Travel industry urged to back sustainable tourism

Sunday, 03 Nov, 2005 0

Foreign Office minister Ian Pearson has encouarged more travel firms to back UK charity the Travel Foundation.

The call came at a meeting with 10 leading travel firms to promote sustainable tourism.

Industry leaders from companies including First Choice, Thomas Cook, TUI UK, MyTravel, Advantage Travel Centres, British Airways, Virgin Atlantic, Lastminute.com, Sunvil and Co-operative Travel Trading Group met the minister together with UK charity the Travel Foundation.

They discussed ways in which tourism can make a positive contribution to holiday destinations and Pearson encouraged others in the travel industry to support the Travel Foundation.

Pearson said: “Sustainable tourism can mean anything from respecting the local culture and heritage of the places we visit, to using water carefully and protecting local environments, to ensuring that the economic benefits of tourism go to those local populations who need it most.

“Tourism is the world’s biggest industry. It has the potential to make a positive difference to the natural environment and to local people. We have a responsibility to safeguard the future of the places we travel to, and to use the clout of the travel industry to enhance the lives of local people.

“The Travel Foundation is a unique partnership between government, industry and non-governmental organisations which is working to achieve sustainable patterns of tourism globally. For its part, the Foreign Office is this year funding £230,000 of projects in countries from China to Cameroon and Vietnam.

“At today’s meeting we discussed improving take-up of the customer donation scheme, where UK tourists contribute a small percentage of their holiday costs towards helping local communities in the places they are visiting and how the major travel companies can contribute financially to the Travel Foundation.”

Report by Phil Davies

Phil Davies

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