World Heritage Alliance
Celebrates One-Year Anniversary with
Addition of New Members
Founding members welcome
13 new members and associate partners to the Alliance
to promote sustainable tourism to World Heritage
sites
Los Angeles – Nov. 15, 2006 – Expedia,
Inc. (Nasdaq: EXPE) and the United Nations Foundation
(UN Foundation) celebrated today the one-year
anniversary of the World Heritage Alliance (WHA)
by announcing the addition of nine new members
and four new associate partners. The WHA is an
industry-leading initiative that was jointly formed
by Expedia® and the UN Foundation in 2005
to promote sustainable tourism and awareness of
World Heritage sites and communities around the
world.
“We are honored to
welcome the new members and partners to the World
Heritage Alliance,” said Kathy Bushkin,
executive vice president and chief operating officer
of the UN Foundation. “From leading hotel
chains to widely respected NGOs, this represents
the kind of far-reaching partnership that is required
to preserve World Heritage and promote sustainable
livelihoods around the world. We congratulate
them for their leadership in helping to ensure
that world travel strengthens and sustains World
Heritage sites and the communities that surround
them.”
“We are pleased to
mark the one-year anniversary of the World Heritage
Alliance with the addition of an outstanding group
of members and partners dedicated to supporting
sustainable travel, World Heritage conservation,
and local economic development for communities
in and around World Heritage sites,” said
Paul Brown, president of Expedia North America
and Expedia, Inc. Partner Services Group. “Expedia
is committed to working with our partners to promote
sustainable tourism to travelers as a way of preserving
the world’s treasures and enhancing travelers’
experiences for years to come.”
The WHA offers of two levels
of partnership, each being committed to advancing
the WHA mission: WHA members and WHA associate
partners. WHA members consists of travel industry
companies, such as hotels, tour operators, travel
agents, airlines and cruises, among others. WHA
associate partners are NGOs, civil society groups,
government bodies and other organizations not
exclusively devoted to tourism.
The nine new members joining
the WHA are: Camino Real Hotels, Club Méditerranée
(Club Med), El Sueño Hotel and Spa, Fairmont
Hotels & Resorts, Maroma Resort and Spa (Orient-Express
Hotels, Trains & Cruises), Mayaland Resorts
Group, Paraiso de la Bonita Resort and Thalasso,
Radar Tours, and Solimar Marketing and Travel.
Several of the new members will begin their work
in the Yucatan Peninsula of Mexico, home to five
of Mexico’s 26 World Heritage sites. Other
members will introduce the WHA to new geographic
regions, including Central America.
Each member is committed
to:
• Implementing the World Heritage Alliance
principles, a set of guidelines developed in consultation
between the UN Foundation, Expedia, UNESCO World
Heritage Centre and National Geographic that foster
greater attention to social, cultural and environmental
sustainability within their business.
• Participating in staff training programs
by enrolling their staff in occasional in-person
or online training courses organized by the WHA
that educate about the key issues related to World
Heritage and sustainable tourism.
• Educating customers about World Heritage
by providing informational materials, exclusive
packages to World Heritage destinations, volunteer
opportunities with local communities, and the
ability for customers to purchase goods and services
that are rooted in local cultures and environments.
• Supporting community development around
World Heritage sites by working with local communities
to build and enhance sustainable tourism opportunities
for travelers and to provide markets for locally
produced sustainable goods and services.
• Engaging employees to support the local
community through WHA volunteer programs that
allow employees to work side-by-side with community-based
initiatives.
• Supporting the United Nations in its efforts
to encourage sustainable tourism and the protection
of World Heritage sites through the UNESCO World
Heritage Convention.
“Fairmont is proud
to join the World Heritage Alliance to promote
World Heritage and sustainable tourism,”
said Jeff Senior, senior vice president for marketing
and sales for Fairmont Hotels & Resorts. “The
Alliance offers us the unique opportunity to enhance
our guests’ experiences while also giving
back to our local communities. Fairmont is committed
to advancing the WHA mission by engaging our customers,
employees and local tourism operators, starting
with the new Fairmont Mayakoba resort in Mexico.”
In addition to the WHA’s
current associate partners — the Mexico
Tourism Board and the Secretary of Tourism for
Mexico, which joined forces with the WHA last
March — the following four organizations
have signed on as associate partners: Academex
Digital Publishing, Destination Ventures, Ltd,
the Rainforest Alliance and Rare Conservation.
The associate partners will help the WHA members
implement the commitments such as consumer education,
community development and technical training.
“We are excited to
be part of this innovative partnership to promote
sustainable travel,” said Tensie Whelan,
executive director of the Rainforest Alliance.
“We look forward to offering training and
technical assistance to World Heritage Alliance
members through our sustainable tourism program,
and we hope to help them lead the way in protecting
some of the world’s most valuable places
for years to come.”
“We were honored to
be the first associate partner to help promote
and preserve Mexico’s 26 World Heritage
sites,” said Magdalena Carral, CEO of Mexico’s
Tourism Board. “We are thrilled to learn
of all of the new members of the Alliance, as
these travel industry companies are showing true
leadership in helping Mexico promote sustainable
tourism.”
The 13 new partners will
build on the momentum and results created by the
founding partners, Expedia and the UN Foundation.
Over the past year, the Alliance has accomplished
several goals, including the launch of the Expedia®
Employee Program, and the implementation of five
training programs and an online course for local
travel industry suppliers and partners in the
Yucatan Peninsula. In addition, Expedia is offering
special package trips to some of the world’s
most cherished sites, found at www.expedia.com/worldheritage.
The company will donate all profits to the Friends
of World Heritage Fund to support communities
in and around World Heritage sites.
The WHA is also educating
travelers about the preservation of World Heritage
through Friends of World Heritage (www.friendsofworldheritage.org),
which encourages individuals to learn more about
responsible travel and World Heritage sites and
directly support those sites. Individual donations
to Friends of World Heritage are matched by Expedia,
Inc. and the UN Foundation, up to $50,000 from
each partner.
The WHA has plans to continue
building upon the work already in progress in
Mexico by continuing its support to the region
and expanding its efforts to the Caribbean and
Central America in 2007. Visit www.worldheritagealliance.org
to learn about what each new member will do to
support the mission of the Alliance and to read
their personal testimonies.
About the World
Heritage Alliance:
The World Heritage Alliance works to support World
Heritage conservation, sustainable tourism, and
local economic development for communities in
and around World Heritage sites. The UN Foundation
and Expedia, Inc. created the World Heritage Alliance
in the fall of 2005. For more information, visit:
www.worldheritagealliance.org.
About Expedia, Inc.:
Expedia, Inc. is the world’s leading online
travel company, empowering business and leisure
travelers with the tools and information they
need to easily research, plan, book, and experience
travel. Expedia, Inc. also provides wholesale
travel to offline retail travel agents. Expedia,
Inc.’s portfolio of brands includes: Expedia.com®,
hotels.com®, Hotwire®, Expedia® Corporate
Travel, TripAdvisor™ and Classic Vacations®.
Expedia, Inc.'s companies also operate internationally
with sites in Canada, the United Kingdom, Germany,
France, Italy, the Netherlands, Australia, and
China, through its investment in eLong™.
The company is dedicated to positively impacting
global tourism and promoting sustainable tourism
through the World Heritage Alliance – a
joint initiative with the United Nations Foundation.
For more information, visit http://www.expediainc.com/
(NASDAQ: EXPE).
About the UN Foundation:
The UN Foundation was created in 1998 with entrepreneur
and philanthropist Ted Turner’s historic
$1 billion gift to support UN causes and activities.
The UN Foundation builds and implements public-private
partnerships to address the world’s most
pressing problems, and also works to broaden support
for the UN through advocacy and public outreach.
The UN Foundation is a public charity. www.unfoundation.org
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may be the property of their respective owners.
Contact information, press
only:
English media: Katrina Thomas, Expedia.com, 425.679.4317
or kathomas@expedia.com
Amy DiElsi, UN Foundation, 202.419.3230 or adielsi@unfoundation.org
Spanish media: Laura Piñones, Expedia.com,
425.679.4317 or lpinones@expedia.com
