Travel as an Engine of Change

One of my favorite features at Travel + Leisure is the magazine's annual Global Vision Awards, where a team of illustrious judges (this year they included Dr. Joseph Stiglitz and documentary filmmaker Louie Psihoyos, who is also the executive director of the Oceanic Preservation Society) choose from a shortlist of companies and organizations that protect the environment, preserve cultures, and give back to the communities in which they're based.

This year, I signed on to report it—scouring the globe for travel companies and projects in the categories of Cultural Preservation and Community Development. The recommendation I'm most proud of? Accor hotels' work to combat child sex tourism, which won the Human Rights award in the Leadership category. Since 2000, in partnership with the NGO ECPAT (End Child Prostitution, Pornography and Trafficking of Children for Sexual Purposes), Accor has taken an active stand against exploitation of children, training over 13,000 staff worldwide last year and raising customer awareness about this disquieting reality.

A few other winners that I put forth: the Cambodian Living Arts organization, which provides space, equipment, and a living wage to master practitioners of Cambodian folk dance; adventure travel company Myths & Mountains, which launched a nonprofit to construct libraries in impoverished areas of Nepal, India, and Bhutan; and Feynan Ecolodge, an ultra-sustainable lodge in Jordan's Dana Biosphere Reserve.

Read more here or see the November issue.