The Travel Better Project Explained

Why The Travel Better Project?

Tourism, like all industries, needs a strong social licence to operate.

Some places around the world are plagued by overtourism. In other places, the effects of increasing visitor numbers may be less extreme, but it can still be difficult to strike a balance between the needs of visitors and the needs of host communities.

But could you imagine a world without travel?? 

I can. But I don't want to.

That's why The Travel Better Project aims to make every trip count.

Co-Design Process

Supported by initial investments through WWF-Australia’s Innovate to Regenerate Challenge and AMP Foundation's Tomorrow Makers Program, The Travel Better Project kicked off with four co-design workshops with a group of six tourism stakeholders on the NW coast of Tasmania. 

Together we workshopped what those businesses could do differently - such as reducing waste, protecting nature, educating visitors, and giving back to the causes that matter most to their communities.

We unpacked and challenged a framework that we now call The Six Dimensions of Positive Impact Tourism.

Those operators also explained what they would need in order to apply the framework. They said it needed to be easy, affordable and accessible to them in ways they are familiar with.

Products and Services

And so, in 2024, we'll launch our first three products: 

1. A toolkit to help operators shape approaches that will lead to positive social and environmental impact (downloadable e-book format)
2. An online course to walk operators through the steps to create their own action plan targeted to their sectors
3. A paid membership community to support peer-to-peer learning and collaboration

Mission and Values

Our mission is to inspire and enable tourism operators to apply positive impact principles in their business. We do that through learning products and partnerships.

Our Impact

We teach impact, so we'd better walk the talk ourselves! These are impact goals we're setting out to achieve by 2030:

• Reach 10,000 tourism operators with creative learning products and messaging
• Directly support 1,000 tourism operators to apply positive impact tourism principles in their business
• Enable more than travellers to access positive impact travel experiences in Australia

And, most importantly, as we do well, we also do good. Our goal is to reinvest a percentage of profits to support at least 15 community-led, female-owned and First Nations tourism businesses to “start, scale and shake things up” through positive impact approaches.

The Future

The vision for The Travel Better Project is to build a regenerative travel movement in Australia that puts communities and nature first. Over time, this may mean working on both supply and demand sides to shape positive impact tourism in four ways:

1. Upskilling and inspiring tourism providers to create positive impact products, services and experiences that put the needs of the environment and host communities first

2. Developing pathways to enable the tourism sector to easily connect with local community initiatives and charitable causes

3. Democratising travel by supporting local communities with the tools to advocate for greater agency over what they want tourism to look like in their area

4. Fostering the responsible traveller movement by sharing the power of authentic and meaningful experiences, and encouraging visitors to engage in positive impact actions

I'd love to welcome you on the journey!