The luxury travel sector has banded together in support of Morocco, raising around £10,000 to support Intrepid Travel’s earthquake relief appeal, which has surpassed AUS $350,000 (£182,000).
Held in London earlier this week, the event was hosted by Conde Nast Traveller sustainability editor Juliet Kinsman and global NGO the Conscious Travel Foundation.
During the evening, PC Agency chief executive Paul Charles shared advice on how travel agents and tour operators can still push customers to travel to Morocco to help the country – whose economy is highly dependent on tourism – recover from the 6.8-magnitude earthquake that hit the High Atlas mountain range on Friday (8 September).
“As Morocco’s economy is dependent on its thriving tourism industry, it’s incredibly important for visitors to be aware that travel to the destination is still safe and very possible,” Charles said.
“Despite this tragedy, Morocco will still offer as vibrant and exciting an experience as always, so communication of accurate and up-to-date information is key to ensuring the tourism industry continues to boom.”
Delegates have also come together and come up with guidelines to help the industry support areas affected by natural disaster better.
“We pulled together to raise funds for relief work and to pool our learnings on how we can help destinations in crisis in the short and long term – for Morocco, and for all destinations,” added Kinsman.
“Every disaster situation is different – but a few wisdoms are universal, and we’ll be sharing ‘Guidelines for Action: What to Do and How to Think in a Moment of Crisis’ soon.”
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