The Cyprus Tourism Organisation has agreed a €100,000-a-year partnership with industry charity the Travel Foundation to develop sustainable tourism projects in Cyprus.
The funding deal, the Travel Foundation’s first with a destination, was announced at the charity’s annual meeting in London on Monday.
Noel Josephides, chairman of the Travel Foundation trustees, said: “It is a great step forward that Cyprus wants to embed sustainability at the core of its tourism. This will make a great difference.”
The funds will go on developing and extending projects to save energy and water and to reduce and recycle rubbish.
The partnership will further boost funds after the Travel Foundation reported a record £1.248 million in revenue last year – most of it raised from holidaymakers’ donations at the point of booking.
Josephides said the amount was remarkable given the state of the economy and the pressure on the industry. He told the charity’s annual meeting: “We will increase spending on projects by about 50% this year.”
The Foundation won national recognition at The Charity Awards last week when it took the award in the Animals and the Environment category, an experience chief executive Sue Hurdle described as “humbling”.
The FamilyPlanning Association, the Children’s Trust, Community Service Volunteers and the Joseph Rowntree Trust were among other award winners.
Hurdle said: “There was talk last year that sustainability would go out of the window, but it has not dropped off the agenda.”
The Travel Foundation will launch its first consumer campaign later this month with a week-long call to Make Holidays Greener beginning on Saturday June 26. Tour operators plan a series of initiatives in resorts and the campaign will be publicised in The Sun.