Travel giant Tui has signed up to the Safer Tourism Pledge – a set of commitments developed by the Safer Tourism Foundation with the tourism industry.
The foundation said the pledge was created “to recognise and identify those businesses that not only have excellent safety systems and protocols in place, but also put collaboration ahead of competition when it comes to customer safety”.
Safer Tourism reviews the safety management systems of companies wishing to sign up to the Pledge, while companies signing up agree to adhere to six commitments.
These include supporting the Safer Tourism Foundation’s mission to save lives and reduce preventable injury and harm to travellers while on holiday; keeping holidaymakers safe and well when travelling and demanding the same high standards of those who work with them; and providing travellers with practical advice and information.
The commitments also ensure Pledge partners respond quickly to genuine concerns; share data and best practices; and use their influence to improve health and safety standards wherever they operate.
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Marc Jordan, Tui’s director of security, health and safety, crisis and BCM [Business Continuity Management], said: “Our customers are at the heart of everything we do at Tui and this starts with their safety.
“The Safer Tourism Pledge partnership further cements our drive for improvement in the safety culture across the industry.”
Katherine Atkinson, Safer Tourism Foundation’s chief executive, added: “Tui have been great collaborators since the charity’s inception, sharing their anonymised travel safety incident data with us and participating in many of Safer Tourism’s workshops over the years.
“Tui was a key member of the group of travel companies which helped to develop and shape the Pledge, ensuring that the Pledge commitments accurately reflect excellence in travel safety systems, whilst recognising travellers’ responsibility for their own safety.”
The charity was set up after the deaths from carbon monoxide poisoning of Bobby and Christi Shepherd, who died while on holiday in Corfu in 2006.
Their mother, Sharon Wood, worked with Thomas Cook to set up the charity in 2016, with Thomas Cook providing the initial funding.