THEME 2 - SUSTAINABLE TOURISM: TRAVEL FOUNDATION
Description of the best practice
British Prime Minister Tony Blair launched the UK’s Sustainable Tourism Initiative (STI) at
the World Summit on Sustainable Development in 2001. At the heart of the Initiative was the
establishment of an independent charity, the Travel Foundation. (The Travel Foundation
aims to help the outbound travel industry manage tourism more sustainably, changing the
practice of tourism from the UK to make a greater contribution to local people, the
environment, and local economy in destination countries.
Responsible Government Department: Foreign and Commonwealth Office;
Partners involved: The Travel Foundation was created through a process involving forty
organisations including government, travel companies, industry associations, relevant
charities and academia. (The Foundation now has 100 member organisations.)
Characteristics that make the initiative best practice:
 Innovative project where a wide range of stakeholders work together to achieve
common objectives ie to promote and develop sustainable tourism
 The Travel Foundation is self-funding, with a large proportion of its income coming
from a voluntary customer donation scheme;
 Local and national governments have evidence to develop effective tourism policies
and support destination communities and environments
 Businesses are better able to meet the needs of their customers, at the same time as
protecting the resources on which their future depends.
Mainstreaming/sustainability of the best practice
The positive results brought about by the initiative include:
-
Increased awareness of sustainable tourism issues by UK consumers and
industry/business
Destination communities receive greater benefit from tourism, with a boost to their local
economy and conservation of the natural environment, local traditions and culture.
Greater cooperation between different business sectors and between government and
business
Influencing industry practice
The creation of the Travel Foundation has influenced the UK’s leading travel companies
(tour operators) to prepare written policies on sustainable practice and the 5 largest
companies – responsible for around 30% of all package travel from the UK – have
employed responsible tourism managers. As part of the process to implement their
policies, these companies are now building sustainable practice into their core operations,
from contracting destination suppliers to training staff and communicating with customers
(see examples in section on replication below). The Foundation is working to encourage
as many UK companies as possible to mainstream sustainability.
Linkages with national development policies
The UK Sustainable Development Strategy, launched on 7 March 2005, highlights the
potential that tourism has to support economic and social development worldwide but also to
damage the environment and indigenous cultures. It sets out the Government’s aim to build
greater co-operation with the UK’s outbound tourism industry and with international partners
to promote more sustainable tourism globally.
The FCO also published its own sustainable development strategy on 14 March 2005,
which flows from the UK strategy. This sets out how working through partnerships, such as
the Travel Foundation, the Government can achieve its sustainable development goals.
Financial viability
The FCO provided seedcorn funding but the Travel Foundation is now self-financing. We
continue to provide funding to the Foundation to support specific projects on the ground.
A range of companies support the work of the Travel Foundation either with a one-off or
regular corporate donation, or by setting up funding schemes to help the charity raise money.
Generally, these involve asking customers to make a voluntary donation when paying for their
holiday. The suggested voluntary donation starts at a very modest level. As an alternative to,
or in addition to the consumer scheme, some companies are running a corporate scheme,
where a small amount has been included in the price of the holiday.
Lessons learned

The primary lessons learned from the experience of creating the Travel Foundation are
about the value of partnerships and the benefits of bringing together groups from
government, industry and sustainability specialists to work more closely.

Activities should be developed following consultation with destination partners and local
stakeholders and not driven exclusively by external perception of the issues needing to
be addressed.

There are many examples of good practice and many sets of guidelines but what
companies say they need most is practical assistance with implementation.

Not to underestimate the time needed to build awareness of sustainable tourism. It is
extremely important to have a range of activities to communicate to and engage with
different stakeholders.
Replication
The general initiative itself (eg establishing an independent organisation such as the Travel
Foundation to promote sustainable tourism) is highly replicable as are many of the functions
or activities. In fact, the Travel Foundation is replicated in each destination where the
organisation commissions a programme. A multi-stakeholder group, comprising industry,
government, and sustainability specialists (NGOs, academics, consultants), is established to
determine programme content and direction. To date such partnerships are operating in
Cyprus, The Gambia, Mexico, Sri Lanka and Tobago.
The Travel Foundation has funded projects to develop practical solutions to help destinations
protect and enhance their local environment. For example, to improve waste management;
support recycling; reduce water or energy consumption; and protect areas of natural beauty
and endangered wildlife.
The Foundation also works to improve the livelihoods of people through tourism. For
example, the introduction of an “adopt-a-farmer” programme linking local farmers and hotels
in Tobago. This has significantly increased the income of farmers, reduced imports (and their
associated environmental costs), and improved the freshness and quality of the food for the
customer. The Foundation is supporting a programme in the Gambia to replicate this linkage
between hotels and local farmers.
The Travel Foundation has provided support for industry including bespoke training materials
for staff based in the UK and overseas, and practical checklists for suppliers (on
accommodation and excursions).
The Foundation has also produced a set of “Insider Guides” which help customers understand
what they can do to make a positive difference when they travel. These are distributed by
Tour operators and travel agents, together with other information on sustainable tourism to
help raise public awareness.
(More details can be found at: www.thetravelfoundation.org.uk)