It was announced today that MAKE TRAVEL MATTER® Experiences by The Travel Corporation (TTC) and its family of brands has been named an honoree in the Corporate Social Responsibility category of Fast Company’s 2021 World Changing Idea Awards. Fast Company is the world’s leading business media brand, with an editorial focus on innovation in technology, leadership, world changing ideas, inspiring readers to lead with purpose and embrace change. Now in its fifth year, the Fast Company Award honors ground-breaking ideas launched in 2020 that are deeply committed to pursuing innovation for the good of society and the planet.
Selected from thousands of applicants, we are honored our MAKE TRAVEL MATTER® Experiences have been recognized along with the other notable individuals and brands doing incredible, world-changing work. MAKE TRAVEL MATTER® Experiences were developed as a tool for TTC’s brands to advance positive change around the world through the direct participation of travelers. They’re meant to transform the way we think about the travel experience, for the mutual benefit of travelers and the people and places they visit. It is our hope this transformation can shift the way we travel for good, through long-lasting and meaningful impact.
Our everyday choices and actions have an impact on the world around us, and the way we travel is no exception. This has never been clearer than in the present era of COVID-19, with the entire world experiencing an unprecedented pause in travel. Never before have people across the globe collectively appreciated the gift of travel in its absence, in addition to its economic value to communities worldwide.
What sets MAKE TRAVEL MATTER® Experiences apart from other travel experiences?
MAKE TRAVEL MATTER® Experiences are chosen for the ways in which they directly advance the United Nations Global Goals (UNSDGs), widely accepted as the blueprint to address issues such as poverty, inequality, biodiversity and more. Established in 2016, the goals were quickly adopted by governments, businesses and society as those we should all be working towards. We used the UNSDG’s and their specific indicators to develop a set of our own criteria, endorsed by leading industry sustainable development experts, which allow our family of brands to identify transformative experiences that go beyond being a feel-good experience. This means we are building travel experiences that display genuine social and environmental good.
To identify MAKE TRAVEL MATTER® Experiences, we built a proprietary assessment tool that identifies if an experience meets a Global Goal, and if so, which goal or goals it supports.
How Can an Experience Change the World?
Choices are critical. From the clothes you buy, the food you eat and the businesses you support, to the trip you’ve been waiting to take since COVID-19 made itself known. Our portfolio of MAKE TRAVEL MATTER® Experiences can change the travel industry, which is one of the world’s largest, accounting for 10.3% of the global GDP (WTTC, 2019). By choosing to participate in one of these experiences and actively seeking out travel designed to make a positive impact, you are helping us to prioritise community-based enterprises – from supporting women-owned businesses, experiencing unique farm stays that utilize regenerative agriculture practices or learning about ancient cultures that carry on their traditions by sharing their stories with others. You have the power to choose these experiences and support sustainable practices, while setting the tone for the purpose-driven offering you expect of the wider travel industry.
Why and how are MAKE TRAVEL MATTER® Experiences designed around the Global Goals?
Our goal in developing our MAKE TRAVEL MATTER® Experiences was to positively impact broader environmental and social issues, so it was a natural fit to look to the United Nations Global Goals to help narrow our focus and ladder up to international efforts.
MAKE TRAVEL MATTER®
How you can start today
As part of our sustainability strategy How We Tread Right, our goal at Insight Vacations is to include at least 1 MAKE TRAVEL MATTER® Experience on 100% of our itineraries worldwide by 2022, and we are well on our way there. For your next adventure when travel resumes, browse our MAKE TRAVEL MATTER® Experiences and join us in making travel a force for good.
Experiences to discover with Insight Vacations
Cristina Heeren Foundation, Spain:
The Cristina Heeren Foundation promotes the teaching and conservation of flamenco and is a TreadRight Foundation grant recipient. Meet the students of the foundation, learn some basic flamenco steps, and then feel the passion as the students perform an emotional show.
Available on Best of Spain & Portugal
Sheroes Café, India
Visit the Sheroes Cafe, a local structure run by women who have survived acid attacks. Be inspired by their resilience in rebuilding a life for themselves, while supporting their efforts to reintegrate back into the community.
Available on Classical India
Trattoria Terra Madre, Italy
Dine at Trattoria Terra Madre, where owner Alessandra and his nonna have built a restaurant that focuses on sustainability and creating jobs for locals. Everything is grown organically and harvested on site, and excess produce is donated to their community.
Available on Grand Italy & Sicily
Fonda Fish Farm, Slovenia
Meet Irena Fonda, a passionate and awarded biologist carrying out important conservation work in the Gulf of Piran. Join her on a short boat ride to see her family’s fish farm and learn about their journey breeding sustainable Piran sea bass of the highest quality.
Available on Venice and the Croatian Coast
