TTC’s Make Travel Matter Pledge

The Travel Corporation (TTC) announced last year its new Make Travel Matter Pledge in celebration of World Tourism Day. This is a joint initiative between The Travel Corporation’s family of brands including Trafalgar Tours, Uniworld River Cruises, Insight Vacations, Luxury Gold, Contiki, African Travel, Inc., Brendan Vacations, and Red Carnation Hotels, guided by the TreadRight Foundation. The pledge serves as the next step in a commitment to sustainable tourism and conscious travel. 2020 has been a complicated year, but we are confident that they are still on target to meet their long term goals & wanted to share with our readers TTC’s commitment to the planet.

The TreadRight Foundation, a not-for-profit organization created 10 years ago as a joint initiative between The Travel Corporation’s (TTC) family of brands. They take a percentage of the profits from their 42 companies, & make sure the money goes to projects that make a difference. TreadRight supports 55 projects in 280 communities in 26 countries in three basic categories: planet, people, and wildlife.

Every one of TTC’s 10,000 strong team members and 42 sister companies are committing to make travel matter, with a new pledge standing  to help protect people, planet and wildlife. Members of TTC’s family of brands will use the opportunity to stand up and personally commit to share TreadRight’s ethos as travelers, as travel providers and as members of the global travel industry.

Here is the full text of the Make Travel Matter Pledge:

• I will make my travel matter – for our planet, people and for wildlife.
• When I explore this planet, I will do my best to tread right.
• I will refuse single-use plastics when I can and recycle when I cannot avoid it. Read more on this at How to reduce the use of plastics when traveling.
• When possible, I will offset my travels.
• When I meet new people, I will honor their home as I do my own and do so in the spirit of diversity and inclusion. I will purchase locally made items wherever possible and pay a fair price.
• When I experience wildlife, I will do so in nature.
• I will not ride animals that ought not to be ridden, nor support animal cruelty in any way.

Together, we will tread right upon earth and will make our travel matter.

The new initiative How We Tread Right takes the shape of a five-year sustainability strategy with 11 goals aimed at addressing climate change, overtourism and animal welfare. As part of the launch, TTC has enlisted some brand ambassadors, including activist and filmmaker Celine Cousteau, indigenous storyteller and activist Sarain Fox and National Geographic photographer Ami Vitale to share how travel has impacted their lives.

Among the 11 goals is a commitment from the company to achieve carbon neutrality by 2030 or sooner. TTC is trying to drawdown its direct emissions through conservation and technology, investing in clean energy, low-emissions transportation and innovation.

HWTR has committed to achieving the following by the close of 2025:

• Goal 1: Achieve carbon neutrality by 2030 or sooner.
• Goal 2: Source 50 percent of our electricity from renewable sources by 2025.
• Goal 3: Reduce food waste by 50 percent across all hotels and ships by 2025.
• Goal 4: Increase the use of local and organic products in our supply chain by 2025.
• Goal 5: Reduce printed brochures by 50 percent by 2025.
• Goal 6: Eliminate as many unnecessary single-use plastics from our operations and itineraries by 2022.
• Goal 7: Include at least one Make Travel Matter Experience on 50 percent of all itineraries by 2025.
• Goal 8: Achieve a 20 percent increase of itineraries visiting developing regions by specialist brands by 2025.
• Goal 9: Increase employee and market sentiment regarding diversity and inclusion across our brands.
• Goal 10: Complete 30,000 volunteer hours by 2025. Volunteers play an integral role in preserving the United States’ Grand Canyon and Yosemite National Park by assisting with native seed collection and dissemination, invasive plant removal, restoration projects, and recovery programs.
• Goal 11: Ensure all wildlife experiences across TTC brands adhere to our Animal Welfare Policy by 2021.

This program helps support small businesses abroad. For example, working in conjunction with the Jordan Tourism Board, TreadRight supports the Queen Noor Iraq Alamei. This is a cooperative that employs women as potters and artisans, which provides women jobs outside the home, but within their village. With TreadRight support, the cooperative built up a gift shop and opened an Air BnB. New travel programs in Colombia help create a wildlife nursery and install solar panels, while another program in the Sierra Nevada, through Trafalgar Tours, creates an opportunity for visitors to be hosted by a local family. Insight Vacations offers an experience at the SheHeros Cafe in India, which is run by and employs survivors of horrific acid attacks. Depending on which company you travel with, there are opportunities to volunteer. In Africa, you can help build a school. In Ecuador, you can stay with a local family. In India, visit an elephant rescue preserve instead of riding on one.

We make an impact when travel supports conservation, protects wildlife, and alleviates poverty. Travel matters when it is planned, managed well, sustainable. The magic happens – when companies deliver on their promise to make the world a better place.

More information at TreadRight.org. #MakeTravelMatter

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