Khiri Travel wins certification

LONDON Khiri Travel Indonesia was awarded full Travelife Certification at a ceremony at the World Travel Market in London earlier this week.

Khiri Travel Indonesia general manager, Herman Hoven, received the award from Travelife at a ceremony at the ABTA (Association of British Travel Agents) stand at WTM.

Travelife is the leading training, management and certification initiative for tourism companies that are committed to sustainability.

Travelife was founded with the support of ABTA in the UK and ANVR travel trade association in the Netherlands in 2007 as a thorough responsible tourism certification scheme for tour operators and hotels.

Travelife Certification for tour operators and travel agents comes in three stages: ‘Engaged’, ‘Partner’, and ‘Certified’.

Khiri Travel Indonesia achieved Partner status in June and full certification after rigorous environmental, human resource, working condition and tour guide checks by Travelife auditors over the last few months.

Khiri Travel Indonesia was launched in 2014. “We wanted to start off on the right foot,” said Hoven at WTM. “Travelife Certification makes real sense in Indonesia where nature and natural resources are such a big part of the tourism experience – wonderful beaches, Komodo dragons, forest temples and rural village visits.”

Khiri Travel Indonesia has offices in Lombok, Bali and Java in Indonesia, with 23 full time operations staff.

Travelife Certification is only awarded to tour operators after rigorous systems, policy and procedure checks onsite by Travelife.

The three-stage Travelife process acknowledges OECD corporate social responsibility guidelines including labour conditions, human rights, environmental responsibilities, biodiversity and fair business practices.

The Travelife standard for tour operators is also formally recognised by the UN-supported Global Sustainable Tourism Criteria (GSTC).

Khiri Travel Indonesia is the first DMC in Indonesia, along with Happy Trails – also awarded 9 November at WTM – to receive Travelife Certification.