2013-04-18 — /travelprnews.com/ — A leader in responsible tourism and conservation, luxury experiential travel company &Beyond has been invited to share its pioneering conservation model at the Bhopal International Conference on Sustainable Tourism 2013 (BICST). On April 18, &Beyond Group Conservation Manager Les Carlisle will be speaking on the company’s expertise in tourism that benefits both conservation and local communities.
Organised by the Eco Tourism Society of India, BCIST is an annual meeting of 200 tourism industry professionals that aims to inspire and promote sustainable goals in the industry. Looking at international best practices, this year’s conference is focused on generating specific input for the Madhya Pradesh Ecotourism Policy.
Recently awarded the 2013 Tourism for Tomorrow Conservation Award,&Beyond is internationally renowned for its model of low-impact, high-yield wildlife tourism. Founded on the premise that conservation can be sustained through sound business principles, this model has allowed the company, which manages nearly 700 beds, to have a positive impact on almost 4 million hectares of wildlife land. An industry leader in sustainable tourism, &Beyond is perfectly placed to share their expert knowledge on the topic.
&Beyond believes that the land, people and animals are inextricably intertwined. Just as wildlife conservation and ecotourism are vital for the future and the prosperity of many people who live in or around wildlife areas, so the support of those people is critical to protecting threatened ecosystems, endangered species and the precious biodiversity of the wildlife areas.
&Beyond’s conservation engine is driven by creating extraordinary experiences for guests. It is through guests that &Beyond continues to be successful in extending and sustaining green frontiers. The company’s model has achieved tremendous success because of socially conscious eco-travellers, who contribute to the preservation of the world’s wild places by supporting companies like &Beyond who have a proven track record in terms of their contribution to conservation and communities.
Included in &Beyond’s conservation efforts is its successful translocation of 50 gaur, or Indian bison, to reverse a local extinction in Bandhavgarh National park in the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh. Carried out in partnership with Indian wildlife authorities and accompanied by an intense transfer of skills by the African conservation specialists, this has laid the foundation for further specialised wildlife relocations in the country.
Another recent project has seen &Beyond’s donation of six white rhino from its Phinda Private Game Reserve to the Okavango Delta in neighbouring Botswana in order to secure the ongoing survival of this current endangered species.
Local communities have also benefitted from &Beyond’s initiatives, with community partnerships allowing ancestral land owners to profit from land dedicated to conservation at &Beyond Phinda Private Game Reserve in South Africa, &Beyond Klein’s Camp in Tanzania and &Beyond Kichwa Tembo in Kenya. Through its community development partner, the Africa Foundation, &Beyond has contributed to the development of rural communities, focusing on the areas of education, healthcare, enterprise development and environment and conservation.
“It is &Beyond’s firm belief that our sustainable travel model can be successfully followed not only in Africa but throughout the world. We are incredibly pleased to have been asked to share our wide range of expertise on this topic and hope that our standards of best practice can be of benefit to the conservation authorities in India as they formulate their own ecotourism policy,” says Les Carlisle.
ABOUT &Beyond
&Beyond is one of the world’s leading luxury experiential travel companies, designing personalised luxury safaris in 16 African countries, as well as India, Bhutan and Sri Lanka. The company also owns and operates 32 extraordinary lodges and camps in Africa and India’s wilderness highspots. Established in 1991, &Beyond takes exceptional care of its guests in order to make a difference; its commitment to sustainable responsible travel and community empowerment is world renowned.
Please note: We are legally required to use the font ‘trebuchet’ when printing the ampersand in ‘&Beyond’. If this is not possible, please kindly write it out in full, i.e. andBeyond.
The referring website in your article should be: www.andBeyond.com
Please visit our Youtube page to view footage of our latest rhino translocation project.
ISSUED BY: media@andBeyond.com
T +27 11 809 4300 | F +27 11 809 4511
www.andBeyond.com
###