Leading Travel Technology and Brands Address Sustainable Tourism Together

The annual gathering of Travalyst, a non-profit organisation established by Prince Harry, the Duke of Sussex, began on April 16 in the South of France. World-renowned experts and some of the largest travel and IT firms come together for a two-day event to talk about regenerative and sustainable tourism. The founder of Travalyst participated in a roundtable discussion on communities, which was a major feature of this year's event. and spoke with some of the individuals and locations affected by travel and tourism.

Prince Harry, The Duke of Sussex, said, “Travel and tourism rely on destinations, held together by communities, without which we have nowhere to travel to. Communities are the beating heart of travel, and we must do better by the people who are the custodians of the places we visit. We’ve heard from some fantastic organisations like Invisible Cities who train people affected by homelessness to be tour guides in their own city, and Global Himalayan Expedition, whose programmes have helped electrify over 200 Himalayan villages impacting over 60,000 lives for the better. More and more people want to make informed travel choices so that the benefit of travel is felt by all. Travalyst and its partners bring a combined market value of nearly $3 trillion, and are working hard to provide that resource at a systems level.”

Having been established in 2019, Travalyst is collaborating with its partners to provide the public with trustworthy, dependable, and comprehensible sustainability information so that they may plan their travels more intelligently. Thus far, Travalyst has concentrated on accommodation and aviation. In particular:

• The partnership is attempting to scale up the first-ever sustainability data on accommodation providers. This data tries to cover the whole range of sustainability, not only emissions.
• Examining lodging companies' certificates for sustainability. To create a master list of certifications, Travalyst is currently evaluating them against standards that its Independent Advisory Group has authorised.
• Through its alliance, Travalyst has scaled emissions estimates, giving travellers the consistent information they need to plan flights and help them choose less-polluting options.

During its yearly meeting, Travalyst also announced changes to its Independent Advisory Group (IAG) in light of the departure of its chair, Diana Walker, who is now serving as Senior Advisor for Climate in the Biden Administration's U.S. Special Presidential Envoy for Climate. Dr Anna Spenceley, who has been on the IAG since Travalyst's founding and is well-known for her knowledge of sustainable tourism, will now serve as chair of the coalition's oversight group (IAG), which keeps an eye on the work the partnership delivers to make sure it is respectable and industry-leading. In addition, Sarah Holloway will take on the newly created position of IAG Vice Chair, and Professor Sara Dolnicar, who has received numerous honours for her innovative studies in the travel and tourism sector, will join the group.

The largest names in travel and technology, including Amadeus, Booking.com, Expedia Group, Google, Mastercard, Sabre, Skyscanner, Travelport, Trip.com Group, Tripadvisor, and Visa, have united to form a partnership under Travalyst. Travalyst wants to improve travel as a whole for the good of all people.

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