Herman Hoven, General Manager of Khiri Travel Indonesia received the award from Travelife at a ceremony at the ABTA (The Travel Association) 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 rising 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.
Attending the Certification ceremony at WTM, Naut Kusters, General Manager of Tour Operators and Travel Agents for Travelife, said: "Apart from the environment, Travelife Certification makes sense for business growth. The process of Certification creates a bond between employees and helps the company achieve higher goals on many fronts."
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."
Nitshananun Sonklin, Khiri Travel Sustainability Coordinator, added: "It's been rewarding for all concerned to help Khiri Travel Indonesia achieve such positive results. It sets the bar higher for me and other Khiri Travel country teams. We will keep pushing our sustainability efforts to the next level," she said.
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 labor conditions, human rights, environmental responsibilities, biodiversity and fair business practices.
The Travelife standard for tour operators is also formally recognized 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.