Prince Harry Flew Commercial To Launch A Sustainable Travel Company
A commercial flight and launching a sustainable flight company? Check and mate, Prince William and Duchess Kate!
Prince Harry and Duchess Meghan spent the first part of August on a couple of vacations, and spent the second part hearing the British public hassle them for getting to said vacations on several private jets. People were mostly mad because Harry had just delivered a speech at Google Camp about the environment and carbon footprints, and how he and Meghan were only going to have two children because they care about the Earth so much. Well, Harry can only rely on the kindness of fellow rich people to defend his jet use so many times, and eventually he had to address it himself and went full damage control. The Mirror says it finally happened today in Amsterdam during the official launch of Travalyst, a travel sustainability project.
People says Harry told people at the launch earlier today that Travalyst, which has reportedly been in the works for three years, is a global initiative to change the impact of travel. In many places, only 5% of money spent by tourists goes back into the local community. Harry is hoping to change that, and to influence the way people choose to travel.
“We are excited to announce the launch of Travalyst, a global initiative striving to change the impact of travel, for good. Partnering alongside key travel industry giants Booking.com, Ctrip, Skyscanner, TripAdvisor, and Visa, our aim is to spark a movement to transform the future of travel, putting communities at the heart of the solution.
We believe in the power and importance of travel. We also have a shared responsibility to our planet and to each other.
We plan to work closely with local communities and providers, leveraging technology to help scale sustainable supply to meet the growing mass-market demand from consumers – ultimately, making sustainable travel options of all kinds easier for consumers to identify, book and enjoy.“
According to the Travalyst website, Harry is a founding partner. And the Sussex Royal Instagram page was all over it today. Also, the Travalyst launch was reportedly organized by the same public relations firm that worked with Harvey Weinstein and Michael Jackson, so that adds a big touch of “damage control” to all of this.
Prince Harry began working on Travalyst while still sharing an office and charity with Prince William, and that Travalyst will be the first major project for the recently-formed Sussex Royal Foundation. Business and leisure travel seems like a strange project for a royal to me, and I’m sure I’m not the only one who thinks so. The British press is probably already working on some snarky story about this. “TravaLIES! Resort housekeeping source says Harry and Meghan never use the same towel twice, and never recycle those mini bottles of lotion.”
Speaking of Harry and Meghan’s wasteful air travel, The Mirror says that Harry addressed it during a Q&A portion of the launch.
“I came here by commercial. I spend 99% of my life traveling the world by commercial. Occasionally, there needs to be an opportunity based on a unique circumstance to ensure my family are safe and it’s genuinely as simple as that.”
So when Elton John said he sent a private jet for safety and security, he apparently meant it.
Harry also explained what Travalyst does:
“These human-caused challenges often need a giant system shift to make a significant enough impact. And that is what this partnership is here to try and do. Sometimes the scale of the conservation crisis feels overwhelming and that individual actions can’t make a difference. I’ve certainly felt that – but I’ve learned that we cannot dismiss the idea of trying to do something, just because we can’t do everything. We can all do better. And, while no-one is perfect, we are all responsible for our own individual impact; the question is what we do to balance it out.”
That still doesn’t really explain it. But if you connect the dots, it seems like maybe they’ll be trying to influence airlines and hotels to go a little greener, or give more money back into the community, or offset some of the carbon footprint created during travel. It doesn’t really address the big environmental issue, which is that people are still getting in huge fuel-guzzling planes and flying around the world. You watch, William and Kate are going to launch a travel company where they’ll carpool you to your destination in a zero-emissions horse-drawn wagon.
Pic: Instagram