NEPCon and Travelife announce new collaboration

London, United Kingdom (6 November 2018) – NEPCon, the world’s largest non-profit mission-driven certification body is pleased to announce a new collaboration with Travelife Accommodation and Travelife for Tour Operators, to further promote the growth of a more sustainable and responsible tourism sector.

NEPCon will partner with Travelife under two separate sustainability systems— Travelife Sustainability Certification for  Accommodation, and Travelife Sustainability System for Tour Operators and Travel Agencies.

Today, NEPCon joins Travelife at a symbolic signing ceremony at World Travel Market in London, to celebrate this noteworthy milestone for this partnership. 

Both collaborative agreements were previously signed between Rainforest Alliance and Travelife, but have been transferred to NEPCon since 1 October 2018, as part of NEPCon’s recent acquisition of RA-Cert, the certification unit of Rainforest Alliance.

Travel and tourism clients can expect the same credibility and reliability in NEPCon that they have come to rely on with RA-Cert.

Travelife for Accommodation

NEPCon partners with Travelife for Accommodation, an international sustainability certification scheme that helps hotel and other accommodation members around the world create better places to live, work and visit by improving their environmental, social and economic impacts.

Owned by ABTA, the UK Travel Association, this is a world leading certification scheme that works in partnership with tour operators, both in the UK and internationally, who all use Travelife to manage their accommodation supply chain.

This partnership allows hotels that are certified within NEPCon Standard for Sustainable Tourism and those that meet the standard in the future, to earn full Travelife Gold Certification to promote their achievements.

Travelife Sustainability System for Tour Operator and Travel Agencies

This international sustainability certification system operated by ECEAT-Projects, a not-for-profit organisation based in the Netherlands, helps tour operators and travel agencies worldwide improve their environmental, social and economic impacts cost-effectively.

Through this collaboration, tour operators that have been certified according to NEPCon Standard for Sustainable Tourism and those that meet the standard in the future can use the Travelife Certified status to promote their achievements.

This certification system has achieved the Global Sustainable Tourism Councils (GSTC)-Accredited status, which means the programme fulfils processes and procedures that have been reviewed and approved by the GSTC Accreditation Panel. 

Strategic partnership

Under the agreements, both Travelife companies recognise NEPCon audit findings. It provides opportunity for certified businesses to obtain two certifications by going through one audit.

To enjoy the privilege, NEPCon certified businesses are required to pay a membership fee to become Travelife Certified. These joint efforts between NEPCon and Travelife provide increased marketing opportunities as certified businesses can display Travelife Certified logos that would bring greater clarity to consumers and better market outreach.

“NEPCon is excited about this collaboration with both Travelife for Accommodation and Travelife for Tour Operators. We are confident that it will offer great opportunities for our certified clients and for the overall tourism industry,” says NEPCon Innovations and Development Director, Hando Hain.  

Through Travelife recognition of NEPCon tourism certification for hotels and tour operators, NEPCon certified businesses will be able to better leverage their sustainability efforts through broader and more powerful communication and marketing opportunities, he adds.

Managing Director of Travelife, Nikki White says, ”We believe that any business can create positive impacts on the places they operate in and for the people they work with. We are delighted to partner with NEPCon to ensure that travellers have even more access to sustainability certified accommodation globally. Over one in three people now think it’s important their hotel provider has sustainable credentials. With over 1,500 Travelife certified hotels in more than 55 countries, there should be something to suit most holidaymakers. Accommodation and travel companies can really start to see the true benefits of adopting a sustainable approach.”

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For further information, please contact:

• Katie Miller, Communications Coordinator, NEPCon, kmiller@preferredbynature.org, +45 3155 2536

About NEPCon

NEPCon (Nature Economy and People Connected) is an international non-profit organisation that works to build capacity and commitment for mainstreaming sustainability. For almost 25 years, we have worked to foster sustainable land use and responsible trade in forest commodities. We do this through innovation projects, capacity building, and sustainability services.

We are accredited certifiers for sustainability schemes such as FSCTM, PEFC, RSPO and SBP. We offer Chain of Custody certification according to the Rainforest Alliance Sustainable Agriculture standard. We also certify to our own LegalSource Standard and Carbon Footprint Management standards. A self-managing division of NEPCon promotes and delivers our certification services. Surplus from certification activities supports the development on NEPCon’s non-profit activities.

Our work with certification systems extends far beyond service delivery. We are constantly engaged in improving certification schemes to support their credibility and impact on the ground whilst enhancing access to certification for small enterprises.

In line with our Open Source Policy, tools and systems that we develop under our programmes are freely available. We place great focus on transparency and knowledge sharing, and we collaborate with the entire range of stakeholders, including governments, NGOs and industry organisations. Learn more at www.nepcon.org 

About Travelife for Accommodation

Travelife for accommodation is a global sustainability management system with around 1,500 member hotels in over 50 countries. Travelife Members are provided with a suite of practical tools and processes to help them improve their environmental and social impacts. The GSTC-recognised Travelife Standard was designed by the industry, for the industry and Travelife work with some of the biggest outbound UK and European tour operators to help them increase the number of sustainable hotels in their supply chain. Learn more at www.travelife.org or e-mail info@travelife.org. 

About Travelife for Tour Operators

Founded in 2007, the Travelife Sustainability System is an initiative dedicated to promoting sustainable practices within the travel and tourism industry.

The Travelife initiative is based on the central role of tour operators and travel agents in the tourism supply chain. Their unique position between suppliers and buyers enables them to influence consumer demand, procurement policies and the development  of destinations. This allows them to contribute significantly to sustainable development and environmental and cultural protection in destinations. Travelife aims to offer  companies the knowledge, solutions and tools to implement positive change within their businesses and their supply chain.