'Sustainable development is the cornerstone of our business. Our customers presume, and we demand of ourselves, the very highest standards and take our responsibilities very seriously. We have a long track record of supporting destination communities and we intend to build on it.'
John Wimbleton, Managing Director, Activity

The Activity Sector has over 60 companies operating in the market segments of Marine, Adventure, Ski, Student and Sport (new for 2008). Its customers enjoy unique travel experiences such as hiking Kilimanjaro, Polar cruising, chartering yachts in the Caribbean, skiing the Peak 2 Peak at Whistler or touring with national cricket, rugby or football teams. Brands include Quark Expeditions, the world’s largest and most diverse Polar travel company, Sunsail and The Moorings, leading yacht chartering and beach club brands and Crystal, Europe’s biggest ski operator.

We will introduce the Activity Sector Sustainable Development strategy across the sector in 2009 and increase management resource on sustainability The sector will reflect the five Groupwide sustainable development priorities: Embedding, Climate Change, Destinations, Our People and Our Customers.

Climate Change

To ensure we develop a more sustainable business, we intend to measure the carbon footprint of our expedition ships, ground transport fleets and major premises. We will then put performance indicators in place to reduce our carbon emissions from these operations and increase our offsetting with a view to working towards carbon neutrality. We will also set a target to reduce our paper brochures significantly and ensure they are produced from sustainable sources.

Quark Expeditions
Quark Expeditions has a commitment to environmentally responsible tourism in the pristine areas in which it operates. On all expeditions to the Arctic and Antarctic, the company follows strict environmental guidelines drawn up by the Association of Arctic Expedition Cruise Operators (AECO) and the International Association of Antarctica Tour Operators (IAATO), which Quark Expeditions helped to develop. Across its operations, the company has implemented a comprehensive fuel-saving programme with management and crew specifically targeted to minimise fuel usage without compromise to safety or customer satisfaction. In the Arctic, the company is using a lighter fuel for expedition ships, reducing carbon emissions by up to 19% on some voyages.

The company also launched the Polar Ambassador programme on Earth Day, 22 April 2008, encouraging Quark Expeditions' travellers who have been inspired by their voyage to become involved in the conservation and protection of the Arctic and Antarctic.

TUI Marine
The new TUI Moorings Marina in Tortola, British Virgin Islands, opened in early 2008. The Marina worked closely with the local sustainable tourism ministry to carefully replant rare species of coral and install a new system of water circulation in the marina, which has helped wildlife to flourish. A new laundry water recycling facility has also been installed to reduce its impact on the environment.  

Carbon offsetting
Many Activity companies offer their customers the opportunity to offset their carbon emissions, while others have built it into the tour cost. Sawadee Reizen has worked with GreenSeat to build a full carbon offset into Galapagos and Polar expedition tours. Peregrine Adventures and Gecko’s Adventures work with Climate Friendly to build carbon offsetting costs from accommodation, transportation and flights into the cost of their holidays. All three companies also offset work-related flights.

Destinations

In 2009, we will review the policies and processes we use to manage suppliers on sustainable development issues, and then define minimum sustainable development supplier management standards applicable to all companies within the sector. In our destinations, we support community and development projects that address destination environmental and economic sustainability. In particular, we focus on projects in the areas most affected by our business. We plan to set specific sustainability goals with regard to community development, environmental conservation and wildlife protection.

Making snow sports greener and more accessible
The Travel Foundation, a sustainable tourism charity, launched the ‘Make Snow Sports Greener’ website in 2008 for snow sports operators and accommodation providers. It shows businesses how they can take action on reducing carbon emissions and communicate effectively with customers. TUI Ski worked with the Travel Foundation to distribute the resource to its suppliers. Additionally, TUI Ski supports Disability Snowsport UK so that that everyone can take part in and enjoy the thrill of snowsport.

Travelbound
Travelbound has adopted the Travelife Sustainability System and audited their Chateau du Molay in Normandy. They now have a list of objectives to continue to improve the sustainability practice and aim for a Gold Travelife award in 2010.

Trek America
Trek America is working with its local partners in Machu Picchu. In April 2009, they sponsored an environmental training programme for four local Peruvian wranglers and their local ground agent. Once they have completed the training, the wranglers will have developed new skills that will prepare them for a career in tourism and also enable them to earn a decent wage to better support their families.

i-to-i
i-to-i works with over 450 locally-run projects in 23 countries throughout the world. The company is behind the creation of over 25 local independent businesses in the developing world to support our customers. In the 12 months to July 2009, i-to-i has:

• Financially supported over 150 families throughout the developing world by the use of homestays for travellers
• Provided hands-on support and care for children with HIV/AIDS in Kenya 
• Sent over 800 travellers working on hands-on projects developing and supporting wildlife and the environment in Asia, Africa and Latin America
• Taught English to over 5,000 children in the developing world
• Enabled customers to contribute over 10,000 hours of labour on rural house-building programmes in Costa Rica, Honduras, Vietnam and Kenya 
• Bbeen involved in several reforestation projects in sub Saharan Africa

Community-based tourism
Exodus and The Adventure Company are offering holidays developed by Thailand’s Community-based Tourism Institute (CBT-I), with funding from The Travel Foundation. Exodus and The Adventure Company worked closely with local communities to plan holidays based on special elements of local life that community members feel proud of. Customers can learn about the community and environment through fun, hands-on activities including jungle trekking, traditional fishing, natural dyeing and learning to cook local dishes.

Working in partnership

• Imaginative Traveller and Sawadee Reizen are working with the Rainforest Alliance. They have signed an agreement demonstrating their commitment to sustainable tourism throughout Latin America, and giving the Alliance access to their local operators to introduce environmental issues to the supply chain.
• Sawadee Reizen works with Fair Trade in Tourism South Africa (FTTSA), including as many FTTSA certified hotels and excursions as possible in their holidays to the region.

Charitable giving
All Activity companies support local charities and two have set up charitable foundations. In 2007/08, The Adventure Company Foundation raised £6,000 for several projects including the Betalghat School in India and the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust in Kenya. Between its launch in 2007 to June 2009, The Peregrine & Gecko’s Community Trust raised over $100,000 for projects including the Chitwan Electric Fence project in Nepal and the Galapagos Conservancy.

Exodus worldwide projects
Exodus has entered into a partnership with Friends of Conservation to support and run several projects worldwide. In the Himalayas, Exodus supports the Nava Kiran Orphanage in Kathmandu. Funds have been raised to build an entirely new home for the orphans, fund their education and supply solar cookers and a bio-gas unit to meet their energy needs.

In the Bandhavgarh National Park in India, tigers face a precarious future. Exodus customers, colleagues and suppliers have donated nearly £35,000 to rebuild the secondary school in the nearby village of Tala. One of the main aims of the project is to use education to explain how the communities’ welfare can improve through tourism, with the goal of ending poaching.

Our People

Our people are pivotal to our success in developing a more sustainable business. Our goal, therefore, is to ensure that sustainable development topics are part of induction and training so that each colleague can play their part in sustainable development. We circulate a regular Activity Sector sustainable development newsletter and the sector intranet includes an area on responsible tourism.

We train specific colleagues on sustainable development issues where appropriate. Recent training includes a full-day session for UK-based responsible tourism champions (April 2009) and sessions at TUI Ski (December 2007) and the Activity Commercial programme (November 2008 and May 2009).

Every year, each of the 4,000 colleagues in the Activity Sector is given a day to work in local community projects. In the last year, one UK-based team used this time to renovate a homeless shelter in Brighton.

Trek America
Trek America supports the annual Tourism Cares project. In April 2009, it sponsored five colleagues to volunteer to help a restoration project in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania.

Our Customers

The feedback we get from customers is crucial to our success. We aim, therefore, to extend customer feedback collections on sustainable development issues.

The Adventure Company
We introduced the ‘Hands on Adventures’ initiative in 2008 to support the business focus on responsible tourism and involve customers more in creating tangible benefits locally. It includes 14 trips which offer an element of working within a project as part of their itinerary or as an extension. This might be anything from monitoring and tracking bears in Slovakia to spending time living and working with the San Bushmen of northern Namibia. In June 2009, a total of 52 customers had booked a ‘Hands on Adventure’.