Travel Foundation Expands Industry Partners; Funds More Projects

The Travel Foundation, at its fifth AGM, announced record fundraising figures of more than £1 million. The UK charity which funds vital sustainable tourism projects in popular UK destinations grows from strength to strength and, as confirmed by its independent audit in 2007, has now “attained a widely-accepted position for being the central point of contact for sustainable travel in UK”.

At the AGM its Chairman, Roger Heape, was quick to point out that, despite this growth, there was no sitting back on laurels. Indeed the emphasis of the AGM was on increasing the scale of projects, and replication of successful ones in various destinations, as well as growth of industry partners.

Examples of such projects were presented by programme managers from Tobago, Thailand and Sri Lanka. In Sri Lanka, for example, The LINC project (Learning Involving Nurturing Community) has been working with Beruwela beach vendors to stop aggressive hassling of tourists. The successful pilot project, which carries out workshops on sales techniques and business planning with the vendors, is now expanding into other areas over the next three years.

The Caribbean Regional Programme is a regional replication of trial projects led in Tobago, aiming to strengthen the supply chain between farmers and hotels, advising farmers on quality, range of produce, as well as funding technological developments to increase production levels. This project, in partnership with Oxfam, was given the royal seal of approval in April 2008, following a visit from HRH Prince Charles to the Foundation’s work in Tobago.

Presentations were followed by the annual Travel Foundation debate, this year, entitled, “Water – is there enough for tourism?” moderated by Travelmole’s MD Graham Mackenzie, opening with images of container ships carrying 23 million litres of drinking water into Barcelona just a few weeks ago. Enough to cool down 180 000 people a day in sunny Spain, as covered in The Guardian, 14 May 2008. Six shipments a month for the next three months, is what is needed to cater for demand in the tourist season. Many tourists are oblivious to droughts as close to home (or second homes) as Spain.

The panel of Jacob Tomkins, Director of Waterwise, Jackie Seddons, Business Manager N8 Sustainable Water Group, and Andrew Forte, Director of energy management and sustainability, Hilton Hotels, thrashed around shocking statistics of tourists’ water consumption, with Tomkins berating tourists for “checking in their ethics when they check in their luggage”. They all agreed that mismanagement was one of the greatest causes of excess water consumption, although Mackenzie raised the issue that we all had a role to play in educating the consumer suggesting, for example, that Travelmole starts an awareness campaign.

Tricia Barnett from Tourism Concern challenged the panel, such as Hilton’s “We care” campaign aimed at reducing water and energy consumption in all 3500 properties across the globe. Barnett described such actions as “just tinkering around the edges”, adding that “growth ignores everything that is being said today.” Asked if she thought tourism should be put on hold until water levels balanced, she responded “Why not?”.

In contrast, Jane Ashton, TUI UK’s Head of CSR, described Hilton’s capital investment in water conservation as ‘inspiring’, a view supported by Justin Francis, MD of responsibletravel.com, although his suggestion that Hilton might consider offering discounts to guests who make significant water and energy savings was not seen by Forte as being Hilton’s style. Mackenzie, stepping off his moderating podium momentarily, added to the finger-pointing by commenting, “The WTTC never speaks about water. Only money.”

Fiona Jeffery, Chair of water-aid charity Just a Drop, summed it up saying “No water, no future. There is apathy among hoteliers, with a huge lack of water literacy”.

This lively debate is not only a hot topic, but an urgent one, and one that will affect both hosts and guests over the next few months, never mind years. As long as organisations like The Travel Foundation offer a platform for such debate, and fund projects which make sustainable development a reality, then it deserves to go way beyond the one million mark.

By Catherine Mack