For most of us, travel is an activity we know and love. Travellers made 1.2 billion international trips last year and by 2030, it will be nearly 2 billion. Add local travel to this and the travel industry contribute massively in both a positive and negative way.

We are seeing huge challenges worldwide with serious biodiversity and climate change issues, and with overcrowding that cause tensions between host destinations and visitors. And we are now very aware of the challenges that face the planet and what a responsible company should be doing to manage its operational footprint.

What the world needs NOW is love … ‘TOUGH LOVE’.

‘TOUGH LOVE’ is actual love or a feeling of affection … and for the hospitality and tourism sector of the travel industry, it means treating companies sternly with care … with the intent to help people and planet thrive. Traveller ‘TOUGH LOVE’ is when the ‘empowered traveller with the wallet’ caringly demand accountability and transparency around sustainability performance, spotlight greenwash so it will stop and support only companies that are Forces for Good.

We all have favorite places where we love to visit and stay, but do we actually care about the values of the companies we support? In general, we don’t care much about interacting with businesses. Instead we feel most engaged and purchase more when we believe that we share the same values with the company.

The 2017 Edelman Trust Barometer revealed that trust is in crisis around the world and public confidence in business, government, NGOs and media ‘to do the right thing’ continues to drop. All of us, specially the next biggest generation of travellers, employees and influencers – the Millennials and Generation Z – are skeptical of most marketing messages and taglines that were popular in the last five years that start with the words “We believe …” are no longer believable.

At this most urgent of times, we know ‘we all need to do more’ and we’ve heard the alarm grow louder in 2017. More than 50 world leaders that gathered in Paris for the One Planet Summit in mid December told us that the past five years have been the hottest period on record, … that atmospheric levels of carbon dioxide are higher than they have been for 800,000 years, … that 2017 saw the first increase in CO2 emissions in three years. We heard that ‘we are loosing the battle’, … that ‘we’re not moving quickly enough’, … that ‘we all need to act NOW”.

We want to share a ‘higher purpose’ with the companies we support. Some of us care what businesses believe and value, but most of us care more if the values of a company can deliver what we want.

Be informed, inspired and empowered to caringly support only properties that are Forces for Good. Travel often and with ‘TOUGH LOVE’ want more …

Want quality, comfort and guilt-free travel … and most important, want safer, more responsible destinations and accommodations that offer sustainable travel experiences that makes a positive difference.

Want accountability and transparency around sustainability and demand the greenwash to stop.

Want tourism that protect the environment and support communities, does not compete with local population for resources such as water, does not leave a trail of pollution and offset their carbon to bring travellers there.

And Want better sustainable travel experiences … the personalized, authentic, transformational and life-changing kind of travel experiences to guide us on our journey toward personal fulfillment and connect us with host communities !!!

With such a specific and awesome travel journey in mind, we launched the NOW Track and Book tool this month.
#itmustbeNOW