The Duke of Sussex launches global sustainable travel initiative 'Travalyst' with Booking.com

The Duke of Sussex has announced a new global partnership aimed at improving conservation, environmental protection and expanding local community economic development by encouraging sustainable tourism practices across the travel industry.

Travalyst has been created to mobilise the travel industry as a catalyst for good, aiming to transform the future of travel for everyone.

Led by His Royal Highness and co-founded alongside Booking.com, Ctrip, Skyscanner, TripAdvisor and Visa, this first-of-its-kind initiative is dedicated to exploring and promoting solutions that will make travel more sustainable. This initiative brings together global businesses – those at the centre of connecting customers and operators in the travel market - to utilise their unique position to educate, raise awareness and promote positive change.

This new partnership is paving a new way to travel; driving change to help everyone explore the world in a more sustainable manner, protecting people, places, and wildlife, and securing a positive future for destinations and local communities for many generations to come.

Working with companies, consumers and communities, the partnership will initially explore and promote solutions that help drive sustainable practices and consumer choices in areas including; supporting local people, protecting wildlife, tackling climate change and environmental damage, and alleviating over-tourism.

Further details of new initiatives launched by the Travalyst partnership will be announced in due course.

The potential

As more people travel the impact on local communities and the environment increases, however the number of opportunities to do good with each trip taken increases too.

• Last year, the number of international trips taken globally each year reached 1.4bn, two years faster than original projections

• Since 2000, the number of trips taken annually by people around the world has more than doubled 
• Travel and tourism contributed US$8.8tn to the global economy in 2018
• The continued rise in the number of people travelling indicates we will reach 1.8bn international trips by 2030, doubling the number of trips made annually in fewer than 20 years 
• 1 in 10 of all jobs globally are travel related 
• In 10 years, the number of tourists visiting countries in emerging markets will reach 1bn annually, making up 57% of all international trips globally

Travalyst is intended to capitalise on the strength and breadth of the global travel market, foster increased collaboration across the industry, and stimulate and support new solutions and initiatives in sustainable travel. The founding partners want to spark a movement of like-minded companies, organisations, NGOs, and changemakers to transform the future of travel into a more sustainable one.

“Travel has the unparalleled power to open people’s minds to different cultures, new experiences and to have a profound appreciation for what our world has to offer," says His Royal Highness, The Duke of Sussex. "As tourism inevitably grows, it is critically important to accelerate the adoption of sustainable practices worldwide; and to balance this growth with the needs of the environment and the local population. Bringing companies, consumers and communities together is our best chance to protect destinations and ecosystems for future generations.”

More than half of all travellers say they are more determined to make more sustainable travel choices this year than they were last year – but many do not know how.

“The commitment from these different brands to work together and help build a global network of like-minded social entrepreneurs, NGOs and policymakers is truly inspiring," says Gillian Tans, Chairwoman, Booking.com. "Collaboration is the only path forward if we want to create a real paradigm shift in travel. We want to protect the destinations we all love and guarantee that they are happy and healthy for generations to come, but we can’t do it on our own. Even though we don’t have all the answers yet, we are determined to find them together.”

Consumer trends show an increasing demand for a positive impact

There is a growing demand from consumers to have easy and transparent access to a wider range of options to travel more sustainably. Travalyst wants to help companies meet that demand as well as use this platform to engage consumers about the importance of sustainable practices. This partnership will also prioritise working with local communities, engaging social entrepreneurs and promoting best practice.

More than half of all travellers say they are more determined to make more sustainable travel choices this year than they were last year – but many do not know how. Barriers include a lack of knowledge, perceived extra costs and not enough availability or appealing options when trying to put this into practice. That being said, impact on the local community and environment is a primary consideration for many travellers globally.

Growing the Travalyst community

The Travalyst initiative is looking to establish more collaborative partnerships that bring together the collective expertise and perspectives of local communities, policymakers, governments, NGOs, other leading businesses and social entrepreneurs; leveraging technology and strategic initiatives to help scale the global supply of sustainable travel options to meet the growing mass-market demand from consumers.