No mention for Prince Harry as Travalyst begins ‘exciting’ new era

Prince Harry’s sustainable tourism project, Travalyst, has announced that it has entered an “incredibly exciting” era with a new board of directors, not to mention the royals.

The London-based independent non-profit organization was launched by the Duke of Sussex in 2019 while he was still a royal with his wife Meghan Markle.

Harry spent three years as the public face of the initiative to encourage the tourism industry to become more sustainable, despite the furor over his use of private jets.

But he was left out of a major group announcement in May about its transition from a “pilot phase” to a new five-person board with “world-class experience.”

Travalyst’s statement came eight days after Harry and Meghan’s spokesman said the couple had been involved in a “nearly catastrophic” car chase as paparazzi followed them in New York after the Ms Foundation Women of Vision awards. Awards. The NYPD later appeared to soften the couple’s dramatic account, saying there were “no reported collisions, citations, injuries or arrests” related to the incident.

Harry, 38, is still in regular contact with Travalyst’s CEO and board behind the scenes and remains engaged with him, according to a report published in news week.

But it’s worth noting that it wasn’t used as a promotional tool for the revamp, given how prominently it had previously been involved in conferences and marketing.

September 2019: Harry addresses an audience as he launches Travalyst in Amsterdam

September 2019 – Travalyst’s advert on the ‘Sussex Royal’ Instagram account

Public relations expert Eric Schiffer, director of Reputation Management Consultants, said this could be due to the marketing difficulties presented by Harry’s attacks on the royal family.

He told Newsweek: “It’s been a lightning rod for negative news that some brands would rather put their finger on an electrical outlet than touch it.”

Harry launched Travalyst in September 2019 at a time when the couple was facing intense criticism after reportedly taking four private jet trips in 11 days.

The duke defended himself at the time by saying that “no one is perfect” and that what is important is “what we do to balance” the negative effects.

Harry flew to the Netherlands on a commercial jet for the launch event in Amsterdam, after spending three years working on the initiative which was founded alongside brands including Booking.com, Skyscanner, Tripadvisor, Trip.com and Visa.

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 as ‘Harry ‘.

The conference was organized for Harry and his team at Travalyst to get feedback from the travel industry on new ideas for sustainability, with some 100 people from the travel and tourism industries invited to join the working summit.

Months later, in July of that year, he delivered a keynote address at a virtual global summit for Travalyst, urging the travel industry to “build back better” after the pandemic.

This appearance was notable because it was her first public appearance since a series of real revelations were published in the book Finding Freedom by Omid Scobie and Carolyn Durand.

February 2020: Harry at a Travalyst Summit at the Edinburgh International Conference Center

July 2020: Harry speaks at a virtual global summit for Travalyst during the pandemic

The following year, in February 2021, he wrote the foreword to a Travalyst report suggesting that Covid-19 offered the opportunity for the travel industry 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 venture for Travalyst in which he jogged through a forest before being accused of dropping a lollipop wrapper four years earlier on a trip to the country.

The duke spoke several phrases in Te Reo Maori for the clip, which he launched on Maori Television’s current affairs show Te Ao with Moana.

But fast forward 12 months to May 24 of this year, and Travalyst announced that it was moving into its ‘next phase of growth’, without mentioning Harry in the press release.

A statement from Travalyst CEO Sally Davey said the “original coalition of five founding partners has now nearly doubled in size to nine partners with a combined market value of nearly $2 trillion.” Among these new partners is Google, which joined in September 2021.

The announcement added: ‘Today we formally mark the end of Travalyst’s pilot phase with the appointment of a new board to govern and guide us on our journey forward to deliver major positive and system-changing impact.

“The board is comprised of individuals with world-class experience in impact, systems change, nonprofit governance, advocacy, and campaigning for a just and sustainable world.”

May 2022: Harry plays a role in a sketch for a new initiative in New Zealand for Travalyst

The new board members were listed as India Gary-Martin, founder and CEO of Leadership for Execs; Clea Kaske-Kuck, Director of Policy, Advocacy and Membership Mobilization at the World Business Council for Sustainable Development; Dr. Sally Uren, Executive Director of Forum for the Future; James Whiting, CEO of Doughty Street Chambers; and Henrietta Worthington, an attorney for Vedder Price.

Ms Davey also wrote: “This is an incredibly exciting time for Travalyst and, I think, for the industry as we move into our next phase of growth and expansion to ensure our work is freely available to all, used by all and catalyze the positive transformation of the sector.’

The announcement has also not been mentioned in the press releases section of Harry and Meghan’s Archewell website.

May 16, 2023: Harry and Meghan at the Ms Foundation Women of Vision Awards in New York

May 24, 2023: Travalyst’s statement on his “next phase of growth”, without mentioning Harry

May 26, 2023 – Travalyst India Chairman Gary-Martin mentions Harry in his Instagram statement

But Harry received a mention from Ms. Gary-Martin, chair of the board, in her own personal Instagram announcement on May 26, in which she said: “It’s really exciting to announce that I’ve accepted the role of chair of the board. “. of Travalyst.

“Founded by Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, we are coordinators and drivers of sustainability in travel and tourism, working with the world’s largest corporations to drive standards and ensure we don’t get more out of our investment, especially in the places that are most affected.’

There have been two more press releases posted on the Travalyst website in 2023, simply mentioning in the “about Travalyst” section at the bottom that the project was “founded by Prince Harry, The Duke of Sussex in 2019” .

MailOnline has contacted representatives for Travalyst and the Sussexes for comment today. Both declined to comment when contacted by Newsweek.