Prince Harry’s sustainable tourism project Travalyst has announced it has entered an ‘incredibly exciting’ era with a new board of directors – with no mention of the royal.
The independent non-profit organisation based in London was launched by the Duke of Sussex in autumn 2019 when he was still a working royal with wife Meghan Markle.
Harry spent three years as the public face of the initiative to encourage the tourism industry to become more sustainable – despite a furore over his use of private jets.
But he was left out of a major announcement by the group in May about its transition from a ‘pilot phase’ to a new board of five people with ‘world-class expertise’.
Travalyst’s statement was made eight days after Harry and Meghan’s spokesperson said the couple had been involved in a ‘near-catastrophic’ car chase while being followed by paparazzi in New York after the Ms Foundation Women of Vision Awards. The NYPD later seemed to soften the couple’s dramatic account, saying ‘there were no reported collisions, summonses, injuries or arrests’ related to the incident.
Harry, 38, is still in regular contact with the Travalyst chief executive and board behind the scenes and remains committed to it, according to a report in Newsweek.
But it is notable that he was not used as a promotional tool for the revamp – given how prominently he has previously been involved in conferences and marketing.
September 2019 – Prince Harry launches his Travalyst initiative at A’dam Tower in Amsterdam
September 2019 – Harry addresses an audience as he launches Travalyst in Amsterdam
September 2019 – The announcement of Travalyst on the ‘Sussex Royal’ Instagram account
PR expert Eric Schiffer, head of Reputation Management Consultants, said this could be due to the marketing difficulties presented by Harry’s attacks on the Royal Family.
He told Newsweek: ‘He has been a lightning rod for negative news that some brands would rather put their finger in an electric socket than touch.’
Harry launched Travalyst in September 2019 at a time when the couple were facing intense criticism after reportedly taking four private jet journeys in 11 days.
The Duke defended himself at the time , saying ‘no one is perfect’ and that what is important is ‘what we do to balance’ out negative effects.
Harry flew to the Netherlands on a commercial plane for the launch event in Amsterdam, having spent three years working on the initiative which was founded along with brands including Booking.com, Skyscanner, Tripadvisor, Trip.com and Visa.
Then in February 2020, in one of his last events as a working royal before stepping down and moving to the US with Meghan, he spoke at a Travalyst event in Edinburgh in which he memorably asked to be introduced just as ‘Harry’.
The conference was organised for Harry and his Travalyst team to gain feedback from the travel industry on new ideas for sustainability, with about 100 people from the tourism and travel industries invited to join the working summit.
Months later in July that year, he made an opening speech at a virtual global summit for Travalyst, urging the travel industry to ‘build back better’ after the pandemic.
This appearance was notable because it was his first public since a series of royal revelations were published in Omid Scobie and Carolyn Durand’s book Finding Freedom.
February 2020 – Harry at a Travalyst summit at the Edinburgh International Conference Centre
July 2020 – Harry gives a speech at a virtual global summit for Travalyst during the pandemic
The following year, in February 2021, he wrote the foreword to a report by Travalyst in which he suggested that Covid-19 offered the travel industry the chance to ‘jump-start a wholescale realignment’ towards a sustainable future.
And then in May 2022, Harry played a starring role in a sketch for a new initiative in New Zealand for Travalyst in which he jogged through a forest before being accused of dropping a lolly wrapper four years earlier on a trip to the country.
The Duke delivered several phrases in Te Reo Maori for the clip, which he launched on Maori Television’s current affairs programme Te Ao with Moana.
But fast forward 12 months to May 24 this year, and Travalyst announced it was moving into its ‘next phase of growth’ – with no mention of Harry in the press release.
A statement by Travalyst chief executive Sally Davey said the ‘original coalition comprising five founding partners has now almost doubled in size to nine partners with a combined market value of nearly $2trillion’. Among these new partners are Google, which joined in September 2021.
The announcement added: ‘Today we formally mark the end of Travalyst’s pilot phase with the appointment of a new board to govern and guide us on our journey ahead to delivering major positive and system-changing impact.
‘The board is composed of individuals with world-class expertise in impact, systems change, not-for-profit governance, advocacy, and campaigning for a just and sustainable world.’
May 2022 – Harry plays a role in a sketch for a new initiative in New Zealand for Travalyst
The new board members were listed as India Gary-Martin, founder and chief executive of Leadership for Execs; Clea Kaske-Kuck, director for policy, advocacy and member mobilisation at the World Business Council for Sustainable Development; Dr Sally Uren, chief executive of Forum for the Future; James Whiting, chief executive of Doughty Street Chambers; and Henrietta Worthington, lawyer with Vedder Price.
Ms Davey also wrote: ‘This is an incredibly exciting moment for Travalyst and, I believe, for the industry as we stride ahead into our next phase of growth and expansion to ensure our work is freely available to all, used by all and catalyses the positive transformation of the sector.’
The announcement has also not been mentioned in the press releases section of Harry and Meghan’s Archewell website.
May 16, 2023 – Harry and Meghan at the Ms Foundation Women of Vision Awards in New York
May 24, 2023 – Travalyst’s statement about its ‘next phase of growth’, with no mention of Harry
May 26, 2023 – Travalyst chair India Gary-Martin mentions Harry in her Instagram statement
But Harry was given a mention by Ms Gary-Martin, chair of the board, in her own personal Instagram announcement on May 26, in which she said: ‘Really exciting to announce that I’ve accepted the role as the Chair of the board of Travalyst.
‘Founded by Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, we are conveners and drivers of sustainability in travel and tourism working with the world’s biggest corporations to drive standards and make sure we aren’t taking out more than we put in – particularly in the places that are most impacted.’
There have been two further press releases posted on the Travalyst website in 2023, which both simply mention in the ‘about Travalyst’ section at the bottom that the project was ‘founded by Prince Harry, the Duke of Sussex in 2019’
MailOnline has contacted representatives for Travalyst and the Sussexes for comment today. Both declined to comment when contacted by Newsweek.
