Capturing The Niche

That's an increasingly common refrain. CC Africa has been offering more than just vacations for over 10 years. With more than 40 high-end camps and lodges across Africa and India, it is a leading operator in sustainable ecotourism, organizing tourists to take walking safaris in the bush and visit local schools and villages. Ron Magill, a 47-year-old media director from the Miami zoo and a longtime champion of the company, is just back from spotting tigers at Mahua Kothi Lodge in Madhya Pradesh, India. "CC Africa is out there to save the environment. They believe if we give back to the local communities, those people will in turn look after the wildlife," he says. "That's the reason I choose them. They build their decks around trees; they don't cut down trees."

Don't discount the luxury, though, says Nicky Fitzgerald, marketing director at CC Africa's Johannesburg headquarters. "Of course, what attracts people to us in the first place is the bedrooms, the plunge pools, the 'best hotel in the world' by Condé Nast," she says. "But then we stand out from the rest by our community work. Our guests can visit clinics and see rows of HIV-positive mothers. More and more, they want to see their dollar making a difference." Often they return home with a new sense of commitment. Magill is currently raising money for a conservation project he witnessed on his India vacation: "I'm getting ready to send $5,000 to a sloth-bear rehabilitation project that I saw when I was out there," he says.

Earthwatch Institute takes interactive conservation even further: it recruits guests to join scientists in field research, like the trips that Hurren took. Such volunteer vacations are competitive with regular vacations; 13 days tracking koalas in Australia costs $2,470—including accommodations, food and activities. Earthwatch Europe has seen a 68 percent rise in volunteers in the last 10 years, and its global repeat rate for guests is 50 percent. Nigel Winser, Earthwatch Europe's executive director, says more people than ever are interested in using their vacation time in other ways. "It's an opportunity to get away, learn about the environment and give something back," he says.

Some tourists prefer to leave the environmental activism to the resorts they choose. Six Senses, which owns nine luxury properties across Asia, is known as one of the top innovators in adopting environmental initiatives. "Every property has its own resident environmentalist, and we're constantly trying out new technology to become more sustainable," says Sonu Shivdasani, who founded the company 12 years ago with his wife, Eva. "We're cultivating dragonflies to kill mosquitoes and cooling villas by pumping cold seawater through fan units. Next year we're opening a luxury ecosuite at Soneva Kiri in Thailand, which will be carbon zero. It will have natural ventilation, solar-powered air conditioning and a small windmill for electricity. That's what we believe 21st-century travelers really want." And if that's what they want, there are plenty of businesses that will be only too happy to give it to them.

© 2007