Prince Harry launches new global sustainable travel initiative, Travalyst
SINGAPORE — In a royal announcement shared with us today (4 September), Prince Harry, The Duke of Sussex, has announced 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.
Travalyst has been created to explore and promote good tourism initiative worldwide, with travel industry leaders’ efforts. The travel providers are Booking.com, Ctrip, Skyscanner, TripAdvisor and Visa. The areas to drive change include: supporting local people, protecting wildlife, tackling climate change and environmental damage, and alleviating over-tourism.
READ MORE:
Glamp at a tropical Blue Lagoon, just an hour away from Singapore
11 Bucket List-worthy International Vacations That Are Surprisingly Affordable
Travel destination: New Zealand – anything but overrated
Prince Harry said: “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. 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.”
Further details of new initiatives launched by the Travalyst partnership will be announced soon.
The potential
As more people travel the impact on local communities and the environment increases, however the number of opportunities to do good with each trip taken increases too.
Last year, the number of international trips taken globally each year reached 1.4bn, two years faster than original projections. (UNWTO)
Since 2000, the number of trips taken annually by people around the world has more than doubled. (World Bank)
Travel and tourism generated $8.8 trillion to the global economy in 2018. (WTTC)
The continued rise in the number of people travelling indicates we will reach 1.8bn international trips by 2030, doubling the number of trips made annually in fewer than 20 years. (UNWTO)
1 in 10 of all jobs globally are travel related (WTTC)
In 10 years, the number of tourists visiting countries in emerging markets will reach
1bn annually, making up 57% of all international trips globally. (UNWTO)
Consumer trends show an increasing demand for a positive impact
There is a growing demand from consumers to have easy and transparent access to a wider range of options to travel more sustainably.
More than half of all travellers say they are more determined to make more sustainable travel choices this year than they were last year – but many do not know how. Barriers include a lack of knowledge, perceived extra costs and not enough availability or appealing options when trying to put this into practice. That being said, impact on the local community and environment is a primary consideration for many travellers globally.
71% of global travellers told Booking.com that they think travel companies should offer more sustainable travel choices, and 68% of people said it was important the money they spent on travel went back into local communities.
Over the last 12 months, 10 million travellers using Skyscanner selected the lowest CO2 emission flight option.
75% of Ctrip’s partners are committed to Ctrip’s 4R initiatives: to Reduce, Reuse, Recycle resources and Regenerate lives in the travel eco-system
The global sustainable tourism market is predicted to grow by $340bn, 10%, within the next four years. (TechNavio)
To learn more about Travalyst, and to support this work, visit www.travalyst.org.
