| Journal: TWUK | Section: |
| Title: | Issue Date: 05/06/00 |
| Author: | Page Number: 20 |
| Copyright: Other |
Conservation holds key to future of travel trade
The travel industry is being urged to protect its biggest asset – the environment. Joanne O’Connor reports
The fishermen of Palawan island in the Philippines used to blow the fish out of the water with dynamite. The practice only stopped when travel companies started sending groups of tourists on diving holidays to explore Palawan’s coral reef. Now those fishermen are diveboat operators and their livelihood depends on keeping the coral reef intact.This is just one example of the relationship between tourism and conservation. It was awareness of this link which prompted a group of travel companies to set up the Travel and Tourism Conservation Committee as a fundraising arm for Friends of Conservation in 1991.
The charity started its work in Kenya’s Masai Mara almost 20 years ago and in the last eight years, operators such as British Airways, Thomson and Kuoni have raised over £500,000 for individual projects in East Africa, ranging from Adopt a Rhino schemes to the provision of wardens and jeeps to curb poaching in national parks.
In a bid to raise the profile of the charity and put the environment at the top of the travel industry’s agenda, the TTCChas pushed to expand the FOC’s work beyond Africa.
Committee chairman and WEXAS International managing director Simon Beeching said he hoped the new global focus would win the support of a wider range of travel companies. The TTCC has, on average, raised £50,000 a year since it started and Beeching said the aim was to double this amount every year for the foreseeable future. To help meet this target, former Going Places deputy managing director Paul Evans will be calling on the industry’s top players to back the charity.
As a former purchasing director for Airtours, Evans described himself as “poacher turned gamekeeper” but said the whole industry must make this transition if it is to protect its most valuable asset.
The TTCC wants to spread the message that conservation is not just about saving endangered species or rainforests; it also has a role to play in built-up areas such as the Spanish Costas whose future is equally dependent on environmental factors such as clean beaches and seawater. “We would like to see investment in resorts where substantial numbers are travelling,” said Evans.
Beeching warned the industry must take the initiative and tackle environmental issues now before the Government steps in with taxes and legislation (see story, page 6).
Welcome to our fortnightlypage whichputs the spotlight on sustainable tourism.
Who are the Friends of Conservation? Friends of Conservation was founded nearly 20 years ago to protect wildlife and its habitat. The Travel and Tourism Conservation Committee is the fundraising arm of FOC. The committee’s current members include Abercrombie and Kent, British Airways, British Airways Holidays, BGB and Associates, Explore Worldwide, Okavango Tours and Safaris, Tracks and Tropical Places.Factfile
To find out more-
How to get involved: companies contribute either time or money in the form of a one-off donation, a regular payment or by agreeing to pay an amount per passenger booked. Individuals who make a donation will automatically become members and receive a newsletter and regular updates on FOC events, lectures and merchandise. Any member can nominate a project but it has to be cleared by FOC’s scientific committee. Fundraising events are held throughout the year.