Booking.com Announces Livia Firth As Ambassador for Sustainable Tourism Startup Competition

Tourism accounts for nearly one tenth of the world’s carbon emissions, and with air travel becoming more and more part of our modern lives, there is an increasing number of travel startups looking to change the game.

In April, 10 social enterprise startups in the sustainable tourism sectors will be doing a three-week ‘Booking Booster’ accelerator programme, hosted by digital travel platform Booking.com. The programme consists of a series of lectures, hands-on workshops and coaching sessions, ultimately culminating in a final pitch to receive a grant of up to €500,000 from the company’s €2million fund in order to help support the next stage of growth for the participating startups. 

Our Creative Director Livia Firth will be joining the programme as competition ambassador and judge to help define a new era of travel. “As someone who travels a lot, going around the world to discover different supply chains and meeting the people who make our clothes, sustainable travel is one of my obsessions,” Livia says. “I’m really looking forward to meeting these inspiring entrepreneurs and learning more about the innovative ways they’re using to make waves in sustainable tourism”.  Gillian Tans, President and CEO of Booking.com is a firm believer that “travel has the potential to transform people’s lives for the better, helping to protect and preserve the destinations and communities that inspire us to take a trip in the first place.”

The Booking Booster Program sits alongside the company’s Booking Cares Fund and the Booking Cares Labs projects to help make a positive impact on the global tourism industry.

Stay tuned to find out more about the 10 chosen start-ups and the competition.

Interested in learning more about how to travel more sustainably? See our guide on how to offset your carbon emissions as well as how to travel plastic-free.