I have to be honest. I haven’t taken a vacation lately that involved “causism”—my term for “tourism with a heart.” My life has been focused around a young family of four girls who are moving from Mickey to Justin Bieber to wanting to chill on the beach just because it’s “cool.”
These types of changes come up all the time, and the best thing a luxury travel advisor can do is be ready for it when your client asks for a “causim” vacation. You need to know the type of traveler who wants it and will appreciate it when you go looking for that customer. The client who says, “If I am paying $1,000 a night for a room, they better give me clean towels,” is probably not a good prospect.
Travel and tourism was once a soft footprint that didn’t leave permanent scars. Sustainable and charitable travel is big business. Currently there is no global certification that is expected as standard benchmarks of full compliance.
At Luxury Travel Advisor we joined forces with The Bodhi Tree Foundation, a group that strives to mobilize travelers and the travel tourism industry to support underserved communities and endagered places. In April, we were on hand as the foundation welcomed both consumers and some of the notable travel industry leaders to “An Intimate Dinner with The Bodhi Tree Foundation” at Riverpark, a Tom Colicchio restaurant, in New York City.
The event attracted roughly 150 people, and although we did not get exact figures, both the silent and live auctions held during the night raised thousands of dollars.
With this partnership, The Bodhi Tree Foundation intends to expand interest and knowledge on the very important issue of sustainable tourism. Luxury Travel Advisor was instrumental in promoting the “Travel Powers Change” initiative by allowing readers to select the grant winner. I’m shown here with Jena Gardner, the president of The Bodhi Tree Foundation and of Global Group by JG.
Working with Bodhi Tree has been a good experience. When my girls enter their late teens, I will hope to provide them with inspirational travel that will ground them and help them fully understand that societies prosper with happiness and peace in more natural surroundings. Until that day, I continue to promote and support “causism” more than travel in general. We have to.