Thomson scratch cards to support travel charity
In-flight scratch cards will be used by Thomson to raise funds for industry charity the Travel Foundation.
The operator expects to £60,000 a year, which will be spent on sustainable tourism initiatives The Travel Foundation has set up in Tobago, Mexico, Sri Lanka and the Dominican Republic – as well as any future programmes.
The Travel Foundation is also working with ECPAT to address the issue of child sex tourism through tour operators. Together they are training resort staff on guidelines directing what to do if they become aware of an incident and how to report this. This work is being piloted in Dominican Republic.
Travel Foundation director Sue Hurdle said: “We’re thrilled that Thomson is helping us to raise money to protect the places holidaymakers love to visit. This initiative really shows other operators that there are all sorts of ways to engage customers in helping to safeguard the future resources of the travel industry.
“We’re seeing more and more evidence that holidaymakers want to feel they are giving something back – and the travel industry is now starting to take sustainable tourism very seriously. Between us we can really make a world of difference.”
Thomson industry affairs and environment director Colin Sharples said: “We are fully committed to the work of The Travel Foundation and saw the scratch cards as an ideal opportunity to raise funds to support their work – and at the same time educate our customers on the important work that both Thomson and The Travel Foundation do.
“We’ll also be promoting our partnership in our in-flight magazine and are looking at other possibilities for promoting the charity, and responsible tourism in general, to our customers in the onboard entertainment.”
Report by Phil Davies
Phil Davies
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