TreadRight rising: wins 2015 World Tourism Award

At the height of yet another busy fall season for the travel community, The Travel Corporation (TTC) has been making the most of it, hosting back-to-back events last week featuring the company’s CEO, Brett Tollman.

In addition to a tea party and evening affair, Tollman and TTC also hosted a media luncheon in order to provide an update on the travel brand’s not-for-profit organization, TreadRight Foundation, which is being honoured with the 2015 World Tourism Award at Travel Marketplace in London on Nov. 2.

The organization is being recognized for its mission to promote sustainable travel through conservation, leadership, and education, and the award is TreadRight’s first recognition; although the foundation’s inception took place in 2008, TreadRight has not been the subject of much public marketing, a decision made strategically by TTC to ensure that the organization’s 35 sustainable tourism projects were able to develop without being rushed or influenced by outside involvements.

“The focus was very much around the projects and getting them done,” Tollman told PAX of TreadRight’s operations, “as opposed to running it from a PR and communications standpoint. Now, we’ve recognized recently that there’s obviously a value in our travellers being aware of and understanding some of the work we do as part of our overall ethos.”

TreadRight focuses on a two key pillars: wildlife preservation and helping individuals in areas of the world where TTC operates to forge careers within the artisanal, cultural and historical aspects of their countries.

In early 2015, Treadright welcomed environmentalist Céline Cousteau as its official ambassador. Cousteau uses her public image - passed down in part from her grandfather - Jacques Yves Cousteau, to bring awareness to issues of conservation and responsible tourism, both through Treadright and her own organization, CauseCentric.

According to Tollman, the ambassadorship has been “amazing.”

“She’s far more eloquent at conveying our messaging than my co-founder David Hosking or myself are,” he said of the filmmaker, with whom he admitted sharing a lot of the same outlooks on humankind and their responsibility toward the planet. “We have similar priorities in terms of wanting to help others and build community.”

With Cousteau’s help, TreadRight has been able to bring its initiatives to the forefront of the travel community, introducing the TreadRight Wildlife Initiative and the TreadRight Heritage Initiative in early 2015, both of which provide a more comprehensive approach to issues of sustainability.

Tollman shared the foundation’s latest projects at the luncheon:

On saving rhinos

“More rhinos are being killed every year than are being born every year, and it’s been this way since 2008,” he shared. “We’re well beyond the tipping point.”

Treadright’s Wildlife Initiative is dedicated to combating the illegal poaching and trafficking of wildlife, in particular the illegal trade surrounding rhino horns, a practice that has seen 95 per cent of the world rhino population decimated within the last four decades.

Treadright, in collaboration with partner Wilderness Safaris and the South African government, has been working for several years to actively relocate rhinos, and managed to move 12 rhinos from Zimbabwe and South Africa.

“It’s quite a lengthy process,” Tollman explained. “They’re very territorial, so it takes time to adjust to a new area, as well as to the new vegetation in their diets. Sometimes they’ll also run for days at a time, so you run the risk of losing them.”

Other times, a relocation can go well, but outside obstacles can still pose dangers.

“They like to keep relocations secret, because the more people hear about it, the more you’ll get poachers coming in,” Tollman said, sharing a story he’d heard recently about a head game ranger working in an anti-poaching division who sold all the tracking device codes assigned to relocated rhinos in the black market.

Ending animal entertainment

TTC was recently one of several travel companies to sign a new agreement with World Animal Protection, to stop selling tours that include elephant rides. 

“In two years, we will ensure that none of our holidays include elephant riding,” Tollman announced to guests. “We will not support any projects or activities that include cruelty to animals.”

Insight currently has a tour that includes elephant rides, and Tollman stated the product would be ended in the coming year.

“We’ll continue to look hard at anything we do that may be bad or inappropriate in terms of either direct or indirect impact on wildlife.”

Regarding heritage

TreadRight’s Heritage Initiative looks to support people and communities that rely on small enterprises and other heritage-based work through a series of grants, providing artisans with the funding to grow their small businesses.

As part of the day’s presentation, Tollman played a video featuring Cousteau visiting the Laboratorio Giuditta Brozzetti, one of the last traditional frame hand weaving workshops left in Italy.

Using the funds provided by TreadRight’s Heritage Initiative grants program, Laboratorio Giuditta Brozzetti will use education to share its ancient weaving traditions with others, as well as improve its e-commerce capabilities to adopt online sales, with the purpose of attaining in a stable source of income for the community-based cooperative.

Check out the video here:

As a not-for-profit, Treadright Foundation does not generate revenue for TTC, nor does it accept public donations. For Tollman, raising funds isn’t quite the purpose of TreadRight; for the CEO, it’s much more about giving back, striking a balance between providing leisure travel and promoting conservation awareness, and accepting responsibility for the future of the earth.

“We’ve all got a role to play,” he said. “There’s only one planet, and the magical conceptions of us leaving to live on Mars one day probably won’t be happening in our lifetime, so we all need to do more to protect our planet – in any little way that we can.”

PHOTO: Jeff Element, president, The Travel Corporation Canada; Lucille Sive, president of Lion World Travel; Wolf Paunic, president, Trafalgar; Brett Tollman, CEO, The Travel Corporation; Michelle Palma, director, national accounts - Canada, Uniworld; Brad Ford, president, Contiki Holidays Canada & Cris David, president, Insight Vacations Canada