MSC Group’s new ultra-luxury cruise brand, Explora Journeys, is partnering with Travelife to offer sustainable travel education for its travel partners.
Travelife is billed as “the world’s leading training, management and certification program for tour operators”. The business offers a Sustainability System for tour operators and travel agencies – an initiative dedicated to promoting sustainable practices within the travel and tourism industry.
Subscribe to LATTE Cruise’s free eNewsletter to keep up to date with everything in the luxury cruise space.
Michael Ungerer, CEO of Explora Journeys said: “Working to deliver more sustainable travel experiences to our customers is an important part of our vision to become a truly defining and cherished luxury travel brand.”
“Our immense admiration for the ocean is at the heart of our journey and, out of deep respect for local communities, we design our destination experiences to leave a positive impression and impact.”
“In this sense, we are determined to work to build and maintain mutual understanding and a firm commitment to sustainable tourism,” Ungerer said.
“Therefore, it is a pleasure for me to partner with Travelife, who will be able to help us and our tour operators and travel advisors to achieve our goal.”
Explora Journeys says its purpose is to generate among partners “a strong awareness of effective sustainable planning, in a way that maximises the social and economic benefits for the local communities that visit its ships, enhances cultural heritage and reduces environmental impact”.
Naut Kusters, CEO of Travelife, added “Travel agencies, tour operators, travel consultants and ports are crucial in supporting the sustainable implementation of each measure and will be motivated with training and incentives. We applaud Explora Journeys’ efforts in promoting holistic sustainability by educating and motivating its partners to follow suit.”
Through the alliance with Travelife, all Explora Journeys associated tour operators and travel consultants will have free and unlimited access to the Travelife virtual platform and will be able to take advantage of a series of benefits related to sustainable tourism.
These include;
- an extensive learning platform with 16 à la carte modules on sustainability, with final exams and certification upon completion of each module,
- checklists for different types of excursions and activities that meet internationally recognised sustainability standards,
- authoring tools of applied reports and action planning to implement sustainability practices effectively, and;
- examples of good practices in the travel and tourism sector.
The cruise division of the MSC group ratified in September 2021 its extensive commitment to sustainability by committing to reduce to zero net greenhouse gas emissions in its maritime cruise operations by the year 2050.
MSC Cruises, the other brand of the group’s cruise division, began its partnership with Travelife for Tour Operators in 2018.
For more information on Travelife, visit travelife.info.