The Travel Corporation’s (TTC) Tour Brands have announced that they are bidding farewell to all branded merchandise they give away. Instead, they will repurpose global funds for projects that fight climate change on behalf of their guests, trade partners and internal team members.
Announcing the new initiative, TTC said that after assessing the unnecessary carbon emissions emitted by the business, they discovered that by saying no to “more stuff”, they could prevent the equivalent carbon emissions of 6.5 million car-driven miles from entering the atmosphere annually.
As a result, starting 11 December 2023, TTC Tour brands, including Luxury Gold, Insight Vacations, Trafalgar, Costsaver, Contiki, AAT Kings and Inspiring Journeys, will commit to no longer ordering branded merchandise for gifting.
Instead, TTC Tour Brands say they will repurpose funds traditionally allocated to branded merchandise to nature-based donations to projects that will remove a further 1.5 million car-driven miles worth of carbon emissions from the atmosphere by December 2024.
“No one needs more stuff”, yet everyone needs to take responsibility for the future of our planet. Our industry as a whole is no exception, and we believe the gift of travel should be preserved for generations to come”, says TTC Tour Brands Managing Director Toni Ambler.
The touring brands will donate to projects supported by their not-for-profit foundation, TreadRight, Rainforest Rescue’s Daintree Project and GreenWave’s Kelp Climate Fund Project.
Donations to Rainforest Rescue’s Daintree Project aim to protect and preserve biodiversity and remove carbon from the atmosphere through planting, maintenance and restoration programs executed in partnership with the traditional landowners, the Eastern Kuku Yalanji people.
Meanwhile, in North America, donations to GreenWave’s Kelp Climate Fund Project will fund the planting of kelp across regenerative ocean farms. Kelp provides a powerful and scalable carbon drawdown solution that captures and stores carbon and supports economies and global food systems.
As a final step, all TTC Tour Brand and AAT King’s offices will rehome any leftover or outdated merchandise after March 2024 either to local charities who can re-use the items or utilise them for internal fundraisers where proceeds will provide further donation support to their nature-based solutions partners.
“We continue to do what we can to make a positive impact in line with our How We Tread Right five-year sustainability strategy and our commitment to NetZero by 2050,” said Ms Ambler.
Sharing her insights from TTC Tour Brands’ recent trade conference attendance, Ms Ambler said, “We have been asking travel agents to provide pledges for a more sustainable future for our planet while at our booths.”
“This small step at these recent events has initiated important conversations with travel agents regarding protecting our planet through travel. We are committed to ensuring we engage our industry further with sustainability practises.”
The latest initiative contributes to TTC Tour Brands, AAT Kings, and Inspiring Journey’s four-step Climate Action plan already in place that includes near-term, long-term, and net zero carbon emissions targets validated by the Science-based Targets Initiative (SBTi) as a cornerstone of their “MAKE TRAVEL MATTER®” mission.
For more information, visit: www.impact.ttc.com/climate/donations
