Wayfairer Travel has recruited Ellie Lewis to join its team of travel specialists and lead the campaign for responsible travel across all of Wayfairer’s offerings. The role of the responsible travel executive is to make sure that travelers should leave destinations in a better, not worse, state than when they arrived.
Lewis is dedicated to implementing positive change by creating policies for the Wayfairer team, its guests and the local communities in which trips take place. Whether it be establishing modern slavery and child protection policies and training, or launching a carbon emission reduction program, multiple inspiring and innovative plans are underway for Wayfairer Travel in 2024.
The carbon emission reduction project will be the first milestone for the company. The project is running in partnership with environmental consultants Ecollective to measure and reduce Wayfairer’s carbon footprint as a whole, as well as the carbon footprint per customer per night per trip. Strategies include promoting longer and slower travel, reducing internal flights and using electric safari vehicles. As a result of this work, there will be specific low-carbon itineraries designed by Lewis. This minimum 10-year project requires collective investment throughout the team and will be a stepping stone to Wayfairer becoming a more sustainable company.
Lewis’ second major contribution has been the creation of an animal welfare policy to guide the internal team and guests with the correct approach for traveling to destinations with animals, so as not to disturb their habitats or their routines. This is now being distributed to each new trip booking that Wayfairer receives to ensure guests tread as lightly as possible on the place they are visiting.
Wayfairer was founded in 2012 by Tom Blakey after he experienced poor wages and working conditions for porters while trekking in Tanzania and felt compelled to create a wider positive impact. Since joining the company, Lewis has embarked on a trip to Kenya where she met with local communities and individuals in the travel and tourism sector who are at the forefront of sustainability. This included scuba diving with marine biologists for a turtle conservation program, planting coral reef nurseries with rangers and seeing first-hand how the local communities are collaborating with players in the tourism industry to create a more responsible, and ultimately sustainable, future.
Lewis continues to work on key policies for the company to achieve the highest level of responsible travel, while attending industry events, panel discussions and Q&As to further her subject knowledge.
To learn more, visit www.wayfairertravel.com.
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