Who can join
The Travelife management system, training and tools are open for all actors within the tour operator supply chain:
Associations of tour operators and travel agents
Travelife is promoting a sector wide introduction of its sustainable tourism standards and tools. Therefore an active commitment of as well outbound and inbound associations of tour operators and travel agencies is seen as highly important. Travelife is flexible to the specific needs of each association. Some associations offer Travelife as a “preferred system” to their members, other expect their members to comply with a basic participation within Travelife (e.g. training, reporting).
Tour operators and travel agents
As a tour operator or travel agency you will find Travelife very useful to train your staff, develop and implement your responsible tourism policies and facilitate internal communication. In order to join as a company you will have to appoint a person taking the lead for sustainable tourism. This person has to register the company. Once registered the sustainable tourism coordinator is able to register its staff. There is no limit to how many staff in one company can use this system. Travel companies preferably join Travelife through their association. If your trade association is not yet involved, your company can also participate on an individual basis. Registration will be approved by Travelife.
Suppliers
As a supplier you can benefit from Travelife through:
• The implementation of the Travelife best practice standards
• Participation in the Travelife Sustainability System which supports your efforts towards sustainability and compares your performances with other businesses. Go to My Suppliers in the top navigation bar for more information, or click here: .jpg)
• Participation in the Travelife Market place, supporting the promotion of already sustainable suppliers and destinations to 1.000 + tour operators in Europe and Northern America. Visit www.greentravelmarket.info for more information on how to profit from improved market access as a sustainable company.
Destinations
Many tourists are motivated to visit certain destinations because of the beauty and the uniqueness of the place. Tour operators therefore have an interest in this and can have an influence over decisions at the destination level that affect the environmental, social and economic sustainability of the destination.
Travelife supports a co-ordinated approach between tour operators and local destinations in order to foster sustainability. Travelife is working together with the governments and the local hotel sector in for example Austria and Catalunya in order to increase sustainability standards of contracted hotels. Travelife also provides support to West and Southern African countries in order to implement sustainability standards and to market their products to European tour operators.
We believe that by such a market-led common approach, tour operators, local governments and suppliers can be more effective in their efforts towards sustainable destinations.
As a destination you can benefit from Travelife through:
• Co-operation with larger groups of tour operators to promote sustainability within your destination.
• Support in the promotion of sustainability efforts and products from your destination to tour operators with support of the Travelife Market Place (e.g. through the organisation of familiarisation trips, telemarketing).
Educational Institutes
Educational institutions from anywhere in the world can join. You will find this site very helpful as part of your teaching in sustainable tourism, because it encourages applying knowledge to a working context. The qualification that your students can obtain will become more marketable because increasingly tour operators prefer to recruit staff that are already knowledgeable and qualified in sustainable tourism and the Travelife management approach
Students
As a student, this training site and the qualification you can get will increase your understanding of how sustainable tourism knowledge can and must be applied in practice. You can only join if your educational institution is a member. In that case you can register and you will be sent a password code. However, that only works if your tutor or course leader has approved your registration. Ask him or her for more details.
Interest groups
As an Interest group you can benefit from Travelife through advocating your issues to tour operators and their clients, for example:
• Using tour operators to make clients aware of “illegal souvenirs” such as coral.
• Informing tour operators and clients about human rights issues such as child prostitution and child labour.
• Making tour operators aware of non sustainable developments in certain destinations.
• Integrating your code of conducts for certain tourism types or destinations within the Travelife standards.
Travelife can disseminate information and opinions to tour operators, can facilitate in the development and distribution of consumer communication tools. Highly relevant issues can be included in the tour operator training tools.
Nature protection and development organisations
More and more Nature protection and development organisations see tourism as a means to support their goals. Tourism development can provide income for local people and support natural and cultural resources. Many initiatives lack however a market led approach. By linking up with tour operators in an early stage of project development and implementation, the market feasibility can be assessed and possibly be guaranteed. Travelife is able to:
• Facilitate partnerships with tour operators.
• Assess the market potential for certain destinations and products prior to project development or implementation.
• Support marketing of products to tour operators through the Travelife Market place
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For access to all the contents of the Travelife website, you must register here.
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