The launch of two fully electric “silent science boats” by HX Expeditions offers guest scientists and travellers the ability to study marine life “with minimal disturbance.”

The new MK 5 vessels are equipped with RAD Propulsion’s RAD 40 drive system which the company described as “the most advanced electric drives on the market”. They will be deployed aboard HX’s MS Fram and hybrid-battery-powered MS Fridtjof Nansen, operating across the Arctic and Antarctic.

Both will serve as platforms for scientific research and as tools for guest-led science activities, aligning with HX’s mission to combine exploration with environmental stewardship by reducing reliance on traditional petroleum-based engines.

“Sound pollution is one of the most underestimated environmental impacts in these polar regions,” Dr. Verena Meraldi, HX’s Chief Scientist, said. “For wildlife under the surface—especially whales—noise can mean the difference between thriving and struggling. With these silent boats added to our hybrid-electric ships, we’re not just enhancing the experience for our guest scientists and guests; we’re reducing our environmental footprint in the places that need it most.”

Meanwhile, renowned marine scientist and HX Guest Scientist Dr. Ari Friedlaender highlighted how the new vessels will transform research conditions. “The silence of these vessels compared to traditional engines allows us to approach wildlife with far less disturbance, making our observations more natural,” he said. “It’s a game-changer for science in these remote environments.”

The new electric Zodiacs comply with IAATO (International Association of Antarctica Tour Operators) regulations and meet all safety and environmental standards. HX COO Iain McNeill described the launch as “the beginning of a fleet-wide transformation. “The long-term goal: to fully replace traditional combustion engine Zodiacs with clean, electric alternatives across the HX fleet,” he said.

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A new economic study has revealed the positive impact of Hurtigruten’s Norwegian coastal voyages, demonstrating how responsible cruise tourism can be a powerful force for local economic growth when sustainability and local value creation are prioritised.

The “Ripple Report,” conducted by Menon Economics, found that Hurtigruten and its guests contribute NOK 2.6 billion (approximately $398 million) annually through the purchase of goods and services along Norway’s coast. In 2024, nearly 200,000 guests travelled with the cruise line, generating 684,000 guest nights and supporting over 4,000 jobs nationwide.

“Tourism should be more than sightseeing. It must create value, jobs, and a positive impact on the communities it touches,” said Hurtigruten CEO Hedda Felin. “Our carefully managed approach shows how travel, and especially the cruise industry, can truly support local communities instead of straining or overwhelming them.”

Unlike large cruise ships that concentrate visitors in a few major ports, Hurtigruten’s smaller vessels, carrying around 500 passengers each, visit 34 ports along the Norwegian coast – many in communities with just a few hundred residents. This dispersal ensures tourism revenue is spread more evenly and reaches small businesses directly.

One such example is the village of Kjøllefjord, home to just 1,000 people, where local entrepreneur Jan Olav Evensen, has built a thriving adventure tourism business Arctic Coast in collaboration with Hurtigruten.

“Hurtigruten is the backbone of our operations,” said Evensen. “This partnership has created year-round jobs in local tourism. That’s incredibly important in a fishing village with so few residents.”

The report also highlights 208,000 excursions sold in Northern Norway in 2024, delivered in collaboration with 65 local operators, and over three million meals served onboard using products from 70 regional food and drink suppliers.

Earlier this year, Hurtigruten announced the expansion of its ‘Open Village’ program, which offers guests immersive experiences in remote communities like Træna, Bessaker, and Sæbø. As part of the initiative, the company contributes NOK 250 (around $38) per guest to each host village – a move designed to directly benefit local economies and preserve cultural heritage.

“The example we’re setting here in Norway can inspire change across our entire industry,” Felin added.

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Hurtigruten is set to make industry history on 29 October 2025 by embarking on its first climate-neutral biofuel sailing. Renowned for having one of the longest coastlines in the world, this groundbreaking 4,000-kilometre round trip will sail along the Norwegian coast from Bergen to Kirkenes and back, underscoring the company’s commitment to innovation and environmental stewardship.

The battery-hybrid ship MS Richard With will depart from Bergen on its regular coastal route, but for this milestone voyage, its tanks will be filled with 100% advanced biofuel.

The journey will be entirely climate neutral, which is the first of its kind on the traditional Bergen to Kirkenes route. Furthermore, the vessel will connect to shore power wherever available during the sailing.

“Our ships already sail on blended biofuel, but for the first time we will carry out the entire sailing on 100% advanced biofuel,” says Hedda Felin, CEO of Hurtigruten. “For us at Hurtigruten, it is important to do what we can to reduce emissions, and this voyage is an example of how biofuel can play a key role in achieving Norway’s climate goals.”

Major emissions cuts

Since 2022, Hurtigruten has invested €100m in technical and environmental upgrades to its fleet in order to reduce CO2 and NOx emissions. In parallel, the company has gradually phased in the use of biofuels.

This sailing will run on ‘HVO100’ (Hydrotreated Vegetable Oil), which is waste-based advanced biofuel from the energy supplier St1.

“Our long-term vision is to be able to sail completely emission-free in normal operation.”

“Advanced biofuels make it possible to achieve major emission cuts with our existing fleet. This is proven and safe technology, and at the same time can help protect the climate from large emissions created by the construction of new ships,” says Felin.

The biofuel powering Hurtigruten’s voyage is produced from renewable waste materials that are part of the natural cycle, making it inherently climate neutral.

Sea Zero

Hurtigruten is working in parallel with other solutions to reduce emissions, including through the company’s research and development program Sea Zero (launched in March 2022), where the goal is to design a ship that can sail without emissions in normal operation.

The project is a collaboration between Hurtigruten, Sintef and several other partners in the Norwegian maritime industry.

“Looking further into the future, we want to build new ships that reduce the total energy demand by 40 to 50 percent. We can then sail on batteries as the main source of energy, assisted by a number of innovative solutions such as sails, air lubrication of hulls, more efficient design and contra-rotating propellers,” Felin concluded.

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Greater understanding is required around tourism’s role in driving lasting community development and real conservation impact in South Africa, according to Sabi Sabi Collection Marketing Director Jacques Smit.

Speaking during a recent media event in Sydney, Smit stressed that tourism is more than just a leisure activity. He described it as “not just a revenue stream but a lifeline” for the people and ecosystems surrounding the Sabi Sabi Game Reserve.

The statement comes at a time when travellers are increasingly seeking more meaningful and ethical travel experiences, particularly in the wake of the pandemic. The reserve, which managed to continue operations and fund community initiatives during global lockdowns, is now using its platform to advocate for deeper, more sustainable forms of giving back.

“None of what we do in the community is possible without tourism,” Smit said. “Conservation without funding is only conversation.”

Sabi Sabi’s long-term commitment to its surrounding communities was particularly evident during the pandemic, when it resisted retrenchments and continued to support staff and local projects. “We guaranteed everybody’s jobs,” Smit said, noting that this stability has since inspired a new generation to view tourism not just as a job, but as a career path.

The reserve runs several year-long academies designed to train local youth in hospitality, wildlife guiding, and culinary skills. But beyond skills development, the reserve’s approach is grounded in community-led decision-making.

“Rather than us deciding what is needed, we’d like to go to the community and find out. That makes a difference for them,” Smit said, citing an example where the local school had no chairs, prompting the reserve to supply them based on feedback from teachers.

While there’s been an uptick in guests asking to volunteer or donate in person, a broader, more long-term approach is often required. “People say, ‘Can I paint a classroom?’” Smit pointed out. “It’s already been painted ten times. What we actually need is funding that allows projects to be sustainable.”

Sabi Sabi Collection encourages travellers to support through presence – by visiting lodges that reinvest tourism income directly into their surrounding communities. “By travelling to these places, you actually are making a huge difference,” he said.

Each of its properties will channel funding into the Sabi Sabi Foundation, whose efforts cover a wide range of essential services, from clean water access to healthcare support and female hygiene initiatives. The goal, according to Smit, is not charity but empowerment, driven by consistent, tourism-fuelled income.

As the reserve prepares to expand its footprint with new properties in Cape Town and northern South Africa, Smit’s message remains consistent: responsible tourism can fund real change.

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Members and partners of Signature Travel Network raised over three-quarters of a million dollars at the network’s Owners’ Meeting last week in San Diego. Through silent and live auctions and other donation methods, the nearly 500 attendees raised about US$763,000, with all proceeds going to the Global Impact Grant Program operated by Signature’s nonprofit arm, Travel Elevates.

Since 2019, Travel Elevates has given 20 global grants worth US$1.5 million, along with US$645,000 in emergency relief. The Global Impact Grant Program has helped more than 25,000 students and teachers, built four technology centres, and assisted in the start-up of seven small businesses, mainly by women entrepreneurs.

An Updated Mission

This ambition to serve and better the communities in which it sends travellers has led Signature to update its mission statement, CEO Alex Sharpe announced to Owners’ Meeting attendees.

Previously comprising “to serve our members by creating industry-leading technology, marketing and training programs, while building strong preferred partnerships that deliver a differentiated travel experience,” the statement has been amended with an additional sentence:

“Though our nonprofit, Travel Elevates, we further this mission by serving global communities with positive impact travel.”

Vicky Gallion, Communications & Development Manager for Travel Elevates, told LATTE that Signature will fully integrate Travel Elevates into its DNA “100%.”

Sharpe noted that the mission is beneficial twofold: one, it’s the right thing to do for these destinations and their community and, two, it’s simply good for business. He explained that Travel Elevates is a big reason why many employees of Signature enjoy working at the company so much.

Gallion said this is even more important to Signature’s younger employees. She explained that the mindset of the network’s Gen Z employees—when it comes to programs that give back—is: “do you walk the walk or not?” They don’t want to hear about “someday;” it’s a requirement.

And, as Sharpe added, “If people are joining our team because they want to make an impact, would it be easier for you to recruit advisors if you had something that was meaningful [to offer them]? Would it make it easier for you to recruit customers because you have something meaningful?”

A Positive Impact—for Communities and Travellers

The launch of Travel Elevates and the subsequent integration into Signature’s operations has been a long time coming, said Nina Patel, Founder and Meaningful Travel Specialist with Vacations That Matter.

Patel said her family’s past trips stood out most for the impact they created. “The immersion was so impactful that when we came back from a trip, that was the highlight,” she told LATTE. “It wasn’t the sites, it wasn’t the hotel, it wasn’t the beaches—although all of that mattered. Long after, when we look back, it was the impact that we made that was the most memorable part of the trip.”

Since launching her agency in 2011, Patel has noticed a serious shift in the way clients have considered positive impact travel. Back then, at best, it was only about “voluntourism”—travellers in search of a free trip. Now, “clients are gaining more knowledge and are asking for more sustainable and eco-conscious” experiences.

Pack for a Purpose—founded in 2009 and acquired by Signature in 2024—first changed how Patel’s clients traveled by encouraging them to get more financially and emotionally involved. “It’s about education, it’s about the journey and it’s clearly about evolving—and in a very positive way,” said Patel.

Connecting the Dots

A major focus of Gallion’s, Travel Elevates’ and Signature’s is making sure these grants are not a one-and-done-type of situation. They want to ensure that the money is continually reinvested into the community, focusing more on improving and less on sustaining. Hence the network’s focus on “positive impact” travel versus “sustainable” travel.

“At Regionals, I was able to unveil that we are going back to all our grantees and we’re asking them to step up—and they all are,” said Gallion. What does this mean? “They are going to make themselves available as a point person—almost a concierge” for travel advisors who are (or whose clients are) traveling to their destination to assist in booking on-the-ground tours and volunteer experiences.

The reaction from advisors at those Regionals? Gallion said, “They just got so excited.” They must all know what Patel knows: these types of experiences make the most lasting impact for travellers (as well as those in the destination).

An integration into SigNet will allow Travel Elevates to offer these types of experiences the way Pack for a Purpose works within the network. When a Signature advisor goes to log an itinerary for a client, they will be able to see what grant recipients are located in the destination and how their clients can give back in a meaningful way.

“We’re going to connect the dots for them and make positive impact travel even easier,” said Gallion.

Patel added: “I think it’s the perfect resource. I used to have to do this research on my own,” vetting each individual foundation, which she said “was the most critical thing, because you don’t know what you don’t know.” This takes the guesswork out of it and provides confidence that she isn’t sending her clients to something that looks “great on the outside, but then you show up and it’s something completely different.”

A Lasting Impact

What Signature hopes is that this creates a ripple effect among travellers. Gallion explained that Signature hopes travelers will join a Travel Elevates experience once they learn how they can help on the ground—but she added the network would be just as happy if travelers find their own meaningful ways to support the community.

The goal, said Gallion, is to stay connected to these communities perhaps for years after Travel Elevates’ initial grant offering.

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Tourism Cares, a leading non-profit dedicated to advancing sustainability within the tourism industry, and the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT), have kicked off its week-long Global Meaningful Travel Summit in Bangkok and Krabi. As the host destination for 2025, Thailand is showcasing its leadership in community-based and sustainable tourism, welcoming more than 40 travel and tourism executives, advisors and industry associations to exchange insights and commit to action.

Now in its fifth year, the Tourism Cares Global Meaningful Travel Summit strengthens sustainable supply chain development, creates new opportunities for local businesses and educates the industry on responsible standards and best practices in sustainable tourism.

As part of the Summit this year, Tourism Cares and TAT will focus on four key areas:

• Community impact: Illuminating how Thai organizations are using tourism to drive positive environmental, cultural and social impact.
• Educational exchange: Tackling global sustainability issues through a local lens of Thai speakers and panelists who are championing destination stewardship, cultural heritage and responsible travel.
• Immersive experiences: Building connections between the travel trade and local partners via meaningful tours and visits in Bangkok and Krabi.
• Pledge-driven outcomes: Encouraging attendees to commit to actions that drive long-term positive change for their companies and destinations where they send or host travelers.

The Global Meaningful Travel Summit also highlights the evolving role of public-private partnerships between government, the travel industry and suppliers. Local partners—from grassroots organizations and small businesses to representatives from Thailand’s tourism sector—will share practical insights on stewardship and meaningful travel.

Putting Thailand’s People on the Map

Over the past two years, TAT has invested in its commitment to sustainable tourism by partnering with Tourism Cares on initiatives that will generate long-term positive impact for its country.

In 2023, TAT launched its Tourism Cares Meaningful Travel Map of Thailand, which highlights vetted, sustainable enterprises, products, services, accommodations, and tours across the country. Today, the Meaningful Travel Map of Thailand includes more than 45 organizations across the country that work to focus on cultural heritage, environmental conservation and regenerative practices.

As part of the Global Summit, attendees will engage with several of the Map’s featured partners through immersive tours and experiences, including Bang Korbua Community Tourism Club, Ban Nai Nang Community, Laem Sak Community, Patom Organic Living, Poomjai Garden and the Varana Hotel.

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