As Virtuoso members, 360 Private Travel partners Katie Terrington and Amy Welfare received the Protecting the Planet Award at the ceremony in Las Vegas in August. The duo helped establish the Conscious Travel Foundation in 2020 with three other travel experts, as a non-profit global community of travel industry professionals. 

The pair said they were “really thrilled” that the work of the Foundation had been recognised by Virtuoso. 

They added: “We see the Virtuoso Award as a huge team effort from all the founders of the Conscious Travel Foundation, our members, and our panel of experts. We have been working hard over the last two years to build our thriving community, with members from all over the world, hailing from all different parts of the industry.”

Terrington and Welfare said the Foundation hopes to continue to welcome other travel businesses who “want to be a part of the necessary evolution of our industry.” They continued: “We aim to constantly develop our education programme, connect the good people in our industry striving for positive change, and grow our charitable fund, donating to grass-roots projects around the world.

“We believe our work is more important than ever to ensure that as an industry, we do not return to ‘business as usual’ without regard for sustainable, positive-impact practices on people and planet.”

The foundation aims to positively influence a shift in industry practice, ignite change and safeguard the planet for future generations, through education, collaboration and fundraising. It currently has 53 members, who are listed at theconscioustravelfoundation.com. 

360 Private Travel chief executive James Turner said the business was proud to support the foundation, adding: “The Conscious Travel Foundation really evolved throughout the pandemic during our industry’s most difficult times. It has been a silver lining that exemplifies how the team were able to prevail and make positive change when the world was at a standstill.”