by Lacey Pfalz
Last updated: 2:10 PM ET, Thu March 7, 2024
Tourism Cares, the global non-profit working towards advancing sustainability in the tourism industry, is expanding its Meaningful Travel Program this year as part of its new 20-year vision plan.
The organization is expanding its destinations with VisitScotland as its newest member. It’s the first European destination to launch a Meaningful Travel Map and joins fifteen other destinations engaged in the program, which focuses on educating the industry around cultural preservation and sustainable tourism.
“Our vision is for Scotland to be a globally recognized responsible destination,” said Malcolm Roughead, VisitScotland’s chief executive. “We want to inspire and influence visitors to make sustainable choices at all stages of their travel journey, and joining the Tourism Cares member community represents another example of our efforts to achieve this. We know that over half of international visitors to Scotland book through intermediaries, which is why it is important that we engage with the travel trade.”
VisitScotland's Meaningful Travel Map, available on Tourism Cares' website. (Photo Credit: Tourism Cares)
The Meaningful Travel Program is also expanding in a completely new way: destination FAM tours, hosted in collaboration with the Tourism Authority of Thailand and the Hawai’i Visitors and Convention Bureau. The trips will offer the travel trade a personal look at what sustainable tourism and community-led experiences look like.
Tourism Cares will also host two Meaningful Travel Summits in 2024: an invitation-only Global Meaningful Travel Summit, held June 1-6 in Panama City and El Valle de Anton in Panama, and the North American Meaningful Travel Summit, open to all and held September 30 through October 2 in Willamette Valley, Oregon.
"The global tourism industry is at a critical juncture where sustainable practices are not just desirable but imperative,” explained Greg Takehara, CEO of Tourism Cares. “Our Meaningful Travel Program provides travel companies with the proper tools to enact positive change in their operations to help transform our industry where people, places, and the planet not only survive – but thrive. We look forward to fostering more partnerships with destinations and other businesses in the travel trade that make a lasting difference in travel.”
For the latest travel news, updates and deals, subscribe to the daily TravelPulse newsletter.
Topics From This Article to Explore
