History of Contiki

With its roots starting from 1962, Contiki has come a long way since then. When a young Kiwi, John Anderson, armed with the dream of exploring as much of Europe as possible, posted an advert on a hostel notice board (“European Tour, only two seats left”) and promptly set off on a European adventure with twelve other trailblazers in a battered red kombi minivan named “Tiki” – Maori for good luck. Since that first fateful trip, Contiki has inspired millions of young travellers to embark on unforgettable journeys to discover new cultures and make lifelong connections with other like-minded globetrotters. With over 350 social travel itineraries available across Asia and globally, the original youth adventure travel brand has its sights set on delivering even more meaningful and memorable travel experiences. 

“Contiki has always been about bringing people together and discovering the world. After 60 years — which is an incredible milestone for us—the journey continues. As a brand, we’ve always kept our finger on the pulse of what matters to youth travellers. We look forward to elevating our signature sense of community together with our sustainability efforts to create experiences where our travellers can be united in caring for the one planet we share – whilst still having a lot of fun along the way.” said Mr. Adam Armstrong, Contiki’s CEO. 

Contiki Cares: Renewed Sustainability Efforts

Contiki kicked off its 60th anniversary year with care for and to stand with the environment. They are making significant progress in their parent company The Travel Corporation’s 11 sustainability goals, which are anchored to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.

In January 2022, they achieved the milestone of making its trips 100% carbon neutral. Since then, Contiki has also eliminated single-use plastic in all its accommodations in favour of reusable and compostable materials. They have also switched all its accommodations to run on renewable energy. In addition to that, 81% of its itineraries now include at least one MAKE TRAVEL MATTER® Experience that leave a positive impact on People, Planet and the Wildlife. 

Chateau Big Weekender: The Party of a Lifetime

An anniversary party is going to be a big party, there are not party like this scale and significance. Contiki intends to celebrate in style with the Chateau Big Weekender, an exclusive, one-time-only itinerary that will see travellers partying like French royalty in the Contiki Château de Cruix, a palatial property in Beaujolais, France that has wowed travellers for decades. 

Taking place from 5th to 7th August 2022, this 3D2N summer extravaganza is going to excite partygoers, living i up with pool parties set against thumping beats of live music spun by DJs, legendary nights spent dancing till the dawn inside the on-property La Cave club and making priceless memories with international friends, both new and old.

In between the bouts of revelry, more cultured activities await, including painting evenings accompanied by wines from the region, exploring the Beaujolais vineyards followed by an al-fresco French feast, and yoga on the Château’s manicured lawns. 

In line with Contiki’s commitment to making progress on its sustainability goals, the Contiki Chateau runs on 100% renewable energy, and all meals by the inhouse chefs are prepared with fresh ingredients that originate from local sources and around France. 

Throughout the trip, Contiki’s quality mainstays will remain, with an Expert Trip Manager, Driver Team and Local Guides offering friendly insights and timely support for a hassle-free trip. Starting from US$349 per partygoer for a QuadShare room at the Château, this is a once-in-a-lifetime experience that’s not to be missed. Bookings can be made on Contiki Chateau Big Weekender – limited slots available. 

What’s in store for 2022 and beyond?

Looking ahead, Conitki will continue to build on its impressive momentum to deepen its commitment to achieving the brand’s sustainability goals by progressing on its efforts to reduce food waste at its owned properties, improve local sourcing and introduce more MAKE TRAVEL MATTER® Experiences to its itineraries. 

At the same time, the social travel brand will be ramping up its newly launched Contiki Ambassador programme, an insider programme where socials-savvy youth can share about travel and be rewarded with trips and bonuses. With this, Contiki hopes to inspire a new generation of travellers and ignite in them the very spirit of adventurous social travel that characterised the first Contiki trip back in 1962. 

Finally, Contiki will continue to expand its impressive offering of social travel itineraries with new trips launching throughout the year = to brand new locations as well as evolving and much-loved classics. Contiki are experts in multi-country trips, allowing youth travellers to see the best of the best, and help them get back into travel in a safe, enjoyable and sustainable way – for 2022 and beyond. 

* Information and pictures courtesy of Contiki and Red Hill Asia *

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The topics on climate change, sustainability, eco-friendly measures, waste reduction and key environmental issues have been on my mind especially over the past few years as I started to be more mindful and conscious of climate, global warming, urbanisation, wastage of resources. During the global pandemic period that started from 2020, our work and living was thrown upside down, while the world travel and tourism industries were severely affected, it did give the world  travel and tourism industries the time to look at sustainability, eco-friendly measures that can be implemented for the good and future of our planet Earth.

Impact Report

Since TTC launch its sustainability strategy, in the space of 15 months, the global operator has been working tirelessly towards its 11 goals that are anchored to the United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Goals (UNSDGs). Inside TTC Impact Report, it highlights the cumulative progress that they have made so far as the company seeks to shape a better future for the travel industry, the local communities and local people it visits, the planet and wildlife. 

“This first, and future Impact Reports, enable us to evaluate the progress we’re making as a company as well as individual brands, so we can track our increasing achievements and acknowledge the areas that need more work,” says Shannon Guihan, The Travel Corporation’s Chief Sustainability Officer. “Our sustainability strategy, How We Tread Right, was carefully designed to enable meaningful measurements with a clear focus on action. We are singularly focused on the success of these actions on the issues we aim to address, and recognize that our impact can only be understood through measurement and transparency.” 

TTC recognises that there is a growing expectation from guests and customers around the world who want to make responsible choices and travel more sustainably. That includes supporting local communities and reducing environmental impacts. Travelers are also seeking a meaningful holiday experience with the guidance of a knowledgable Travel Advisor.

“With the upcoming Stockholm+50 international environmental conference convened by the United Nations General Assembly, issues including climate change, sustainable food production and animal welfare are global issues which require urgent action,” adds Brett Tollman, Chairman of The Travel Corporation. “In sharing our blueprint to do better, we hope to engage our industry to join the fight against these critical planetary challenges, as it’s only in working together with clear intent that we can truly make travel a force for good and safeguard our planet for future travellers,” he concludes. 

How We Tread Right

TTC and its 41 brands within TTC’s family, they want to address sustainability in two key ways, through HWTR, its sustainability strategy featuring 11 SMART goals, and its TreadRight Foundation that supports the advancement of these goals through giving. 

Here are some key takeaways from the Impact Report highlighting its cumulative progress against TTC’s 11 sustainability goals from September 2020 through December 2021 include:

PLANET 

• Developed net zero targets aligned with the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi), currently under review and will be shared later in 2022. 
• Contiki announced their carbon neutral trips as of January 1st, 2022. 
• Sourced 28 per cent of their global electricity needs from renewable sources. 
• Switched nine additional properties to 100 per cent renewable electricity. 
• Introduced food waste management systems at 30 per cent of our hotels and Uniworld ships. 
• Reduced printed brochures by 88 per cent from 2019. 

PEOPLE 

• Introduced 554 MAKE TRAVEL MATTER® Experiences across TTC itineraries, educational experiences designed to advance the UNSDGs, which positively impact and support the people and communities they visit. 
• In 2021, 51 per cent of all TTC itineraries had at least one MAKE TRAVEL MATTER® Experience, surpassing the goal set to reach 50 per cent by 2025. 
• Offered 65 TTC itineraries visiting 110 developing regions. 

WILDLIFE 

• Assessed 400+ wildlife experiences to ensure 100 per cent compliance with our Animal Welfare Policy. 

If you like to know more information on The Travel Corporation’s full Impact Report and learn more about the progress TTC and its brands have achieved against its How We Tread Right sustainability strategy, please visit their website https://impact.treadright.org/progress/ 

Personal Thoughts and Views

This is part of my ongoing “Special Theme Q2 2022 – Fully Restarting Tourism” series, covering news and developments of the travel, tourism, hospitality and aviation industries worldwide.

As travel restrictions are gradually lifted across the world, we should be witnessing a (truly and finally) fully restarting tourism movement in Q2-Q3/Q4 2022. The travel, tourism, aviation and hospitality industries around the world would need time to ramp up, getting back to speed, from getting skilled and experienced staff back, to re-training and getting back to pre-pandemic levels again. 

The topics on climate change, sustainability, reducing food waste, eco-friendly measures are crucial and very important areas for the whole world to take necessary actions starting now and in the coming years ahead.

Although the world travel and tourism industries are gradually reopening up again from the recent global pandemic situation, working to get back on track, the areas of sustainability, reducing wastage, eco-friendly measures and many more areas are key areas for the world travel and tourism industries to work on, hand-in-hand together as we move out from this global pandemic situation.

It’s good to know more in-depth about The Travel Corporation and the 41 award-winning brands within TTC’s family global initiatives, strategies, directions and leadership in sustainability and care for the planet. 

We are all in it together, the time is now to tread right, to fight climate change, achieve sustainability, reduce wastage of resources and many more work needed to be done, for the home we are living in, Planet Earth.

* Information and pictures courtesy of The Travel Corporation and Redhill *

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