0 Adventure Travel body reinforces values

Passengers from Delfin II explore the Amazon (expeditions.com)

Adventure Travel Trade Association Recognizes Values Statement Commitment as "Cost of Entry" to Adventure Tourism Industry Sector

Setting precedent for the global adventure tourism sector, the Adventure Travel Trade Association (ATTA) today has released a Values Statement — a new prerequisite of membership in the near 900-member global community representing more than 80 nations — to ensure members of its community put effort towards nurturing, protecting and professionalizing sustainable development of the adventure travel industry.

As a trade association made up of travel organizations including tour operators, destinations, travel agents, accommodations and more, committing to these values motivates members to move their businesses towards performing responsibly and considering the whole of their actions in the global community.

“Our newly established shared values were several years in the making and were formed through a collaborative process between the ATTA team, advisory board, our members and input from our partners at the UNWTO,” said ATTA President Mr. Shannon Stowell. “As adventure tourism faces steep growth in the coming years, it is critical that we establish, commit to and act upon what we believe are the key values of our organization and our members as a whole. How we conduct ourselves will set the highest standards of responsibility, of care-taking of the people and places upon which our industry depends.”

With this announcement, ATTA members must now agree to the Values Statement prior to membership confirmation or renewal. After last week’s private announcement, more than 100 members voluntarily signed the Values. In signing, ATTA members state that they too will strive and move toward these values (in brief):

1) Tourism Ethics - The ATTA affirms and agrees with the UNWTO’s Global Code of Ethics for Tourism

2) Protection of Children - The ATTA believes in the protection of children from harmful effects of tourism and is a signatory of TheCode.org

3) Responsibility - The ATTA believes in the universal standards put forth by the Global Sustainable Tourism Council (GSTC), and that tourism businesses and destinations should adopt the criteria specifically in these four areas:

-Demonstrating effective sustainable management
-Maximizing social and economic benefits to the local community and minimizing negative impacts
-Maximizing benefits to cultural heritage and minimizing negative impacts
-Maximizing benefits to the environment and minimizing negative impacts

4) Community Principles established by the ATTA and its active Members — when working under the auspices as aforementioned — “...will treat each other and travelers with respect and professionalism and conduct business with safety, honesty and integrity. As a community, we will seek to improve our own organization’s compliance with the points noted above. As a community, we will wherever possible seek to assist other organizations and professionals within the association to achieve success, both in the pursuit of the values noted above and in business.”

When reviewing the Values, Secretary-General of the UNWTO Mr. Taleb Rifai said, “UNWTO welcomes the ATTA Values Statement and encourages all ATTA members to promote and implement these principles in their activities as a means to build a more responsible tourism sector. UNWTO is particularly pleased to see that ATTA has incorporated the principles of the UNWTO Global Code of Ethics for Tourism approved by the UN General Assembly in 2001 in its Values Statement and commends ATTA’s vision for the future of tourism.”

The ATTA has translated these Values into Spanish, Portuguese, Arabic and Mandarin Chinese with German and French versions impending. Once members sign the Values they are encouraged to share these Values that they hold as part of the ATTA community with their travelers and clients.

Click for full statement (PDF)

About Adventure Travel Trade Association

Established in 1990, the Seattle-based Adventure Travel Trade Association, serving nearly 900 members worldwide, serves as the hub for tour operators, tourism boards, media, specialty agents, adventure accommodations and industry partners with a vested interest in the sustainable development of adventure tourism. Host of the annual Adventure Travel World Summit trade conferences, the ATTA is dedicated to unifying, networking, professionalizing, promoting and responsibly growing the adventure travel market. The ATTA also publishes www.AdventureTravelNews.com, the adventure tourism community’s news source and makes possible www.Adventure.Travel, the traveler’s guide for trusted tour operators from around the globe specializing in physical, cultural and nature-based adventures.

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0 Best Journey In United States | Alaska Mountains

Best Journey In United States | Alaska Mountains. Alaska Mountains draw travelers from round the world to envision their rugged beauty, vast wilderness, and therefore the expansive array of wildlife that calls these peaks home. whereas the climates of those mountains challenges even the foremost rugged outside enthusiast, the mountains in Alaska have one issue to provide all types of traveler.

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The Aleutian vary includes all Alaska mountain ranges that stretch down the Alaska Peninsula, beginning just south of Anchorage. Geologically, the vary extends into the ocean and includes all of the Aleutian Islands, however the official description consists of mainland vary solely. the foremost recognized peak among the Aleutian vary is Mount Redoubt, a 9,100-foot-tall active volcano among the Chigmit Mountains. Another trendy travel destination is that the Kenai Mountains, that reach south from the Chugach Mountains among the Aleutian vary and includes Kenai Fjords National Park.

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0 Best Journey In Ecuador | Amazon Jungle Rainforest

The Holidays: Best Journey In Ecuador | Amazon Jungle Rainforest. Ecuador is form of widespread for its Amazonas ecosystem. Its tropical rainforest is one of the foremost advanced communities of flora and fauna housing species once species of animals and plants. The Amazon Jungle Rainforest covers approximately twelve million hectares of hilly forest off the Ecuadorian Amazon. With its vast house, you'll notice it laborious to completely cowl the overall issue. There are, however, suggested areas for tourists, where activities are as promising as anywhere else inside the Amazonas. There is the length of the Napo River, that's concerning 1,400 kilometers in length and concerning three miles in width. The Napo River’s 120 islands are coated by forests, that provide nesting sites for varied species of migratory birds. There is additionally the upper Amazon where a hundred species of trees are recorded per acre. That is a stunning record considering that in Central America, solely forty species of trees per acre are recorded. There is additionally the Aguarico River, that's home to over 200 species of amphibians and reptiles and over 600 species of fishes.

You get a mode of the Amazon Jungle Rainforest, you have got got uncountable selections from the Limoncocha Ecological Reserve to the Yasuni National Park Biosphere to the Cuyabeno Wildlife Reserve to the Napo River basin among others. The Amazon Jungle Rainforest plays host to countless species of plants and animals you'll never get wanting things to look at or do here. The jungle is teeming with sightseeing activities which will build your eyes feast on varied natural wonders that thrive throughout this facet of Ecuador.

There are kind of indigenous communities that defend the rainforest from centuries before to gift. They were ready to sustain a productive subsistence among the massive forest preserve. Traveling to the Amazon Jungle Rainforest may solely be vital on the budget as a result of transportation fees. Coming back into the parks and reserves, however, generally costs really minimal amount. The Amazon Jungle Rainforest covers 1/2 Ecuador’s total house. Since it has been the center of Ecuadorian tourism, infrastructure is form of wise inside the region, paving the style for guests to easily reach the parks. Also, the jungle remains home to many indigenous communities, that welcome guests all year through. Suffice it's to say that tourism is form of spirited throughout this facet of Ecuador with its many living treasures thriving in an exceedingly vast region.

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