NEW YORK, NY--(Marketwired - Aug 20, 2013) - International Travel & Tourism is one of the world's most effective drivers of jobs and growth, and of critical importance to developing countries, yet is suffering from a lack of capital in today's tough economic climate. Through the GATE Global Impact/Greenearth.travel partnership, GATEtrip, the world's first Impact Investment platform for the tourism sector and the first to incorporate equity-based Crowdfunding, will be launched to link-up socially responsible tourism projects with investors looking for opportunities in the fast growing, trillion-dollar Travel & Tourism market.
"Impact Investing has emerged in recent years as a way to support worthy causes and generate solid returns. Now it is poised to take a quantum leap as governments, seeking to tap alternative investment pools, adapt regulatory controls to expand this marketplace. At the same time, Crowdfunding, using the power of the Internet, will in the coming years profoundly alter how entrepreneurs and businesses access capital globally," said Vincent Molinari, CEO of GATE Global Impact. "GATEtrip brings this evolving financing revolution to the international tourism market, one of the world's largest industries and biggest job creators, providing tourism initiatives with an alternative to more traditional means of raising capital, and expanding investment options for investors."
GATEtrip will be powered by GATE Impact's GATEWAY Platform; a robust, regulatory compliant electronic end-to-end solution for buyers and sellers of Impact Investments -- investments that have the ability to generate a measurable social and/or environmental benefit alongside a potential for financial return. The GATE Impact platform has been hailed as unique in its ability to provide investors with the transparency, efficiency, metrics and ability to find liquidity they need to identify and transact securities in this exciting asset class. All securities are offered through GATE US, a member of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) and the Securities Investor Protection Corporation (SIPC).
"A key advantage of GATEtrip lies in the strength of its infrastructure which supports evolving financial regulatory frameworks by providing investors and project owners with the capacity to transact, settle and clear assets, while delivering exceptionally high standards of market transparency and security," added Mr. Molinari. "Our partnership with Greenearth.travel will link this with the growing drive for sustainable development in Travel & Tourism -- one of the most important sectors in the world economy."
Professor Geoffrey Lipman, Director of Greenearth.travel and President of the International Coalition of Tourism Partners (ICTP), a grassroots Travel & Tourism coalition of global destinations committed to quality services and Green Growth, said that "the goal of the partnership is to help drive substantial new private investment and leverage limited public funds for an activity that has been recognized by the G20 and UN system as a key element in job creation, development and Green Growth transformation. The potential of Impact Investing and Crowdfunding in travel destinations is immense and GATEtrip will facilitate this through a combination of state of the art technology and high levels of Green Growth research, forecasting and measurement."
All listings on the GATEtrip platform will meet transparent bankability and sustainability criteria, ensuring capital flows to viable ventures committed to positive outcomes for local communities and ecosystems. By applying innovative financing to areas such as tourism infrastructure, capacity-building, Internet connectivity and the like, the partnership aims to fill the tourism financing void, raise community living standards and stimulate a paradigm shift in the approach to Green Growth tourism development.
Lipman said that the partnership's 'Green Growth Investment Roadmaps', integrating the GATEtrip platform could "provide a practical framework for communities to evaluate their Travel & Tourism opportunities, create dynamic strategies that put green on the same page as growth, and prioritise the creation of jobs at the base of the pyramid. The game changer will be the ability to drive new investment as a coherent element from the outset."
For more information visit www.gatetrip.com or contact info@gatetrip.com
www.gateimpact.com or contact info@gateimpact.com
About GATE Global Impact INC.
GATE Global Impact INC is an impact investing-focused electronic regulatory compliant marketplace that provides market infrastructure and related services for the emerging Impact Investment industry -- public and private investments with a sustainable social and/or environmental component that also may generate a healthy rate of financial return. All securities are offered through GATE US LLC, a New York-based broker dealer and a member of FINRA and SIPC. Past performance is no guarantee of future results
More information: www.gateimpact.com & www.gateus.com
About Greenearth.travel
Greenearth.travel is a global network fostering likeminded partnerships to promote Green Growth and Travelism (Travel & Tourism) through strategy, development and funding. The Greenearth.travel network is connecting tourism communities, companies and universities from around the world and provides the research, services and tools to support tourism's transformation to the low carbon economy. It is a founding partner of the International Coalition of Tourism Partners (ICTP), grouping destinations and stakeholders committed to Green Growth and Quality.
More information: www.greengrowth2050.com & http://www.greenearth.travel/
For more information on ICTP: http://www.tourismpartners.org/
Contact Information:
GATE Global Impact INC.
www.gateimpact.com