During my talks at various travel exhibitions I always state that if tourists were made more aware, by their tour operators, of the poverty surrounding their luxury resorts, then they would be more inclined to give a donation.

One tour company, Exquisite Safaris and one of our partners insists on sending their clients to visit a humantarian project as an essentail part of their itinerary. Exquisite Safaris is the pioneer in luxury Philanthropic Travel and donates $US250 for every client who visits an NGO project and The Butterfly Tree is fortunate to be operating in a catchment area, being so close to the Victoria Falls, where tourists can make daily visits to Mukuni Village.

This year we have received many offers of visitors wishing to sponsor an orphan or give a donation to this rural community and just as I was so touched on my first visit to Victoria Falls, others have felt the same. I am delighted to say that several of these people have come ‘on board’ to raise further funds and awareness for The Butterfly Tree.

Zambia is experiencing a ‘boom’ in tourism and as an NGO in Zambia I am dedicated to getting more tour operators, lodges, hotels and tourists involved in ‘giving something back’. Just a small donation could make a difference to someone’s life and a more substantial one could build a bore hole, providing safe, clean water for hundreds of people.

It was the first time that the European Travel Distribution Summit had a charity stand in their exhibition hall. Some attendees where surprised to see The Butterfly Tree exhibiting and many congratulated Eye for Travel for including us. Fellow exhibitors showed a keen interest offering a link to our website, some gave donations of software and money and several offered to promote the charity.

The seminar, which I hosted, was aimed at getting more companies involved in Philanthropic Travel and responsible tourism initiatives. Too many do not have any kind of corporate social responsibility programs and Gyonne James from Tourism Concern discussed this issue along with exploitation in the tourist industry. Victoria Bolton of Charity Challenge told the audience how their company helps to reduce world poverty through fundraising expeditions while Mark Nall, Chief Executive of Everyclick explained how businesses and individuals can generate money for charities by using their search engine.

The travel industry has a huge capacity to raise funds for NGO’s and charities especially through the internet. Tour operators need to make their tourists aware of the poverty surrounding their luxury resorts, in the developing countries they are visiting. Hoteliers must provide clean water, health and education for local communiteis as well as becoming ‘eco’ friendly. It is essential that this industry awakens to its responsibilities, using their marketing skills to promote awareness and help to reduce world poverty.

With five days left until the European Travel Distribution Summit, there is still time to register for the seminar hosted by The Butterfly Tree at 11am on Wednesday 21st May at the Business Design Centre, North London – The Butterfly Tree Seminar Registration 

A key aim of The Butterfly Tree charity is to reduce world poverty through the tourist industry and we are delighted that Eye for Travel have given us this opportunity to join such a renowed group of exhibitors and speakers at this marketing event. They have generously given us a room to host a seminar as well as an exhibiting stand for the duration and also named The Butterfly Tree as the summit’s official charity.

Along with Exquisite Safaris we will continue to promote Philanthropic Travel and responsible tourism and hope to get this message over to many of the tour operators, hoteliers and other members of the tourist industry who have a great capacity to improve the health, education, water and enviromental issues in the developing countries where they are operating.

For more information and to register for the seminar, click here

I am delighted to announce that The Butterfly Tree is the nominated charity for Europe 2008 Travel Distribution Summit to be held on the 20-21 May at the Business Design Centre, London. Organised by Eye for Travel the summit is the world’s biggest event for marketing, pricing and technology experts.

Having spoken at last year’s World Travel Market I aim to get more people in the travel industry involved in corporate social responsibilty; sadly the industry is lagging behind.

The Butterfly Tree promotes responsible tourism and will be hosting a seminar at the event on 21st May at 11am:

Title – How to incorporate Philanthropic Travel and Responsible Tourism initiatives while substantially improving your overall business performance.

Travel companies can concretely benefit by improving the effectiveness of social responsibility. Supporting and promoting humanitarian and environmental causes, will enhance your reputation, add further appeal to your customers and attract better employees.

Speakers: 

• Jane Kaye-Bailey – Philanthropic Traveler & Founder of The Butterfly Tree
• Victoria Bolton – Charity Challenge – General Manager
• Guyonne James – Tourism Concern – Program Manager
• Mark Nall – Everyclick – Chief Executive

Photo: Providing safe water in third world tourist destinations

To learn more about the Travel Distribution Summit and the seminar contact: Jane Kaye-Bailey email – jane@thebutterflytree.org.uk or Simon Carkeek simon@eyefortravel.com

On the 12th November I was privileged to be a guest speaker at The World Travel Market at Excel in London. I took part in a seminar entitled ‘Luxury Travel with a Conscience’ hosted by Morris Visitor Publications’ IN London magazine and Eventica’s Global Luxury Forum the latter had previously invited me to speak at their event in April.

I was looking at this from a different angle to my fellow team members who were all in the travel business and wishing to prove that their companies were involved in responsible travel, particularly in the reduction of carbon emissions, recycling and building eco-friendly resorts. All of these are extremely important issues, but sadly the humanitarian factor is often overlooked.

I explained the concept of Philanthropic Travel and how rewarding it can be to visit a local community, gaining a cultural experience and giving a donation to local project. Many people are totally unaware that behind their exotic resorts, built in third world countries are some of the poorest people in the world. I strongly believe that if the luxury traveller in particular were made more aware of these circumstances, they would be willing to ‘give something back’.

Photo: Jane with a resident of Mukuni Village – ‘giving something back’ is such a rewarding experience. A new mattress to go in one of the new homes funded by The Butterfly Tree

As an example of Philanthropic Travel I began by describing how I went on a business incentive trip to Victoria Falls and gained a life-changing experience by founding The Butterfly Tree. I gave three other examples; firstly of a luxury tour operator with a conscience who include in all of their tours a visit to a humanitarian outreach project. Read More →

In April 2007 I was invited to speak at The Global Luxury Forum in London, where I introduced the concept of luxury Philanthropic Travel.

Following the forum a number of companies have contacted The Butterfly Tree with offers of support. As a guest speaker introducing the concept of luxury philanthropic travel, I realised that this is the way forward to make people more aware of the environment in the so called ‘exotic’ holiday destinations.

Philanthropic Travel encourage travellers to take ‘time out’ of their holiday to visit an area where charities like The Butterfly Tree, are offering support to a community and give the traveller a chance to either get involved with a project or give a donation.

After staying at Sun International’s Royal Livingstone Hotel situated on the edge of the mighty Zambezi River overlooking the breathtaking Victoria Falls, I was delighted to learn that Sun International encourage philanthropic travellers.

Photo: Sun International hotel

They have set up a number of projects to help the community surrounding them by providing orphanages, old people’s homes and projects for the blind among many other things.

I feel privileged to be able to work alongside this company, who have offered tremendous support to our charity and are invaluable with the advice they give us.   Read More →

A rural community in Zambia has become an important part of my life after visiting the area during a business incentive trip. The contrast of staying at the beautiful Royal Livingstone Hotel on the edge of the Zambezi River overlooking the magnificent Victoria Falls and visiting a rural village has opened my eyes to the world of Philanthropic Travel.

Zambian little girls who inspired The Butterfly Tree

It’s hard to ignore a statistic like the one I was given when I visited the Mukuni Village School, that out of 1,000 pupils nearly half of them have lost one or more parents.

Being driven back to our luxury hotel I couldn’t get the orphans out of my mind and decided that I must do something about it. I rallied round the group we were with and by the end of my trip I had ‘bagged’ over £5,000.

On my return to the UK my husband pointed out that if you send the money out it may never get to the orphans. Three weeks later along with my son David, who was at the time having a ‘gap’ year, I returned to the area laden with medical supplies, stationary and clothing for the orphans. After being given a resounding welcome by the Chieftainess Bedyango, the Prime Minister, the Head Teacher and hundreds of children, it was a very emotional experience, I felt ‘at home’ with these warm and humble people. We had just given the largest donation the village had ever received!   Read More →