Conde Nast Traveler Launches Three-Part World Savers Partnership: World Savers Congress, World Savers Awards, and Conde Nast Traveler Five & Alive Fund

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Today, Conde Nast Traveler hosts the first World Savers Congress and World Savers Awards in New York City.

The event, held at Gotham Hall, will serve as a forum for industry leaders from companies including Marriott, Ritz Carlton, Fairmont, Four Seasons, Regent Cruises, Air France, and Lindblad Expeditions to explore issues surrounding travel and social responsibility. The event is part of the magazine's World Savers Partnership, a three-pronged approach to rally readers, the travel industry, and non-profit social activists behind initiatives that can positively affect the communities in which we travel.

"The travel industry's power is twofold: It is both a vehicle for enlightenment -- it enables travelers to experience the world and learn from what they see -- and a potentially powerful agent of global change," said Klara Glowczewska, Editor in Chief, Conde Nast Traveler. "The Conde Nast Traveler World Savers Partnership is dedicated to the proposition that there is much to do and much to learn -- and that we as an industry can make a difference."

J.W. Marriott, Jr., Chairman and CEO of Marriott International, award winner and long time supporter of socially responsible travel, will be in attendance to announce the expansion of Marriott's "Spirit to Serve Our Communities" initiatives. These new programs will strengthen the communities in which the company operates through the following signature issues: shelter and food, environment, readiness for hotel careers, vitality of children, and embracing people with disabilities. Additionally, Marriott will announce the expansion of its work with the International Tourism Partnership's Youth Career Initiative.

Developed to help travelers and the industry explore issues surrounding socially responsible travel, influence their decisions, and encourage them to actively participate in environmental and social sustainability, the World Savers Partnership has three parts:

Conde Nast Traveler World Savers Congress
The World Savers Congress will bring together leaders of the travel industry -- collectively the world's largest, at $7 trillion in revenue this year -- with a range of organizations and resources to help them implement even more effective programs across the globe. Featured speakers Richard C. Holbrooke, President and CEO, Global Business Coalition on HIV/AIDS, TB and Malaria and former UN Ambassador to the United Nations, and Bill Drayton, Chairman and CEO, Ashoka, will address the ways in which business -- the travel industry included -- can help make a difference while maintaining profits, and the various creative grassroots solutions to current global, social, environmental, economic, and health-related problems.

Panel discussions, moderated by Conde Nast Traveler editors, will spotlight two key areas where the industry can have an impact: the environment and economic development. These discussions, designed to promote debate and creative thinking about how tourism companies can help make a positive difference in the communities in which they operate, will include panelists steeped in the issues, including environmental activist and business leader John Paul Dejoria, Jamie Sweeting of the Center for Environmental Leadership in Business, and Tricia Barnett of Tourism Concern. Other speakers throughout the day will include Martha Honey from the Center on Ecotourism and Sustainable Development and Louis D'Amore of the International Institute for Peace through Tourism. Industry executives participating in the discussions will include Jim FitzGibbon, President, Worldwide Hotel Operations, Four Seasons; Simon Cooper, President of Ritz-Carlton; Sven Lindblad, Founder of Lindblad Expeditions; and Mark Conroy, President of Regent Seven Seas.

Conde Nast Traveler World Savers Awards
In an effort to encourage the industry to expand social responsibility programs on a local and global scale, Conde Nast Traveler will recognize those who are already making a difference with the 2007 World Savers Awards ceremony. Highlighted in the September 2007 issue, the World Savers Awards are given to hotels, tour operators, and destinations that are considered stewards of social responsibility in their communities through their work in these five areas: education, health, poverty relief, cultural and environmental preservation, and wildlife conservation. Companies honored at this year's awards include:
Chain Hotels & Resorts: Marriott
Recipient: Bill Marriott, CEO

At Marriott, each manager at the 2,800 properties is judged in part by his or her "Spirit to Serve" community programs. Paid volunteers are involved in a variety of initiatives, from career training programs (like Marriott's Youth Career Initiatives for at risk kids) to feeding the hungry and planting trees. Marriott has also adopted a green philosophy, reducing greenhouse gases by 70,000 tons last year, and has received Energy Star labels for more that 200 properties.
Small Hotels & Resorts: Jungle Bay Resort and Spa, Dominica
Sam Raphael, Owner/Founder

Jungle Bay Resort and Spa epitomizes sustainable tourism through its use of local labor, materials and food stuffs. The hotel offers micro-loans to local entrepreneurs, funds scholarships, supports a local orphanage, and encourages guests to experience the local community.
Destinations: Tswalu Kalahari Reserve, South Africa
Gus Van Dyk, General Manager

A conservation program fueled by tourism, Tswalu has replaced a cattle farm, whose livestock were decimating the wildlife, with a lodge and private villa in an effort to reintroduce native species into the environment. Former farm employees are being trained for better paying tourism jobs that offer a stronger career path. Tswalu has earned the Fair Trade in Tourism trademark awarded by an NGO based on wages, working conditions, and other criteria.
Tour Operators: Buffalo Tours, Southeast Asia
Dr. Tran Trong Kien, Founder

Buffalo Tours integrates off-the-beaten-path villages, volunteerism, and homestays into programs run by local guides. The company donates three percent of its profits to humanitarian causes and has helped the Mai Chau Valley tribes sustain traditional weaving and farming.

The winners of the 2007 World Savers Awards have been scrutinized by Conde Nast Traveler's editorial staff and by a panel of experts, who rated each on its environmental initiatives and community work. For a full listing of award winners and more information on the 2007 World Savers Awards and Congress, visit makeadifference.cntraveler.com.
In addition to recognizing the work of other companies and encouraging them to do more, Conde Nast Traveler has also pledged to expand editorial coverage focused on socially responsible travel, and has launched a dedicated web presence http://www.makeadifference.cntraveler.com/.

Conde Nast Traveler Five & Alive Fund
Nearly 10 million children in impoverished countries die before they reach the age of five of preventable illnesses because they lack the simplest of things -- clean drinking water, basic medicines, mosquito netting, and access to vaccines. To address the needs of children globally, Conde Nast Traveler is harnessing the power of its readers and of the industry through the creation of the Conde Nast Traveler Five & Alive Fund. The fund will support children under five in 36 countries by supplying medicines and safe water and improving nutrition. Readers can learn more about the fund and make donations by visiting makeadifference.cntraveler.com. It takes very little to have an impact: A $10 contribution will protect a mother and child from malaria for three years, and a $25 donation will buy lifesaving antibiotics for more than 100 children with pneumonia. Conde Nast Traveler has donated a portion of all subscriptions made through cntraveler.com in the month of September and is encouraging the travel industry to support the fund by providing opportunities for travelers to donate.

In coming months, the World Savers Partnership will take many forms as the travel industry rallies behind this effort. For the latest updates on the Partnership and how to be a socially responsible traveler, visit makeadifference.cntraveler.com.

Printable Version | published Oct 10, 2007

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