Travalyst, Prince Harry’s sustainable tourism project, has announced it has entered an “incredibly exciting” era with a new board of directors – without mentioning the royal family.
The independent non-profit organization based in London was founded by the Duke of Sussex in 2019 when he was still a working royal with wife Meghan Markle.
Harry was the face of the initiative for three years to encourage the tourism industry to become more sustainable – despite the uproar over his use of private jets.
But he was omitted from a major announcement by the group in May about moving from a “pilot phase” to a new board of five people with “world-class expertise.”
Travalyst’s statement was made eight days after Harry and Meghan’s spokesperson said the pair were involved in a “near catastrophic” car chase while being followed by paparazzi in New York following the Ms Foundation Women of Vision Awards. The NYPD later appeared to soften the couple’s dramatic account, saying “there were no reported clashes, subpoenas, injuries or arrests” related to the incident.
Harry, 38, is still in regular behind-the-scenes contact with Travalyst’s CEO and board and remains committed to doing so, according to a report News Week.
But it is remarkable that he was not used as a promotional tool for the innovation – given how prominently he had previously been involved in conferences and marketing.
September 2019 – Prince Harry launches his Travalyst initiative at the A’dam Toren in Amsterdam
September 2019 – Harry addresses an audience as he launches Travalyst in Amsterdam
September 2019 – Travalyst’s announcement on the ‘Sussex Royal’ Instagram account
PR expert Eric Schiffer, head of Reputation Management Consultants, said this could be due to the marketing problems caused by Harry’s attacks on the royal family.
He told Newsweek, “He’s been a lightning rod for negative news that some brands would rather put their finger in an outlet than touch.”
Harry launched Travalyst in September 2019 at a time when the couple faced heavy criticism after reportedly taking four private jet trips in 11 days.
The Duke defended himself at the time, saying ‘no one is perfect’ and that what matters is ‘what we do to balance the negative effects’.
Harry flew to the Netherlands on a commercial jet for the launch event in Amsterdam, having worked for three years on the initiative that was co-founded with brands such as Booking.com, Skyscanner, Tripadvisor, Trip.com and Visa.
Then, in February 2020, at one of his last events as a working royal before stepping down and moving to the US with Meghan, he spoke at a Travalyst event in Edinburgh, where he memorably asked to be introduced just like ‘Harry’.
The conference was organized for Harry and his Travalyst team to get feedback from the travel industry on new ideas for sustainability, with around 100 people from the tourism and travel industry invited to participate in the work summit.
Months later, in July of that year, he gave an opening speech at a virtual world summit for Travalyst, urging the travel industry to “build back better” after the pandemic.
This performance was notable for being his first public appearance since a series of royal revelations were published in Omid Scobie and Carolyn Durand’s book Finding Freedom.
February 2020 – Harry on a Travalyst Summit at the Edinburgh International Conference Centre
July 2020 – Harry gives a speech at a virtual world summit for Travalyst during the pandemic
The following year, in February 2021, he wrote the foreword to a Travalyst report suggesting that Covid-19 offered the travel industry an opportunity to “jump-start a large-scale realignment” towards a sustainable future.
And then, in May 2022, Harry starred in a sketch for a new initiative in New Zealand for Travalyst, in which he jogged through a forest before being accused of dropping a lollipop wrapper during a trip to New Zealand four years earlier. country.
The Duke uttered several phrases in Te Reo Maori for the clip, which he launched on Maori Television’s current affairs program Te Ao with Moana.
But fast-forward 12 months to May 24 of this year, and Travalyst announced it was entering its “next growth phase” — without mentioning Harry in the press release.
A statement from Travalyst CEO Sally Davey said the “original coalition of five founding partners has now nearly doubled in size to nine partners with a combined market value of nearly $2 trillion.” Among these new partners is Google, which joined in September 2021.
The announcement added: “Today we formally mark the end of the pilot phase of Travalyst with the appointment of a new board to govern and guide us on our journey ahead to make a major positive and system-changing impact .
“The Board of Directors is composed of individuals with world-class expertise in impact, systemic change, non-profit governance, advocacy and campaigning for a just and sustainable world.”
May 2022 – Harry stars in a sketch for a new initiative in New Zealand for Travalyst
The new board members were listed as India Gary-Martin, founder and CEO of Leadership for Execs; Clea Kaske-Kuck, director for policy, advocacy and member mobilization at the World Business Council for Sustainable Development; Dr. Sally Uren, CEO of Forum for the Future; James Whiting, general manager of Doughty Street Chambers; and Henrietta Worthington, attorney at Vedder Price.
Ms. Davey also wrote, “This is an incredibly exciting moment for Travalyst and, I think, for the industry as we enter our next phase of growth and expansion to ensure that our work is freely available, used by all and catalyzes growth. positive transformation of the sector.’
The announcement was also not mentioned in the press release section of Harry and Meghan’s Archewell website.
May 16, 2023 – Harry and Meghan at the Ms Foundation Women of Vision Awards in New York
May 24, 2023 – Statement from Travalyst on its ‘next stage of growth’, without mentioning Harry
May 26, 2023 – Gary-Martin, Chairman of Travalyst India, mentions Harry in her Instagram statement
But Harry was mentioned by Ms Gary-Martin, chairman of the board, in her own personal Instagram announcement on May 26, in which she said: ‘Really excited to announce that I have accepted the role as chairman of the board . from Travalist.
‘Founded by Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, we are organizers and drivers of sustainability in travel and tourism, working with the world’s biggest companies to drive standards and ensure we don’t get more out of it than we put in – especially in the places that have been most affected.’
There were two more press releases posted on the Travalyst website in 2023, both of which simply state in the ‘about Travalyst’ section at the bottom that the project was ‘founded by Prince Harry, the Duke of Sussex in 2019’.
MailOnline has reached out to representatives from Travalyst and the Sussexes today for comment. Both declined to comment when approached by Newsweek.