Destination communities

Some holiday destinations are in emerging economies with diverse needs including investment in infrastructure, education and health care. Tourism can be a force for good in these and all destinations, with the income and employment it brings, but it must be managed carefully.

For example, tourism can contribute to problems such as child prostitution or damage to natural environments in destination communities. It is our responsibility to tackle these concerns.

Our work in this area is guided by our Sustainable Tourism Policy. This commits us to minimising the negative impacts and maximising the positive contributions that we make to overseas destinations. Resort teams in our destinations identify opportunities to contribute on the ground. These vary according to the needs of individual communities. Alongside these, we have Group initiatives, some of which are implemented in collaboration with the Travel Foundation.

The Travel Foundation is a UK charity that promotes sustainable tourism and runs sustainability projects in destination communities. We draw on their expertise and support in developing our own initiatives, and also raise money through customer donations for their projects. Since 2003, Thomas Cook Group has raised over £1.5 million for the Travel Foundation.

Our companies in Northern Europe and Germany have been working with the international organisation ECPAT (End Child Prostitution, Child Pornography and the Trafficking of Children for Sexual Purposes). All Thomas Cook Northern Europe's hotels outside Europe, and in Bulgaria and Romania, are required to sign a contract that includes a clause on protecting children. This stipulates that hotel staff must be aware of sexual exploitation issues and report any signs of child exploitation. Our own employees also receive training on the topic, and our UK Child Protection Policy is considered best practice. Together with ECPAT and ABTA, we took part in the development of an online training in child protection which was tested by Thomas Cook UK and Neilson employees and trialled by Neilson in Kenya in 2010.

Making a difference locally

In many of our holiday destinations, our employees contribute to the community. Just some of the ways in which they do that are detailed below.

Educational projects:

• Thomas Cook France pays half the cost of volunteering holidays taken by our employees with Planète Urgence. An example of such a holiday is teaching children with learning difficulties in West Africa.
• Employees of Thomas Cook UK, based in the Dominican Republic, have facilitated a Skype link-up between a school there and Felkirk School in Wakefield, UK. A teacher from Felkirk School, who was holidaying with Thomas Cook in the Dominican Republic, suggested the link-up, which enables the children to learn about each other's cultures and schooling.
• Thomas Cook in Germany has partnered with Futouris to fund a school for orphaned and impoverished children in northern Thailand. See Spotlight: Making a difference in destination communities. Our German colleagues also support the education of children in Nepal through Kinder in Not.
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  Thomas Cook UK head office welcomes the supported Turkey students to the UK

  In Turkey we are supporting five girls from difficult backgrounds to attend university. They are studying tourism management, and in 2010 we also arranged a trip to the UK. Here they were given work experience placements in our Peterborough office, as well as a day at ABTA to learn about the wider industry, and time off to be tourists themselves.

Projects supporting disadvantaged children:

• Our resort team in Bulgaria continues to raise funds for two local orphanages. Alongside the biannual days out we provide for the children, this year we also funded the construction of a chapel at one of the orphanages.
• In Majorca, our employees are supporting AMES, a charity that provides safe houses for 14- to 18-year-old refugees. Here again, we give the children days out that they would not be able to afford themselves. At the end of each season, we also donate clothing and household items to the safe houses. In 2010, one of our Majorca-based employees applied to the Thomas Cook Children's Charity for a donation that will enable AMES to buy a minibus to carry the children and the AMES volunteers around the island.
• Sunwing supports SOS Children's villages in the countries where we operate. SOS Children establishes villages where homeless children can be given a new family and a new start.
• In Kilifi, Kenya, Neilson employees have raised donations from customers and the Thomas Cook Children's Charity to support Kesho. Kesho is a small, local charity that advances educational opportunities for disadvantaged children, with a particular focus on girls.

Projects supporting wider communities:

• The Neckermann retail outlets and Thomas Cook Airlines in Belgium donate money, clothes and school equipment to Live Is Beautiful, a charity supporting communities around Luxor.
• In the Dominican Republic, we have launched two new shopping excursions for customers, which support local craftspeople. This is a great way to contribute to society, through trade rather than aid. Customers can purchase items such as traditional oil paintings and carvings.
• Through our membership of the Canadian Association of Tour Operators, Thomas Cook in North America works with the Yellowbird Foundation. This is a charity that raises money within the travel industry to support projects in the Caribbean, including building schools and community centres.
• Our Condor airline continued its ConTribute programme, through which it supported the people of Haiti in the aftermath of the devastating earthquake, among other good causes. Various humanitarian organisations received discounted flights and cargo space to a total value of €180,000 (£152,200). This included flying out sniffer dogs to help find people buried under the rubble.
• Our UK airline also contributed to the Haiti relief effort, flying out medical personnel and over 30 tonnes of life-saving equipment.
• At its Canary Islands resorts, Thomas Cook Northern Europe regularly donates food to an organisation supporting people in need.
• In the Gambia, we are undertaking a project with the Travel Foundation to assess the economic impact of our excursion programme. An external specialist reviewed the programme in summer 2010 and made various recommendations. We have started to implement those, ready for the winter 2011 season. We will then assess whether the changes had a positive impact on the economy of this country in poverty.

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