What is Prince Harry’s Travalyst project and what is the purpose of the venture?

4 September 2019, 16:34

By Alice Dear

Prince Harry travelled to Amsterdam this week to announced the launch of Travalyst.

Weeks after the backlash Prince Harry and Meghan Markle received for travelling on holiday via private jet, the Duke of Sussex has launched a new project, Travalyst.

This week, the Duke flew to Amsterdam where he announced the new venture which aims to help tourism adopt sustainable practices.

READ MORE: Prince Harry finally addresses controversy over private jet use as he launches Travalyst

Speaking of the project, Prince Harry said: “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."

Here’s everything you need to know about Travalyst:

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We are excited to announce the launch of ‘Travalyst’, a global initiative striving to change the impact of tourism, for good. Partnering alongside key travel industry giants @Bookingcom, #Ctrip, @Skyscanner, @TripAdvisor and @Visa_US, our aim is to spark a movement to transform the future of travel, putting communities at the heart of the solution. We believe in the power and importance of travel. We also have a shared responsibility to our planet and to each other. • “I want to start with a little bit of background as to specifically why I’m here today, because as you may know, I am not a tourism or business expert, but through my travels I have observed the unique relationship between community and environment, and have noticed something alarming. There wasn’t the symbiosis or connection there needed to be and I wanted to understand why. I am one of those people fortunate enough to have a platform and I want to use it to tackle hard problems, in the hope of finding solutions…and that’s how Travalyst was born” - The Duke of Sussex The name #Travalyst comes from The Duke and partners viewing our role in sustainable travel as catalysts to accelerate positive changes in travel. Travel + catalyst = Travalyst #Travalyst aims to make travel more sustainable, to help protect destinations and benefit communities long into the future, and to enable consumers to make more environmental friendly choices whilst traveling. The Duke of Sussex, having invited the founding partners to start the conversation, believes that the organisations - with operations in nearly every country, hundreds of millions of customers that use their products every day, and business relationships around the world - have sufficient influence and the critical mass necessary to catalyse real system change in the travel industry, for the benefit of destinations, communities and ecosystems. To discover more about the new initiative, visit www.Travalyst.org

A post shared by The Duke and Duchess of Sussex (@sussexroyal) on Sep 3, 2019 at 2:15am PDT

What is Travalyst?

Travalyst is a new initiative led by the Duke of Sussex and founded by Booking.com, Ctrip, Skyscanner, TripAdvisor and Visa.

The project is the first from the Sussex Royal Foundation.

The aim of the venture is to ensure that as tourism grows, companies are adopting sustainable practices in order to protect the environment.

Travalyst looks to bring companies, consumers and communities together to help protect the ecosystem.

What has Prince Harry said about Travalyst?

During his visit to Amsterdam, Prince Harry said in a statement: “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.

"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."

Following his visit, the Duke shared more information on the Sussex Royal Instagram account.

The post read: “#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.”