, businesses and society as those we should all be working towards. We used the UNSDG’s and their specific indicators to develop a set of our own criteria, endorsed by leading industry sustainable development experts, which allow our family of brands to identify transformative experiences that go beyond being a feel-good experience. This means we are building travel experiences that display genuine social and environmental good.

To identify MAKE TRAVEL MATTER® Experiences, we built a proprietary assessment tool that identifies if an experience meets a Global Goal, and if so, which goal or goals it supports.

How Can an Experience Change the World?

Choices are critical. From the clothes you buy, the food you eat and the businesses you support, to the trip you’ve been waiting to take since COVID-19 made itself known. Our portfolio of MAKE TRAVEL MATTER® Experiences can change the travel industry, which is one of the world’s largest, accounting for 10.3% of the global GDP (WTTC, 2019). By choosing to participate in one of these experiences and actively seeking out travel designed to make a positive impact, you are helping us to prioritise community-based enterprises – from supporting women-owned businesses, experiencing unique farm stays that utilize regenerative agriculture practices or learning about ancient cultures that carry on their traditions by sharing their stories with others. You have the power to choose these experiences and support sustainable practices, while setting the tone for the purpose-driven offering you expect of the wider travel industry.

Why and how are MAKE TRAVEL MATTER® Experiences designed around the Global Goals?

Our goal in developing our MAKE TRAVEL MATTER® Experiences was to positively impact broader environmental and social issues, so it was a natural fit to look to the United Nations Global Goals to help narrow our focus and ladder up to international efforts.

MAKE TRAVEL MATTER®

How you can start today

As part of our sustainability strategy How We Tread Right, our goal at Luxury Gold is to include at least 1 MAKE TRAVEL MATTER® Experience on 50% of our itineraries worldwide by 2022, and we are well on our way there. For your next adventure when travel resumes, browse our MAKE TRAVEL MATTER® Experiences and join us in making travel a force for good.

DISCOVER OUR FAVORITE MAKE TRAVEL MATTER® EXPERIENCES

Andean Textiles, Peru

Meet Center for Traditional Textiles Founder Nilda Callañaupa and learn how she’s working to empower Quechuan women and men by preserving and teaching textile traditions.

Pink City Rickshaw, India

Take a ride with Jaipur’s Pink City Rickshaw and help local female drivers discover their newfound economic independence.

Traditional Artisans, Italy

Discover how weavers are preserving the medieval tradition of loom-weaving at their artisan workshop in Perugia while speaking with Marta, recipient of a TreadRight Foundation grant.

The coronavirus pandemic has been a huge blow for the travel industry, but it has also impacted many small local communities and indigenous groups who were reliant on tourism. The positive result of this is that many people are considering more responsible travel. Sustainable tourism is rightfully becoming the choice of travelers worldwide, as we move forward to a new era. It’s not simply enough to bring money into a community, it’s important that it is distributed fairly and in a way that preserves the culture and spirit in the most sustainable way possible.

Luxury Gold’s parent company, The Travel Corporation, have had sustainable travel at the forefront since 2008, when the Travel Corporation Conservation Foundation was founded, as a joint initiative among its brands. In 2012, that evolved into the TreadRight Foundation and six years later introduced the #MakeTravelMatter pledge and the three pillars of People, Wildlife and the Planet.

#MakeTravelMatter

This official pledge is a commitment to protecting our Planet, the People and Wildlife when we travel. It is making the choice to tread right as we travel, say goodbye to single use plastics, recycling, environment protection, honoring people’s homelands and treating them with respect. When experiencing wildlife, it is done in the creature’s natural habitat and not disturbing them.

As part of this commitment, TreadRight have appointed three ambassadors to help raise awareness of the inspiring projects that take place around the world and how travelers can make a difference. These three women are passionate storytellers and activists who promote meaningful travel and deeper understanding of the world around us.

Céline Cousteau became the first TreadRight Planet Ambassador in 2015. Then, in 2019, Sarain Fox joined as TreadRight People Ambassador and in 2020, Ami Vitale became the TreadRight Wildlife Ambassador. As we look at indigenous cultures, Sarain Fox amplifies the voices from those communities and encourages people to connect more with the stories when they travel.

Amplifying Indigenous Voices

Sarain Fox became involved with TreadRight through their first project in North America, the Manitobah Mukluks Storyboot School, which engages Indigenous artists and teaches the tradition of mukluk-making to Indigenous children, both preserving the tradition and offering economic opportunity to the artists, providing a platform to reach international markets. Travelers on Luxury Gold’s Indulgence in Eastern Canada tour can stop by the school at the Bata Shoe Museum in Toronto to learn more and see the wonderful artisans making moccasins and mukluks.

Born in Batchawana First Nation in Canada, Sarain is an Anishinaabe dancer, broadcaster and activist. She is known as being one of the country’s most prominent Indigenous voices and she is passionate about uplifting Indigenous people and helping them represent themselves, primarily in their communities but also on a global stage.

Sarain encourages travelers to respect and nurture the places they visit as well as looking for the thriving cultures that exist, that we may not be aware of. As we begin getting back to travel, we can seek out even more immersive experiences that enrich our minds and provide support for the people and places that we visit. Luxury Gold offers guests these opportunities through our  Perugia, Italy, Daintree National Park in Australia, and many more.

Identifying with a Destination Through Community Projects

Sarain’s work has taken her to other TreadRight projects across the globe, where she has found that sharing her own stories as an Indigenous person have encouraged other people to share theirs. In Perugia, Sarain spent time at the Laboratorio Giuditta Brozzetti, one of the last surviving hand weaving workshops in Italy, where it is possible to watch the ladies work on traditional looms that date from the 18th and 19th century. Seeing the similarities of her own traditions and hearing the stories from the Umbrian women about the history and techniques that are being protected and passed on, Sarain says that this understanding makes it easier to identify with the narrative of the place. Visitors can admire the beauty of the work, but also hear about the rich textile tradition and how it is interwoven with the place.

Sarain has also travelled to Peru to meet another TreadRight grand recipient, Nilda Callañaupa Alvarez, the director of the Center for Traditional Textiles of Cusco. The Center aims to keep Cusqeñan textiles traditions alive and supports Indigenous weavers throughout the region. They provide educational opportunities and workshops and there is a distinct to maintain the unique ancestral styles that were in danger of dying out just 30 or 40 years ago. This has been Nilda’s work since the 1970s, and the TreadRight Foundation have given her the opportunity to expand those efforts, open a museum in Cusco and run an international event, Tinkuy: Gathering of Weavers, when people from Peru, Mexico, India and other places around the world come together to share weaving traditions and learn more about the Andean styles and techniques.

Indigenous Groups of Peru

Of the 32 million people living in Peru today, Indigenous peoples comprise 45%, and within that number, there are some 51 different groups. Many retain their links to a Pre-Columbian past, which gives the country its rich and varied heritage. By far the highest number of Indigenous groups are the highland Quechua, who have been at the forefront of agriculture in the country for over 600 years. They have drawn much attention from scientists and doctors, fascinated with how their bodies have adapted to live at such high altitudes. Spanish rule during the 16th century put strain on the Quechua way of life, but some traditions have remained.

Guests who embark on Luxury’s Gold Treasures of the Incas tour get the opportunity to discover more about these Indigenous groups through a variety of experiences on their adventure. From meeting Nilda and the weavers at the Center for Traditional Textiles of Cusco, where over 500 individuals keep 10,000-year-old techniques alive, to seeing ancient salt mining techniques used by a Quechuan family in Maras, and even having the chance to try it out for oneself.

During Treasures of the Incas, guests also witness an ancient shamanic ritual that is practised by Quechuan people throughout the year called Pachamama. An offering of natural goods is prepared by families, consisting of cocoa beans, Amazonian flowers, incense, sugar, nuts, a splash of wine and vicuña wool, which is very expensive due to its scarcity. Sometimes the blood of a baby alpaca is added to the offering. This is bound up in a package that is blessed by the elders of the community, held against participant’s foreheads and finally wrapped in a colorful blanket that has been woven by the women in the community and placed in a homemade smoking oven. This is giving back to the Mother Earth, or Pachamama, the Inca goddess. This ritual has been practised for thousands of years and its purpose is to give thanks to Mother Nature for her gifts and keep a balance between man taking from the land and giving back to her. Local people express their deepest desires in the Pachamama ceremony, and if Mother Earth is appeased then her blessings will be abundant.

The Uros People of Lake Titicaca

Another Indigenous group that Luxury Gold guests meet on their Peruvian tour is the Uros of Lake Titicaca. This tribe pre-date the Incas, who many of the Quechuan’s are descended from, and they have preserved their fascinating way of life for hundreds of years.

The floating islands that the Uros live on are made from dried Totora reeds woven together. New layers need to be added regularly to replace the ones rotting from the water. The reeds are also eaten by the islanders, and used to make tea, which heals pain and cures hangovers! Some of these islands last 30 years when they are properly maintained, which is a testament to how they are managed by the Uros.

As more of the younger generation migrate to the land in seek of work and an easier life, the Uros have found that tourism is a boost to their economy, and a crucial element in keeping their culture alive. Luxury Gold guests will join locals for a lunch of regional specialties on Amantini island, and hear more about the unique way of life that stretches back to the time of the Incas.

Connect with Indigenous People on Your Travels

Luxury Gold affords travelers the opportunity to meet indigenous people in their villages and towns through experiences that directly support employment and help preserve heritage. When you see the people that have lived in an area for millennia, it changes your perspective and makes you more conscious of the impact we are making.

When planning every journey, sustainability is at the heart of each tour, so that tourist dollars are spent in the right way and truly support projects and people that live in each place we visit.

We invite you to join us in taking the pledge to Make Travel Matter so we can travel with purpose and improve the lives of those who are underrepresented. As Sarain Fox says, “Travel like you’re about to meet the most incredible person you’ve ever met and that they’ll teach you something new. Travel with an open heart and listen.”