Big Three defiant in face of Responsibletravel campaign

The Travel Foundation has secured more funding from tour operators, but campaigners like Responsibletravel.com say operators are still not doing enough. Travel Foundation director, Sue Hurdle told TravelMole that all of the Big Four were working with the Foundation in some way, although First Choice is the only one to have committed so far to opt-out consumer donations. It currently asks for a voluntary donation of 10p per adult and 5p per child, but this will increase to 20p and 10p in 2005. The latest two operators to sign up for help with funding the Foundation are The Adventure Company and Hidden Greece, which are considering consumer donation schemes. But Responsibletravel.com co-founder Justin Francis says operators must publish a responsible tourism policy and put it in their brochures for consumers to read. Mr Francis’ company has been trying to seek a confirmed commitment from the three of the Big Four operators (excluding First Choice) on the issue of responsible travel. He said that so far none of the operators has responded to the campaign to say if they are going to publish a policy and when. He added: “If the small and medium size operators like Exodus and Intrepid can be responsible, why can’t the big companies?” Ms Hurdle says that the Foundation recognises the aims of campaigners like Responsibletravel but is anxious to stress that the Foundation is not a campaigner – it works with the industry to try to educate companies and develop their responsible tourism strategies. Commenting on the work done by the Travel Foundation, of which Mr Francis is a trustee, he said: “I think the Travel Foundation is terrific and the operators’ contribution is welcome but they need to support it more. It won’t provide all the answers we need and there is still a lot of room for other campaigns.” He said last week that people were coming onto Responsibletravel.com “minute-by-minute” to sign the online petition. Mr Francis said that travel companies were notable by their absence from a recent index of corporate social responsibility published in the national press. “There were no tour operator companies in there because there isn’t one that has a strategy let alone one that would score high in this sort of league table. Tourism is at least ten years behind other industries. Most of the FTSE 100 has realised the importance of this” he said. He added that First Choice had published a sustainable tourism strategy in its annual report and on its website. He said: “Which to me is why First Choice stands out as doing well financially.” In a recent article in the national press, the Big Four defended their stances on responsible travel and quoted details of the work they are doing with the Travel Foundation as evidence of their commitment to responsible tourism. In defence of Thomas Cook, spokesman Andrew Wallace told TravelMole that his company is actively participating in the Travel Foundation, and before its creation supported The Sustainable Tourism Initiative. Commenting on Responsibletravel.com he said: “I couldn’t even get on the website when I tried to read about their campaign.” He added: “One can only guess at what the motivation for doing this is.” He wouldn’t add further details. Report by Ginny McGrath