EXO wins PATA Gold Award

BANGKOK EXO Travel and EXO Foundation have been awarded the PATA Gold Award in the CSR category, beating 71 organisations globally that were in contention.

PATA’s Gold Awards recognise tourism industry organisations and individuals making outstanding contributions towards creating a responsible and sustainable tourism industry in the Asia-Pacific region.

EXO Travel and Exo Foundation will receive the award at the PATA Gold Awards lunch, this September, during the annual PATA Travel Mart hosted in Jakarta.

By winning the award in the CSR category, EXO Travel and its non-profit affiliate, EXO Foundation, says it has been endorsed, globally by thousands of travel professionals who believe their work and support is contributing positively to responsible tourism.

On receiving the news, of EXO Travel CEO, Olivier Colomes, said: “This PATA Gold Award is one of the most important achievements for EXO Travel. After receiving the Travelife and ChildSafe certifications, it is a major step that rewards the hard work of all EXO people’s commitment to CSR. We are very honoured to receive this Gold Award from PATA. It encourages us to aim for higher standards in sustainability and better responsible tourism practices.”

EXO Foundation director,Christine Jacquemin, added: “This is a major step of the EXO journey to improve sustainability in Southeast Asia. I would like to extend my congratulations to the regional sustainability team and to EXO travel staff for joining this journey. It’s been a steady four years of questioning, reflection, change of procedures and mind-set. The PATA Gold Award marks a major milestone of our journey.

“Our ambition is to now be joined by our suppliers, clients and travellers, to promote tourism as a catalyst for positive change. We want to make destinations better places for people to live in and for travellers to visit.”

EXO Travel’s and EXO Foundation’s vision is to create a system of travel that maximises the benefits of local communities and the preservation of their cultural and natural heritage.

The group has also gained Travelife and ChildSafe accreditation and this year EXO Vietnam received the CSR Award from the French Chamber of Commerce (CCIF); EXO Cambodia received a CCIF Environment Award and the EXO Group has been nominated for a Virtuoso 2016 award in the category of Sustainable Tourism Leadership.

EXO Travel has a workforce of 800 people in offices in Vietnam, Myanmar, Laos, Cambodia, Indonesia, Thailand, Japan, China and Malaysia.