is for Social:
heart-centered Social Impact
Why is it important to bring rural communities in to our business?
When we talk about the social aspect of sustainability, I think we are talking about what some consultancies have called human sustainability. This Human sustainability tells us the degree to which an organisation creates value for the human beings with whom it interacts. Our aspiration as Orgs should be to leave them with greater wellbeing, development as individuals, stronger skills, greater opportunities for equity, progress and prosperity, ... Our employees, our customers, the local communities where we operate, .... If we focus on local communities, i.e. communities that are part of the destinations where we operate and how through travel we can create positive change for them, change rooted in compassion are part of the destinations where we operate and how through travel we can create positive change for them, change rooted in compassion, empathy, respect, and deep caring and how this change can have an incredible positive ripple effect.
It is increasingly important that the travel sector is committed to contributing to positive social and cultural impact.
We move around 1.4 billion travellers a year in this industry, so the power of creating these human stories is astounding.
It is a fact that more and more travellers (especially the new generations who have grown up with unprecedented access to information and are more aware of the challenges of sustainability) are willing to see the conventional sights, but they also crave a deeper understanding of the places they visit. They want deep and meaningful experiences that move or change them. There is a desire, an urge to go beyond the superficial elements of a place and explore it more comprehensively, connect with local communities and understand the culture in an authentic way that generates positive impact. And this is just the beginning as Generation Alpha (people born after 2010), called Travel Transformers will be a new generation of community-centric conscious travelers that will measure real time impact of their travel and that will choose destination not product led but socially led (explain) and will demand people-positive travel, focused on forging deeper human connections, on Inclusivity and on social change.
Travel is the world's most powerful tool for creating human connections, stories of travellers and communities that foster respect and tolerance, diversity....
ALMOST 80% OF THE TERRITORY IS RURAL AND 84% OF PEOPLE LIVING IN EXTERNAL POVERTY COME FROM RURAL AREAS.
As players in this sector we believe we have a responsibility: