Virgin Holidays is looking at other locations in the Caribbean that could be suitable for a second Branson Centre for Entrepreneurship.
Managing director Amanda Wills said the focus for the next two or three years would be the Jamaica project, which was officially opened today, but other locations were being looked at where Virgin Holidays is strong.
These include Barbados, St Lucia and Antigua but Wills said it was important to really understand the people before making a commitment.
Wills said Virgin Holidays customers were happy to contribute to sustainable travel through its scheme that allows them to make a donation of £1 per passenger. She said they may be happy to pay more but that wasn’t being considered at the moment due to the economic climate.
She said: “At the moment there’s a lot going on and you can’t push it down people’s throats.”
She said sustainable tourism initiatives could easily be cut or put on ice in tough market conditions, but at Virgin Holidays it is part of strategy would not be changed.
“We encourage all our competitiors to do the same and they do various things, but our focus is business sustainability and having our brand linked to an entrepreneur allows us to do something really amazing like this.”