At the World Travel & Tourism Council’s recent global summit in Buenos Aires, the Travel Corporation and its not-for-profit organisation, TreadRight, were among the first industry leaders to sign the Buenos Aires Declaration on Travel & Tourism and Illegal Wildlife Trade.

The Buenos Aires Declaration illustrates a commitment from the tourism industry to join the fight against wildlife crime, and the illegal wildlife trade.

The new WTTC initiative brings together tourism industry leaders, taking a fundamental step forwards to ensure that wildlife populations around the world are able to thrive.

The declaration consists of four pillars:

• Expression and demonstration of agreement to tackle the illegal wildlife trade
• Promotion of responsible wildlife-based tourism
• Awareness raising among customers, staff and trade networks
• Engaging with local communities and investing locally

A joint initiative between TTC’s family of brands, The TreadRight Foundation has been committed to wildlife conservation throughout its ten-year history.

Over the past decade, the foundation has partnered with outstanding organisations such as Wilderness Foundation Africa, Wildlife SOS - India, World Animal Protection, Sea Turtle Conservancy, Shark Savers, WildAid, Endangered Wildlife Trust, and the Wilderness Wildlife Trust, to further its goal of protecting endangered species.

TTC chief executive and TreadRight co-founder, Brett Tollman, was in attendance at the WTTC Global Summit to sign the Buenos Aires Declaration.

“It is a privilege for our organisation to be among the first to sign such an important initiative,” said Tollman.

“The Buenos Aires Declaration on Travel and Tourism and Illegal Wildlife Trade has been particularly encouraging to TTC and TreadRight as it identifies specific actions that the sector can take to address the challenges presented by the illegal wildlife trade, taking the important step of establishing a framework on which the industry can build viable long-term solutions towards ending wildlife crime.”

In March of this year, TTC and TreadRight also announced the expansion of the TreadRight Wildlife Initiative to include the fight to help save big cats by partnering with the Wildlife Conservation Society’s Big Cat Fund.

TreadRight also extended its support of The Cape Leopard Trust’s conservation efforts at Bushmans Kloof, South Africa, with the introduction of Anatolian Dogs to local farmsteads as a sustainable predator-management solution.

Central to the Buenos Aires Declaration is the commitment to developing sustainable livelihoods for communities which are most affected by the illegal wildlife trade.

By promoting the benefits of wildlife tourism, and encouraging investment in infrastructure and communities, the WTTC hopes to change attitudes toward wildlife crime and create sustainable futures for those who currently rely on it economically.