The Duke of Sussex announced his new global sustainable travel initiative Travalyst, meant to encourage eco-friendly tourism practices, in Amsterdam today. For the first-of-its-kind initiative, Harry has teamed up with travel service providers like Booking.com, TripAdvisor, Skyscanner and Visa to spread awareness about and explore solutions that will make travel more sustainable. The key: he doesn’t want us to stop travelling, he just wants us to think about the environment when we do.

“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,” Prince Harry said in a press release. “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.”

 

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Today, during the launch event of the new global initiative ‘Travalyst’, The Duke of Sussex shared his remarks on the exciting new initiative from Amsterdam. #Travalyst, an initiative led by The Duke and founded by Booking.com, Ctrip, Skyscanner, TripAdvisor and Visa, sees a pressing need for increased collaboration to make sustainability a priority across our entire travel experience – and we believe that collective, collaborative action will be critical to achieve this. The travel and tourism sector is constantly growing and contributes a significant impact to the world we live in today. The Duke sees it as one of the worlds biggest problems but believes this partnership can make it one its greatest solutions: • – 1.8 Billion trips will be made annually by 2030, and since 2000, the number of trips taken around the world has more than doubled – 71% of global travellers think travel companies should offer more sustainable options – $8.8 Trillion was generated to the global economy from travel and tourism last year – 57% of all international trips by 2030 will include emerging market destinations We plan to work closely with local communities and providers, leveraging technology to help scale sustainable supply to meet the growing mass-market demand from consumers – ultimately, making sustainable travel options of all kinds easier for consumers to identify, book and enjoy. To discover more about the new initiative, visit www.Travalyst.org Photo ©️ SussexRoyal

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According to the initiative, more than half of all travellers say they want to make more sustainable travel choices this year than they did last year – but many of them don’t know where to start. Enter Travalyst (which Harry has already spent two years working on), which aims to ensure that travellers are aware of the more environmentally-friendly options available to them, like providing tips to purchase carbon offsets. The project – the first official undertaking of Meghan and Harry’s new charitable foundation, Royal Sussex – will also focus on supporting local people, tackling climate change and protecting wildlife.

The announcement comes weeks after Harry and Meghan faced criticism for travelling using a private jet – a move that many argued contradicted their efforts to counter climate change. People reports that while in Amsterdam, Harry commented on the controversy, explaining he usually flies commercial, but will take a private plane when it’s best for the safety of his family. “We can all do better and while no one is perfect, we all have a responsibility for our own individual impact,” he said. “The question is what we do to balance it out.”

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