An ethical travel expert from York is on a highly personal mission to revolutionise the tourism industry.
Darren Taylor, newly appointed chief operations officer at online Pure Breaks, hopes a new era of travel will see tourists paying more attention to who exactly benefits from the money spent on holidays.
He said remote destinations around the planet have been crippled by Covid and desperately need ethical travel operators who ensure the majority of funds go to locations, rather than various intermediaries based in other countries.
Read more: Yorkshire: ‘What an opportunity awaits this summer’ – tourism chief gees up sector for golden season
The 41-year-old, who lives in Acomb, is also aiming to bring a new era of sustainable tourism to Mauritius, driven by personal devotion to the island of his mother’s birth.
She was paralysed by illness while he was at university in Leeds, and he found a love of traveling to help her see more of the world through his eyes.
Following graduation, he spent seven years travelling the world, exploring wilderness destinations by train, bus, rickshaw and bicycle, sending back shoeboxes full of photos and memorabilia to help his mother to share his experiences.
In 2007 he spent six months in his motherland and set up one of the very first eco-tourism operations there. Since then, he has worked with large agencies, international tour operators, hotels and hostels around the world.