DELRAY BEACH, FL, July 31, 2014 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) --
The TreadRight Foundation
,
working to help ensure the environment and communities we visit
remain vibrant and preserved for generations to come, is proud to
announce that it is a Founding Partner and sponsor of the
National Geographic Travel
World Legacy Awards.
The World Legacy Awards are a
new initiative of the National Geographic Society, one
of the world's largest and most prestigious non-profit scientific,
educational, and travel organizations, reaching more than 450
million people worldwide.
The awards honor the companies, organizations, and destinations -
ranging from airlines to hotels, from communities to countries -
that are driving the positive transformation of the tourism
industry, showcasing leaders and visionaries in
sustainable tourism best practices, and sharing their
stories with millions of today's travelers. Unprecedented in
international visibility and promotion, World Legacy Awards winners
and finalists will receive coverage in National Geographic
Traveler and other National Geographic print and digital
media, reaching a global audience.
Based on the three pillars of sustainable tourism,
including environmentally friendly operations, protection of
natural and cultural heritage, and support for the well-being of
local communities, the five World Legacy Award categories are:
- Earth Changers
- Sense of Place
- Conserving the Natural World
- Engaging Communities
- Destination Leadership
Founding sponsorship of the National Geographic Travel World
Legacy Awards furthers TreadRight's commitment to support
and encourage leading sustainable tourism efforts that
help to revolutionize the travel industry. The Foundation continues
to champion these important endeavors, working to help create a
single way to calculate carbon footprint through the Hotel Carbon
Measurement Initiative (HCMI), acting as a former sponsor of
the WTTC Tourism For Tomorrow
Awards, and contributing to The Travel Foundation's development
of "The
Environmental Sustainability for River Cruising" guide.
"It is imperative that the innovators and pioneers helping to lead
the sustainable tourism charge be appropriately recognized for the
extremely valuable work they undertake," says Brett
Tollman, President and CEO, The Travel Corporation. "The
National Geographic Travel World Legacy Awards will give the
companies, organizations and destinations that are helping to
create a better world the acknowledgement their initiatives
deserve, in addition to communicating their important work to the
National Geographic Society's 450-million strong audience.
"In addition to The Travel Corporation's commitment to these
prestigious awards through TreadRight, one of our own brands,
Adventure World, has also announced
its sponsorship of the inaugural World Legacy Awards."
The first World Legacy Awards ceremony will take place in
March 2015 at the ITB Conference in Berlin, Germany. For more
information about the World Legacy Awards, visit www.nationalgeographic.com/worldlegacyawards.
About The Travel Corporation
The Travel Corporation is a highly successful, family-run
international travel group with 27 award-winning brands which
include luxury hotels and boutique river cruise ships, niche guided
vacations, and other leisure interests. The Travel Corporation's
award-winning brands include Trafalgar, Contiki, Brendan
Vacations, Insight Vacations, Lion
World Travel, African Travel, Inc., The Red Carnation Hotel
Collection, and Uniworld Boutique River
Cruise Collection. The Travel Corporation's guiding principle
is one of providing the most enjoyable, enriching travel experience
for its customers across the globe. For more information,
please visit www.TheTravelCorporation.com.
About The TreadRight Foundation
Created as a joint initiative between The Travel Corporation's family of
brands, The TreadRight Foundation is a not-for-profit working to
ensure the environment and communities we visit remain vibrant for
generations to come. To date, TreadRight has donated more than USD
$2.5 million to sustainable tourism projects worldwide. The
Foundation's guiding principle is to encourage sustainable tourism
development through conservation, leadership and support for
communities. Foundation priorities are set by the Steering
Committee, which includes sustainability leaders like Céline
Cousteau and Costas Christ.
TreadRight's past project partners include WWF, Conservation
International and The National Trust in the UK. Current initiatives
include sponsoring the National Geographic Society's inaugural
"World Legacy Awards," and inspiring wildlife advocates like Terri
Irwin.
To learn more about our past and current work at TreadRight, please
visit us at TreadRight.org.