All About B Tourism: B Corps Like UnTours Shaping the Travel Industry

B Tourism is a global network of nearly 250 Certified B Corporations and other conscious travel companies that take collective action for environmental and social justice.

Inspired by the operational transparency and overall credibility of B Corp Certification, the B Tourism platform exists to (1) shape the industry of tourism for the better, and (2) support travelers who are driven by their values.

First, B Tourism provides resources for companies striving to align with sustainable tourism, regenerative tourism, conscious travel, and other aligned movements looking to create positive impact. It exists to be a welcoming space where the hospitality industry and tourism community can come together to share best practices, helpful guidance, and informative resources while showing stakeholders that they place value on the triple bottom line (people, planet, prosperity). B Tourism also promotes partnerships among its members in order to catalyze collective action for people and planet.

Second, the platform also exists to help travelers enjoy vacation experiences that embody interdependence and interconnectedness, promoting tourism as a force for good so that travelers can cultivate connections with themselves, one another, nature, culture, and a new way of seeing things while supporting companies that align with their values.

The goals of B Tourism broadly are to encourage travel that regenerates ecosystems and creates harmony, to use travel and tourism as a force for good, and to align travel dollars with values.

Origins of B Tourism

B Tourism was created out of a desire to transform tourism to a more regenerative industry and align all B Corps in travel. In 2020, the organization pivoted its role in response to the devastating impact on the industry caused by COVID-19. It served as a support network to convene the hospitality industry and tourism community for collective action to protect people’s livelihoods, facilitate business continuity, and mobilize support in response to the pandemic.

Now, recent global events are shaping how B Tourism holds space to collectively consider how exactly tourism can be a force for good when borders close or when natural disasters strike. The group focuses on continuous work and pivoting to serve its members with what is needed at any specific time.

B Tourism is one of B Lab’s “Community Networks” available to B Corps. Community Networks are self-organized groups connecting on role, affinity group, impact area, or industry where members can engage with other thought leaders and dreamers about things they want to see change in the business world and beyond. All Community Networks are self-organized and led by leaders from within the B Corp community. B Tourism is an initiative of the For Good Movement, a nonprofit that exists to use the power of business as a force for good.

B Tourism Members

We want to highlight just a few members of B Tourism to give you an idea of what leading companies in this industry are working on in order to build a more regenerative future for travel.

• UnTours:  The world’s very first B Corp (who we proudly own!) specializing in slow travel experiences in destinations across Europe. UnTours exists to foster a healthy and healing society that unites people of different cultures and reconnects people to each other and the earth.
• MaCher:  MaCher uses data and academic research to design and manufacture sustainable branded products including bags, gifts and packaging. One of their main product categories is travel, creating sustainable, custom travel accessories with travel brands to build customer loyalty and brand awareness. MaCher also has made a generous contribution to our foundation’s Reset Tourism Fund to invest in other leading travel businesses!
• Vamos Expeditions:  Vamos Expeditions operates unique expert-led experiences to less-crowded sites, offering its diversity of hikers, food lovers, and all kinds of adventurers a real connection with the culture and history of destinations across South America while enhancing the lives of local people and the conservation of natural and cultural heritage. The UnTours Foundation is proud to have made an investment into Vamos Expeditions to help scale their impact.
• Legacy Vacation Resorts:  Legacy Vacation Resorts provides vacation experiences for families and friends to make meaningful memories in a manner that respects the environment and uplifts their communities and employees. As the US’s first multi-state B Corp resort hospitality company, Legacy Vacation Resorts is a collaborative steward of the hospitality industry, using compassion, interdependence, and positive impact to educate other industry members about and drive sustainable economic development. Their CEO, Jared Meyers, has been instrumental in forming and growing B Tourism.

Check out all the B Corps shaping industries around the world here.

Get Involved

• To become a member of B Tourism, a company must apply and pledge to:
• Participate in monthly global impact meetings
• If not yet B Corp certified, measuring its social and environmental impact through the B Impact Assessment
  Incorporate regenerative tourism practices into its operations and share how the company positively impacts its travelers, communities, and other stakeholders including the natural environment
• Seek ways to get involved in the B Tourism community
• Keep climate justice, social justice, community-enhancing tourism, culture/history, and stakeholder equity at the forefront of your company’s decisions

 

PHOTO: The UnTours and UnTours Foundation team is enjoying a retreat at the new UnTours destination, Costa Rica, in 2024!