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Sustainable development
Charity starts abroad In 2008 the Latin American Travel Association set up its own charity in the UK – the Lata Foundation. Katy Balls asks its chairman, David Gilmour, about recent developments and how agents can get involved What is the foundation’s role? It was set up by the Latin American Travel Association (Lata) – a consortium of hotels, airlines, tour operators and ground agents –to put something back and to have a lasting and positive impact. To date we have funded nine projects throughout Latin America. We also have two new projects in Mexico – one is to build a fountain in Puerto Vallarta that will provide safe drinking water for 500 people a day, and we need £1,900 or so to achieve that. The other project is for a sewing school
in the same area. We need £900 to buy 12 sewing machines so that women in the area can get trained and earn an income.
Tourism in Latin America is booming. Is it important to give something back? Yes, putting something back is responsible business. Passengers respect agencies that give back to the area, so being responsible can actually help agencies with business.
There are so many charities around. What do you think makes the Lata Foundation stand out? The foundation is run entirely by volunteers and we have a vast range of contacts across Latin America. This has meant we have been able to pick projects that really matter and that we have been able to really help. We have no office overheads, so our supporters can be confident that every
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Agents and customers can help with tree-planting in Peru pound they give goes straight to our projects. There are a lot of charities out there, but if an agency has a particular tie to Latin America, we would love them to choose us to work with.
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How much has the Foundation raised so far? We have raised £30,000 and have spent £29,500 of that on various projects.
How can travel agents get involved? They can sponsor us directly, or look at our corporate sponsorship possibilities. They could donate £5, or £1, for every customer that books a holiday to Latin America. They could also invite customers to make a donation before or after their holiday to Latin America. Or they could adopt a turtle, which makes a nice little present for someOne of the foundation’s projects is developing a sewing school one. If agents would like to visit our How can agents find out more? projects we are happy to do all we By coming to see us at the Destinations can to help. Show at Earls Court from February 3-6. For example, customers We have a stand there with more and agents can get involved information and videos of our work in in our reforestation treePeru and Buenos Aires that have been planting project in Peru. made by film-maker Louise Martindale If they would like to and journalist Ali McClymont. volunteer for a month or so, Agents can also go to our website there are opportunities for and sign up to our newsletters. them to do that in Bolivia. Foundation chairman David Gilmour ■ latafoundation.org
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PRODUCT NEWS Ecuador will open a new international airport in November 2011, 25km outside the capital city Quito. Its lower altitude and longer runway will make Quito more accessible for larger aircraft. ■ quito.com.ec Journey Latin America is running a one-off group tour to Peru to arrive at Machu Picchu on the 100th anniversary of Hiram Bingham’s discovery of the ruined city (July 24). It departs from the UK on July 14 and costs from £4,328. ■ journeylatinamerica.co.uk Travelsphere is featuring Colombia and Bolivia for the first time in 2011. A 10-night Colombia: Culture, Coffee & the Caribbean tour costs from £2,899 per person. ■ travelsphere.co.uk Tam commenced its daily service from Sao Paulo, Brazil to Bogota, Colombia, last month. The airline also recently trialled the use of biofuel on a 45-minute round-trip from Rio de Janeiro – the first such trial in Latin America. ■ tam.com.br Travel 2’s 2011 Worldwide brochure has 60 pages of Latin America product, including beach resorts on Mexico’s Riviera Maya for the first time. Travel 2 has also partnered with Gap Adventures on escorted small group journeys. ■ travel2.com