Prince Harry to launch sustainable tourism project after criticism over use of private jet

Prince Harry will launch a major project today to promote a more sustainable approach to tourism across the world.

His new charity foundation has teamed up with some of the biggest international travel companies to encourage passengers and tourists to think about the impact they are having on ecosystems, communities, wildlife and pollution.

He travelled to Amsterdam yesterday - on a commercial flight - to announce the campaign which has been two years in the making.

He will not call on people to travel less but instead to think about the impact of their actions.

Prince Harry will launch a major project to promote a more sustainable approach to tourism across the world. Credit: PA

Harry will talk about the benefits that travel can bring – like a better understanding of other people and different cultures - but he wants to ensure local communities are not overlooked and local habitats are not destroyed in the process.

The Duke of Sussex is concerned that the work he’s has put into this project risks being undone after the recent criticisms of the way he and his wife Meghan travelled by private jet to their summer vacations in Ibiza and the South of France.

The Duke is likely to address that particular matter in his speech today.

A royal source said that “it’s not been lost on him” that the private jet issue might overshadow this campaign – the first for Harry and Meghan’s new Sussex Foundation.

The Sussexes have been stung by the criticisms of their choice of aircraft for their summer holiday – and several of their friends and celebrities leapt to their defence immediately when their travel plans were revealed.

After Harry and Meghan’s recent high profile campaigns on the environment and climate change, they left themselves open to the charge of hypocrisy.

Unsurprisingly, Prince Harry did not travel to the Netherlands on a private aircraft.

Harry’s new project is being supported by some international travel giants like Booking.com, TripAdvisor, SkyScanner and Visa.

And the key sponsors of the event, have offered to offset the carbon created by each and every participant – including members of the media such as ourselves (in the interests of transparency, we are travelling to and from Amsterdam on a commercial flight).

The campaign will attempt to address the pressures created by tourism from the choice of travel and accommodation to the impact on coastlines and habitats.

The Sussexes will highlight this eco-tourism issue in Africa when the couple travel there for their big Royal Tour later this month.

Harry and Meghan and their 4 month old son Archie will tour Cape Town and Johannesburg in South Africa and Harry will also travel alone to Botswana, Angola and Malawi.

The Sussex Foundation will be officially launched next year to spearhead the charity and philanthropic work of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex – after they split from the Royal Foundation they had set up with the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge.

It will have an international focus, and this first project is an example of the kind of work they hope to do with the foundation.

Courtiers never usually comment on the travel plans of members of the Royal Family, but they did reveal how Harry travelled here to ensure the campaign launch was not overshadowed.