Prince Harry made a surprise appearance via video conference at the annual general meeting of ecotourism company Travalyst.
The Duke of Sussex, the company’s founder, made a virtual appearance at the meeting from his home in Montecito, California, where he told bosses it was crucial for the travel industry to deliver better outcomes for local communities in holiday destinations.
He told the board: “Travel and tourism depends on destinations, bound together by communities, without which we have nowhere to travel,” said Harry, who appeared via video conference from his home in California.
“Communities are the heart of travel and we must do better with the people who are guardians of the places we visit.”
Harry launched the independent London-based nonprofit in 2019, while still a royal, with his wife Meghan Markle.
He spent three years as the public face of the initiative to encourage the tourism industry to be more sustainable, despite the furor over his use of private jets.
It comes after rumors circulated last year that the Prince had quit his role at Travalyst after the company had entered an “incredibly exciting” era without mentioning royalty.
Prince Harry made a surprise appearance via video link at the annual general meeting of ecotourism company Travalyst.
Prince Harry addresses an audience after the launch of Travalyst in Amsterdam in September 2019.
The Travalyst scheme, an independent not-for-profit body backed by major travel industry companies including Google, Booking.com, TripAdvisor and Expedia, aims to help travelers reduce their carbon emissions, prevent overtourism and develop local economies.
Like his father, King Charles, who has spoken out for more than 50 years on issues such as sustainability and climate change, Harry has also been a strong supporter of environmental causes.
Harry officially launched Travalyst in September 2019 at a time when he and Meghan were facing intense criticism after allegedly taking four private jet trips in 11 days.
The Duke defended himself at the time saying that “no one is perfect” and that the important thing is “what we do to balance” the negative effects.
Harry flew to the Netherlands on a commercial plane for the launch event in Amsterdam, having spent three years working on the initiative.
Then, in February 2020, at one of his last events as a royal before stepping down and moving to the US with Meghan, he spoke at a Travalyst event in Edinburgh where he memorably asked to be introduced simply like ‘Harry’.
The conference was organized for Harry and his Travalyst team to get feedback from the travel industry on new ideas for sustainability, with around 100 people from the tourism and travel industries invited to join the working summit.
September 2019: Prince Harry launches his Travalyst initiative at the A’dam Tower in Amsterdam
Harry addresses an audience as he launches Travalyst in Amsterdam
In April 2020, Harry was listed on Companies House under the name ‘Henry Charles Albert David Duke of Sussex’ as an ‘individual person with significant control’ when Tavalyst was incorporated as a company. The documents confirmed that the duke owned 75 percent or more of the shares and voting rights.
At the time, there were two company directors listed on Companies House: James Holt, who remains one of the Duke’s most senior aides, and Heather Wong, who worked as Harry’s deputy private secretary at Kensington Palace for three years. before he left the Royal Family. She left Travalyst in March 2021.
Sally Davey, who is now chief executive of Travalyst, was named a director a day later at Companies House.
In July of that year, Harry gave a keynote speech at a virtual Travalyst global summit, urging the travel industry to “build back better” after the pandemic.
This appearance was notable because it was his first public appearance since a series of actual revelations were published in the book Finding Freedom by Omid Scobie and Carolyn Durand.
The following year, in February 2021, he wrote the foreword to a Travalyst report suggesting that Covid-19 offered the travel industry the opportunity to “drive a large-scale realignment” towards a sustainable future.
And then, in May 2022, Harry played a starring role in a sketch for a new New Zealand initiative for Travalyst in which he ran through a forest before being accused of dropping a popsicle wrapper four years earlier on a trip. to the country.
The duke spoke several phrases in Te Reo Maori for the clip, which he released on Maori Television’s current affairs show Te Ao with Moana.