It’s official ! Machu Picchu, Cusco and the Sacred Valley of Peru will be the site for the first Global Outreach program of Tourism Cares. The mission was unanimously voted by the Board to be supported by key member companies of the non-profit organization since 1998.

For two years, it has been my real pleasure to work as Vice Chair alongside many of travel and tourism’s leaders in the development of Global Outreach’s innovative vision; aimed at taking the American travel industry abroad to collaborate in key areas for sustainability at some of the world’s greatest treasures.

Designed to mirror Tourism Cares’ successful domestic model, Global Outreach (GO) brings together industry leaders in sharing expertise, talent and passion to assist in the conservation and preservation of iconic tourism destinations worldwide. Through public/private partnerships where travel is key to economic growth and authentic heritage development we will work to safeguard treasured sites of universal value, and their local communities; through multilateral scholarships, ongoing grants, educational forums and volunteer events.

GO Peru Inaugural launch in May 2012

Twenty committee members designed a program for some fifty American travel leaders to visit Peru and begin a 2-3 year collaborative grant-making program providing assistance to Peru’s World Heritage Sites. Having initiated the original concept of “Adopt a Country” in 2009, I am delighted to see how this groundbreaking initiative will bridge the interests of not only U.S. and Peruvian travel and tourism supporters, but gain attention from the global community at large.

Travel to Peru is growing rapidly, with 3.5 million visitors annually and diversity from the high Andes to the Amazon rainforest.  Peru has 11 UNESCO World Heritage Sites, including Machu Picchu; and 6 on the Tentative List; one in fact is designated as “the oldest civilization in all of the Americas”.

GO Peru’s effort to build partnerships among tourism stakeholders in planning for iconic World Heritage sites such as Machu Picchu and the center of Cusco (inscribed by UNESCO for “outstanding universal value” in 1985)  is more important than ever. As we kick-off this exciting inaugural project, I look forward to sharing how common goals of sustainability and preservation create positive change in the world’s most significant travel destinations. See you there!

]]> http://www.robintauck.com/blog/tourism-cares-global-outreach-peru-2012/feed/ 1 http://www.robintauck.com/blog/911-memorial-insiders-view-ground/ http://www.robintauck.com/blog/911-memorial-insiders-view-ground/#comments Wed, 15 Dec 2010 22:49:30 +0000 Robin Tauck http://www.robintauck.com/blog/?p=207

On a clear, blue sky day reminiscent of September 11, 2001, little could prepare us for our “insider’s experience” at Ground Zero — an opportunity given only to a few individuals, due to the challenging safety environs and advance security permissions. On this day– December 8, 2010 — our group from travel and tourism was invited to visit.

The 9/11 Museum Memorial is a full 8 acres of the 16 acre site; a gold standard, sustainable LEEDS construction of 110,000 square feet. Accommodating 5 million visitors per year; it will be one of New York’s most visited – akin to the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Museum of Natural History. Here the purpose and design — is to bring together “people” to tell the stories, restore hope and shape a positive future.

I learned that the curators may see “travel and tourism” as a potential exhibit — of new realities and renewed understanding between diverse cultures. As the largest industry in the world, we were impacted — forever. And thanks to so many kind hearted people in the world, we have a good story to tell. And we pledge our support.

Touring the Site…

Our group of six – many of whom worked 24/7 in 2001 to provide shelter and safety for 13,000 Tauck travelers stranded or headed abroad — convened in the nearby One Liberty Plaza, on the 20th floor headquarters of the 9/11 Memorial. Darrell Wolff, a frequent Tauck traveler from Ohio who, in 1969, actually designed the World Trade Center Plaza and many stairways and elevators, was also with us.

As we walked through the offices where 90 people are planning this impressive museum we stood at windows high above the huge site and viewed all the action– dozens of cranes, cement trucks, massive lights, and shoring walls. Union workers in green safety vests buzzed around like ants below. We had to quickly don our safety gear and rush along to get on-site before dark closed in after 4pm.

In my 35 years in the tourism industry, this was a tour like no other. Crossing through thick wire fence, we came face to face with multiple construction projects taking place simultaneously. In our 9/11 black helmets, neon vests and work boots we walked far under Manhattan, down four levels to the actual bedrock of the WTC footprint, through cavernous tunnels and secret passageways, past hundreds of workers…..with much large equipment — digging, pouring concrete, laying granite slabs… even planting the first of 400 trees — in near freezing temperatures.

Our guide was Ron Vargas, a first responder on September 11th and now the Director of Design for the Memorial. A 30 year veteran architect, we soon learned Ron was a construction volunteer; helping victims escape that fateful day and staying on throughout the ensuing 9 months of removal of debris, restoration and redesign. He has a huge heart and a huge job now. In his words, “I will never rest … until this job is done in 2012”.

North and South Reflecting Pools — One thousand tears per minute…

These are the “heart and soul” of the site. Words can barely describe actually stepping inside of them and looking up. We were humbled and solemn. One can only imagine….how 60,000 gallons of water per minute will flow like endless tears. Looking up, we see the Freedom Tower (aka Tower #7) standing proudly over and seemingly protecting these reflecting pools.

Surrounding each side of the pools will be the Names Parapet — a backlit and etched relief of every name that died in that tower. They will be grouped — not alphabetically — but by their meaningful adjacencies — firefighters, corporate colleagues, and so on.

We are grateful to hosts Ms. Jan Ramirez, Chief Curator, to Blake Beatty, VP of Development and to Director Bobbie Greene-McCarthy at Save America’s Treasures for this day.

After long delays and emotional conflicts, it is now only one year ….until the tenth anniversary. We hope many will want to be a part of this momentous occasion and lend your support.

If you wish to reach me for information, rtauck@robintauck.com. Or the museum: www.national911museum.org

PATA’s Sustainability Committee is on the move. In September I attended the semi-annual committee meeting; this one held in Macau following PATA’s Travel Mart.  (PATA is the Pacific Asia Travel Association)

The committee members are leaders in travel and tourism in the Asia Pacific and are passionate and knowledgeable about sustainable travel.

Committee chair John King, also well known as the Chairman of ATEC, the Australian Tourism Export Council, is providing leadership for the Indigenous Tourism Conference in Darwin, Australia September 27-28, 2011.  This is an important event that we hope you’ll consider or recommend to interested associates.

PATA will lead the way with the second Adventure and Responsible Travel conference in Nepal,  partnering with our friends at STI — Sustainable Travel International.  Dates are February 7-11.  Contact me at rdurband@robintauck.com for information.

We got a sobering report from PATA’s Chris Flynn on the rebuilding support they’ve provided following the devastating tsunami in Samoa last year.

Our chair, John King, led a panel in Macau on Corporate Social Responsibility.  I contributed with a presentation on Travelers Philanthropy, describing the growing phenomenon and making recommendations on how to get involved.  Our friends at STI have all the tools needed for travel providers, and our friends at the Global Heritage Fund are the right partners for a select few who are really serious about supporting a specific preservation project.

The International Cultural Tourism (ICTC) of ICOMOS just welcomed me to their ranks. ICOMOS is the International Council on Monuments and Sites, the official advisory body to UNESCO’s World Heritage Centre on matters pertaining to cultural heritage. The ICTC committee supports ICOMOS’ mission by supplying it with expertise on tourism to cultural heritage sites.

We combined our annual meeting with a few days of learning about the World Heritage site of the Douro Valley of Portugal while traveling through it. We met with local tourism and governmental development agencies, and at the end of our time provided our recommendations for sustainable tourism development in the region.

The annual meeting and all the informal meetings of the committee were excellent. This is a passionate group of experts, committed to heritage preservation who also understand the inevitability of tourism to heritage destinations and are engaged in the process of balancing the needs of the two. The committee is truly international. Many are heritage architects, others are government planners and regulators of heritage protection of buildings and sites. All are very talented and intelligent.

As a committee, we’re in the process of writing a handbook on communicating heritage to the tourism industry, commissioned by the UNWTO. I’m one of the many who is submitting content for the handbook, which will likely be published late this year.

The meeting’s setting in the Douro Valley was delightful. I was somewhat knowledgeable of it from my days of selling the riverboat experience there with INTRAV, and enjoyed seeing it in person for the first time. The landscape is wonderful; vineyards on steep slopes, heavily terraced, with very limited numbers of visitors. A great place to taste wine and the famous port wine of the region, and to walk and bicycle in a beautiful setting. It struck us all as Provence or Tuscany before discovery.

PATA’s Sustainable Tourism Committee’s most recent meeting took place April 25th during the conference in Kuching, Malaysia that included the organization’s annual meeting. The Malaysian state of Sarawak on Borneo hosted the event at their new and very sophisticated convention center.

The committee is small but passionate and engaged, and the leadership of the important 59-year old trade group is serious about supporting sustainable tourism development and initiatives. The conference itself involved walking the talk in an environmentally-friendly manner, avoiding single-use plastic water bottles and other appropriate actions.

The committee reported on and discussed a range of worthwhile topics: PATA’s engagement with EC3 for carbon management tools and educational opportunities for PATA members; planning for an indigenous peoples’ tourism conference in Darwin, Australia late in 2011; the Dutch development group SNV’s report on responsible tourism market research; the creation of the International School of Ecotourism at Subic Bay in the Philippines; the MOU that PATA has signed with CED, the Centre for Excellence in Destinations; and the outreach activity underway within PATA toward its youth members and potential members. The committee expressed openness to my suggestion of possible involvement in the Pacific Ocean plastic clean-up work that is needed, highlighted by the research that our friend Mary Crowley and her team at Project Kaisei is showing to the world.

Impressed with the commitment and sincerity of the committee, I was compelled to offer our support and I was admitted as a member of the committee. Robin and I look forward to supporting the research and activities of the committee and the entire organization. We’d love to hear your thoughts including any suggestions and questions.

A growing trend in travel is what we call “Travelers Philanthropy” whereby tour operators and other travel providers make it easy for their customers, their employees, and their company’s “giving back” team to support worthy causes.

Web tools describe carefully screened causes, ranging from supporting elephant orphanages to rain-forest protection to child education and welfare. Those wishing to contribute can pay online – either before, during, or after their travel experience.

This “opt-in” method of giving is great for all involved.

Some travel providers have created their own programs, while others simply direct their clients to trusted non-profit groups who do all the heavy lifting. Our favorite is STI – Sustainable Travel International, a global leader in providing resources to help travel companies and their clients be “greener” and in tune with the needs of community members at the destinations we travelers visit.

Should tour operators promote their good deeds? I say yes!! While we all hope that motivations are altruistically driven, first and foremost, there’s nothing wrong with communicating your actions and intentions to your past and potential customers—and there are plenty of good reasons to do so. You benefit by promoting positive attributes of your company. You inspire others – both travel professionals and travelers themselves – to do good. And don’t overlook the fact that some of your competitors are getting the marketing benefit you may deserve as much or more than they.