Dear friends and supporters
For us, as for many other charities, 2020 has been deeply marked by the COVID-19 pandemic. It has been a year of rapid change, of adaptation and at times of great sadness. However, it has also been a year of resilience and of increased collaboration, which has led to an unparalleled opportunity to reshape the future of tourism.
I joined the Travel Foundation as CEO in September 2019 and by early 2020, we had already developed and begun to implement a new strategy to ensure that tourism brings greater benefits for local communities and protects the heritage, culture and environment in destinations. This work takes place under three broad objectives of:
– Destination stewardship: helping public and private sectors to optimise the value of tourism and support the needs of destinations.
– Sustainable supply chain: supporting the adaptation and diversification of tourism to maximise benefits for communities and the environment.
– Thought leadership: advocating for change and developing a global network of partners to promote understanding and innovation.
The economic impacts of the pandemic have hit destinations and the communities that rely on tourism particularly hard, highlighting the continued importance of this work. Throughout 2020, we have directed our efforts towards supporting destination recovery and encouraging collaboration across the tourism sector. Whilst many of our existing projects had to be paused for a time as a result of the pandemic, on restarting we have adapted many of our activities to reflect the new challenges faced by the communities, small businesses and destination authorities that we serve.
Our focus is now on helping the industry to both define what ‘build back better’ really means and put in place the necessary structures to achieve this. We will be a catalyst for change, using our collaborative approach, visibility and global leadership to help usher in a new era for the travel industry.
Jeremy Sampson, Travel Foundation CEO
We developed a range of capacity building initiatives to support a smarter, more community-focused recovery.
Roots to Recovery: We delivered a tourism recovery programme with City Nation Place, for the Colorado Tourism Office, the Edinburgh Tourism Action Group, Grenada Tourism Authority, Indigenous Tourism Ontario.
Supporting Small Islands: We began a recovery programme focussed on product development and impact measurement for micro-destinations through SMILO (small islands organisation).
Handbook and toolkit for Europe: We delivered ‘Sustainable Tourism Implementation’, presenting seven steps to advance sustainable tourism, with the European Tourism Commission, Good Place Slovenia and Green Case Consulting.
Supporting communities through local procurement: We began a project (through the EBRD) with hotel chains in Croatia and Montenegro to build a more diverse, equitable and inclusive workforce.
We joined forces with five other leading international tourism NGOs to launch the ground-breaking Future of Tourism Coalition.
By the end of 2020, over 400 tourism organisations had signed up to the 13 guiding principles.
Since its launch in June 2020, 140 articles about the Coalition and our goals appeared in the travel trade and consumer press.
We are creating a series of resources to support tourism organisations to align their recovery plans with the coalition’s guiding principles, including a webinar series.
Coalition members: Center for Responsible Travel, Destination Stewardship Centre, Green Destinations, Sustainable Travel International, Tourism Cares, The Travel Foundation. ...
We presented at over 40 events, spreading the word about sustainable recovery to tourism industry professionals and destination management organisations all around the world.
We communicated our work and our case for change in 483 media articles around the world with a potential reach of over 840 million viewers.
We have over 9000 followers on Twitter and have grown our presence on LinkedIn, also reaching nearly 9000 followers.
In the wake of the pandemic, the tourism industry stands at a crossroads, with a unique opportunity to improve its impact. A better future for tourism relies on the industry creating new ways of measuring success, taking action to create real change and ensuring a more inclusive and equitable environment.
Working with our partners, we aim to be a catalyst for change. We will support destinations and travel companies to take a systemic approach that will enable a better, fairer type of tourism that improves long-term outcomes for destination communities and environments.
This year saw us enter into new partnerships and sign MoUs with a range of national and international organisations around the world which will help us to expand our reach, this includes: Women in Travel, the Institute of Tourism Croatia, Thompson Okanagan Tourism Association (TOTA), Sustentur (Mexico), and a major international hotel chain.
Alongside these and other partners, we will work to truly ‘build back better’, creating a new model for tourism for a more sustainable, equitable and inclusive future.
Our total income of £466,496 was down 36.3% year on year as a result of a significant loss in donations due to the global pandemic and its devastating impact on travel, as well the conclusion of two initiatives that had been in place in 2019. To offset the loss of donations,10 additional income sources were secured for initiatives in 2021. Also included in the total income is £98,403 received from the job retention scheme.
The above graph shows the split of our charitable expenditure. To offset the reduced income, a reduction in our total expenditure was achieved, through the suspension for a time of in-country activities, the furloughing of staff, some unavoidable cuts to staffing and a freeze on unrestricted spending wherever possible, all in response to the pandemic. A greater than originally forecasted draw on our reserves was also agreed by the Board because of the pandemic’s significant impact on income. Despite a reduction in total expenditure of 28.7% year on year, we continued to fund activities that: support tourism actors to plan and develop with destination needs at heart; support better, more sustainable tourism products; and advocate for change.
A huge thank you to all our partners and supporters, who have enabled us to continue our important charitable work during this challenging year.
Our special thanks go to TUI Care Foundation, which supported us through this difficult financial period by continuing to provide funding for projects, despite the suspension of activities which will now take place in 2021 and 2022.
Our funders in 2020
Anna Lindh Foundation
Caribbean Tourism Organisation
EBRD (Croatia Programme)
European Travel Commission Project
Holiday Extras
IUCN Centre for Mediterranean Cooperation
Mid Counties Co-operative
Pluto
TUI Care Foundation
United Nations Environment
US Embassy in Fiji
