World Tourism Day, celebrating sustainable transformation through tourism
- Alexandra Avila
- Sep 26
- 11 min read
Updated: Sep 27
World Tourism Day is commemorated annually on September 27 to foster awareness among the international community of the importance of travel and its social, cultural, political, and economic value. This year's theme celebrates sustainable transformation and REYA is proud to highlight the profound impact of sustainability in tourism and celebrate our clients who are committed to these values. For more information on any of these experiences or to discuss potential feature opportunities, please contact Alexandra Avila at alexandra@reyacommunications.com.
Delfin Amazon Cruises
After nearly two decades of quietly weaving sustainability into every aspect of their operations, Delfin Amazon Cruises (Delfin), the first Relais & Châteaux Cruise company in the world and upscale river cruise operator in the Upper Peruvian Amazon, has launched a Sustainability Department led by Gabriela Orihuela, a biologist specialized in Amazonian biodiversity, who brings deep scientific expertise and a long-standing commitment to conservation and community development. Gabriela will lead the charge in transforming Delfin’s empirically driven efforts into a strategic and measurable program that empowers local communities, supports biodiversity, and brings guests closer to meaningful and long-term impact. The one she’s most excited to lead is on-board citizen science projects, where guests will actively contribute to wildlife monitoring efforts across the National Reserve and its buffer zones. In addition to supporting the expanding body of natural history data on pink dolphins, they will help identify individual dolphins, contributing valuable information to ongoing research. Over the years, Delfin has launched community-led handicrafts markets, reforestation initiatives like the Chonta Project (heart of palm), honeybee gifting programs, and groundbreaking river dolphin research, often in collaboration with scientists and villagers, and always grounded in respect for the environment and the people who protect it. This department will now act as the strategic backbone of all these initiatives.
About Delfin Amazon Cruises:
Delfin Amazon Cruises was launched in early 2006 by its founder and CEO, Aldo Macchiavello. The company is the culmination of a dream shared with his wife, Lissy Urteaga – to run a boutique travel business that should showcase the natural beauty of their country, Peru. Delfin Amazon Cruises sets the highest standards for impeccable 5-star hospitality, authentic Peruvian design, and superb local cuisine. The Delfin I, II, and III effortlessly combine comfort and grace with the breathtaking wilderness setting of the Amazon. Each vessel thrives in harmony with nature and their panoramic suites and terraces offer guests a special “non-cruise” atmosphere with the opportunity to explore one of the world’s most pristine environments. Deep in the Peruvian Amazon, the boutique luxury vessels take guests on three and four-night itineraries into one of the world’s largest protected flooded forests, the Pacaya Samiria National Reserve. Experienced naturalist guides and experts showcase the immense biodiversity of the area with excursions and activities that include visits to local villages, kayaking, swimming near pink river dolphins, fishing, daytime hiking, and night safaris.
Go2Africa
Go2Africa, part of the Nawiri Group, is a multi-award-winning travel specialist based out of Cape Town and Nairobi. Driven by a passion for positive change, Go2Africa curates unforgettable African safari holidays that leave a lasting impact. Go2Africa is proud to be B Corp certified, authentically living their commitment to using business as a powerful force for positive impact. Go2Africa believes in empowering local communities, preserving natural environments, and supporting cultural diversity. Their carefully curated itineraries—Positive Impact Safaris and Trips with a Purpose—prioritize sustainability, promote eco-friendly practices, minimize carbon footprint, and aid in the conservation of wildlife and development of communities.
In partnership with Greenpop, an award-winning non-profit organization that plants trees in urban greening and reforestation projects, Go2Africa is creating a Treevolution. By planting trees, restoring forest and woodland habitats, they are effectively managing critical catchment areas, and improving the lives of communities who rely on forest resources. As part of this commitment to supporting Greenpop's environmental goals, Go2Africa will fund the planting of one tree for every booking made that includes a stay at any of their selected accommodation partners in the Western Cape region. Guests can get personally involved in the planting process as well. Go2Africa is committed to ensure that clients’ trips serve as an aid to conserve and protect Africa’s precious ecosystems. Go2Africa's Trips with a Purpose, allow travelers to visit or have a hands-on experience at a Positive Impact project supporting local communities, environmental work, or wildlife conservation.
About Go2Africa
Go2Africa, part of the Nawiri Group, is a multi-award-winning and B Corp-certified travel specialist based out of Cape Town and Nairobi. Driven by a passion for positive change, Go2Africa curates unforgettable African safari holidays that leave a lasting impact. Celebrating over 25 years, they have first-hand knowledge and relationships with over 1000+ carefully selected partners across Southern and Eastern Africa. With the most accredited and awarded safari specialists recognized by Conde Nast Traveler and Travel & Leisure, travelers are in expert hands.
EXP Journeys
EXP Journeys, founded in 2012 by veteran guides Kevin Jackson and Andrew Roberts, renowned for immersive luxury travel experiences, across the Americas and beyond, is now a Certified B Corporation™. This certification further exemplifies EXP’s dedication to using travel as a force for good, embedding social, environmental, and community-conscious values into every journey they design. With this designation, EXP Journeys joins a global community of businesses united by a common purpose: building a more inclusive and sustainable economy. Guided by a shared mission to redefine the way they travel, EXP is committed to ensuring that every journey leaves a meaningful and lasting impact. This commitment extends beyond clients to include team members, partners, and the local communities and ecosystems that make their experiences possible. EXP donates a portion of the cost of every journey to local, non-profit organizations in their most traveled destinations through their EXP Foundation, supporting partners like Turner Endangered Species Fund, Teton Raptor Center and Yee Ha’ólníi Doo. With B Corp now serving as an internal compass, the company plans to deepen those relationships, build new partnerships, and create opportunities for clients to engage directly with the causes and communities they visit. As EXP looks to the future, B Corp will remain a guiding framework shaping how they operate and how they continue to design journeys. With roots deeply embedded in the guiding community and a proprietary training program that sets the industry standard, EXP approaches every itinerary with a blend of creativity, experience, and environmental responsibility, ensuring that each journey is as memorable as it is sustainable.
About EXP Journeys:
EXP Journeys, founded in 2012 by veteran guides Kevin Jackson and Andrew Roberts, curates bespoke travel experiences across North and South America to Antarctica. With roots deeply embedded in the guiding community and with its own guide training program, EXP approaches every itinerary with a blend of creativity, experience, and environmental responsibility, ensuring that each journey is as memorable as it is sustainable. The company’s ‘Leave No Trace’ mobile camps are designed to provide luxury accommodations and incredible access to the most remote and stunning landscapes of the United States, including Yellowstone, Grand Canyon, Zion, Moab, Escalante, and Lake Powell.
Cashel Palace
Cashel Palace, the magnificent Palladian manor in Tipperary, Ireland which opened its doors in 2022 has followed best practice in construction, restoration, sourcing and energy to ensure a blueprint for sustainability stands up to the highest scrutiny.As part of its ongoing commitment to sustainability, biodiversity and the environment, the Cashel Palace Hotel has officially declared a Conservation Area for the Native Irish Black Honey Bee. Cashel Palace’s gardens are proud to be part of the All Ireland Pollinator Programme, overseen by their Head Gardener.
In 2024, they introduced hives to the slopes of the Rock of Cashel, under the stewardship of the team at Galtee Honey, to help efforts to protect the native Irish Bee and produce honey for their kitchens. This honey bee is part of the Dark European Honey Bee subspecies that evolved in northwestern Europe. Scientific research conducted by LIT & NUIG confirmed unambiguously in 2018 that Ireland's population is genetically distinctive. This distinctiveness contributes to the traits that make the honey bee best adapted to Ireland's climate and weather patterns. Honey bees mate in the open, outside of beekeepers' control, making the native black honey bee vulnerable to external threats, principally hybridisation with non-native honey bees. For this reason, the Dark European Honey Bee is now extinct in most of its native range of North West Europe.
The island of Ireland is its last stronghold in Europe. Devised by the Native Irish Honey Bee Society, designation of Conservation Areas is a vital tool in saving it from extinction. The Native Irish Honey Bee is accorded special protection by creating a safe haven to breed without fear of interbreeding with non-native honey bees. While declaring the conservation area, The Cashel Palace has provided a site for the propagation of this precious genetic resource. The field where they are situated will also be rewilded benefiting other pollinators including bumblebees and solitary bees. This will be in line with action points within the All Ireland Pollinator Plan. Honey bees can fly up to 5 kilometres and will collect typically Irish honey from wildflowers such as blackberry, clover, hawthorn and ivy.
About Cashel Palace:
Set within a magnificent Palladian manor, built in 1732, Cashel Palace has been meticulously restored to create a truly desirable destination hotel in the heart of Ireland and opened its doors in March 2022. Optimally located between town and countryside, the five-star property epitomizes the finest of Irish hospitality set in the shadow of the iconic Rock of Cashel in Tipperary. A proud Relais & Chateaux member, Cashel Palace’s dining offering delivers a deep connection to the local Golden Vale. In 2023, Cashel Palace was awarded Best Hotel and Guesthouse Restaurant for the Bishop’s Buttery in the Irish Restaurant Awards, and in 2024, the Bishop’s Buttery proudly received a Michelin Star. Cashel Palace Hotel is one of the inaugural recipients in Ireland to receive Two Michelin Keys for ‘Exceptional Stays’ while being recognized in Conde Nast Traveler’s Hot List and Travel + Leisure’s It List. For more information, visit cashelpalacehotel.ie.
Volcanoes Safaris
Volcanoes Safaris has been at the forefront of reviving gorilla and chimpanzee ecotourism from its five luxury lodges in Uganda and Rwanda since 1997 for over twenty-five years. Established in 2009, the Volcanoes Safaris Partnership Trust (VSPT) is a non-profit organization that connects five luxury lodges to the neighboring communities and conservation activities. Guests can participate in give back activities and a portion of proceeds from each trip goes to the VSPT. The Volcanoes Safaris Partnership Trust aims to create long-term, self-sustaining projects that enrich the livelihoods of local communities, promote the conservation of the great apes, restore natural habitats and work with communities and institutions to reduce human-wildlife conflict. Bwindi Bar, near Bwindi Lodge, provides training in hospitality to local disadvantaged youths. The Gahinga Batwa Village, a permanent village for one of the oldest surviving indigenous people in the Central African Forest, the Mount Gahinga Batwa Community, was officially opened in 2018 in Gahinga, Uganda. The Kyambura Gorge Eco-tourism Project was launched in 2019. VS and VSPT have been working to safeguard the gorge ecosystem for over 10 years, and today are the largest single stakeholder in the gorge ecosystem after the Uganda Wildlife Authority. The Kyambura Lion Monitoring Project, launched in 2023, contributes to large carnivore conservation in Queen Elizabeth National Park through wildlife monitoring and annual surveys, education and training for young Ugandans in ecotourism and conservation, and by responding to human/wildlife conflict incidents. Lodge guests can participate by tracking their GPS on a game drive and taking identification photos of lions, which are then submitted to our wildlife team to form part of the census.
About Volcanoes Safaris
Volcanoes Safaris is recognized as the leader in great ape ecotourism specializing in mountain gorilla and chimpanzee trekking in Rwanda and Uganda since 1997. Its five boutique safari lodges offer a seamless safari to experience the unique gorilla, chimpanzee, and wildlife of the Albertine Rift in comfort and style. Guests can also experience and take part in the eco-tourism and conservation efforts designed around and with the local communities, developed by the Volcanoes Safaris Partnership Trust (VSPT).
REYA is proud to work with several exclusive use properties that operate off-grid and promote low impact travel to their destinations.
Casa Bellamar
Casa Bellamar is a luxurious, off-grid beachfront villa in Los Cabos, Mexico, offering an exclusive blend of privacy, comfort, and sustainability. Set on two acres with over 400 feet of ocean frontage, this solar-powered retreat features a main house and four guest casitas with eight bedrooms and nine-and-a-half bathrooms, accommodating up to 18 guests. Amenities include a heated mosaic-tile pool, swim-up bar, palapas, private gym, tennis court, beauty salon and breathtaking ocean views. Guests enjoy world-class service with a private chef, butler, and driver, making it ideal for an all-inclusive experience. Part of Destinations in Paradise, Casa Bellamar’s commitment to sustainability includes solar power, clean water production, and lush landscaped gardens, while its inclusive team ensures every stay is warm, welcoming, and unforgettable.
About Destinations in Paradise
Destinations in Paradise is a refined collection of privately owned luxury villas located in some of the world’s most breathtaking coastal destinations: Hawaii’s Big Island, East Cape Los Cabos, and Mendocino, California. Each property offers a distinct experience—ranging from clifftop seclusion to beachfront elegance—designed for families, long-term travelers, and milestone escapes. With local management partners and flexible service options, Destinations in Paradise redefines luxury travel through personalized stays that blend natural beauty, comfort, and curated hospitality.
Cabane Tortin
Europe’s first high altitude luxury cabin experience, Cabane Tortin, set 3,000 meters above Switzerland’s legendary 4 Vallées, redefines the Alpine cabin tradition—rooted in camaraderie, adventure, and rustic simplicity—by elevating it to a new level of luxury and purpose. Designed by the award-winning architect Snorre Stinessen, Cabane Tortin has been built entirely off-grid and operates with a philosophy of minimal environmental impact. Water is harvested from a natural spring high in the rock face above; extensive use of glass captures natural light and warmth; solar panels and a pellet-fuelled burner provide energy efficiency and locally sourced stone and timber blend seamlessly into the natural surroundings offering a green responsible mountain retreat.
About Cabane Tortin
Cabane Tortin is an exclusive-use luxury ski chalet at an altitude unmatched in the Alps. Set at 3,000 meters high on the Tortin Glacier and accessible only by gondola, ski, or snowmobile, it offers endless powder, sweeping views, and skies alive with stars untouched by light. Inside, refined design and warmth define the experience—panoramic great rooms, a walnut-lined sauna, and thoughtful details throughout. A private chef, concierge, and expert mountain guides shape each stay with seamless care, allowing families and friends to share rare time together in complete privacy. More than a chalet, Cabane Tortin is a place where adventure, elegance, and intimacy come together to create a winter experience unlike any other.
Cheetah Plains
Cheetah Plains, the award-winning eco-luxury safari retreat in South Africa’s celebrated Sabi Sand Nature Reserve, is recognized for redefining sustainable luxury with its exclusive-use villas and zero-emission safaris. The Cheetah Plains hospitality and safari experiences are operated through clean energy solutions. All guest accommodations (Villas and Private Guest Bush Suites) are entirely off-grid, harnessing only the power of solar to provide a reliable, renewable energy source. A bold advance toward zero-emission game viewing is what drives the sustainable safari experience at Cheetah Plains. The twice-daily game drives that traverse over 20,200+ acres are taken in innovative Toyota Land Cruiser Electric Safari Vehicles powered by Tesla batteries that are recharged through solar energy. The quiet, smooth gait of the Land Cruiser Electric Vehicles deliver the highest quality wildlife sightings and include eight comfortable bucket seats, individually set at the optimal recline of 11 degrees, USB ports, and heated seats. Their unobtrusive nature facilitates the most silent approach by vehicle, resulting in an unparalleled safari experience.
About Cheetah Plains:
Opened in 2018, Cheetah Plains is home to the exclusive-use luxury villa and sustainable safari experience nestled in South Africa’s most celebrated wildlife area, the Sabi Sand Nature Reserve. The eco-luxe experience includes three private villas with four guest bush suites that accommodate up to eight guests each with its own formal lounge, living and dining areas, expansive swimming pool, and outdoor deck that operates off-grid. Each villa comes with a complete hospitality team consisting of an accomplished host, butler, culinary team, and spa therapist, as well as an expert field guide and tracker dedicated to you for the duration of your stay. Families and children of all ages are welcome to experience their own personalized safari, guided bush walks, wellness offerings, fitness gym, and tailored activities for kids. Cheetah Plains sets the standard in South Africa for zero-emission game-viewing utilizing its own fleet of solar-charged Land Cruiser Electric Safari vehicles. A luxury sustainable safari that is beyond expectations.
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