Pura Aventura
# Pura Aventura

Pura Aventura is a privately held, sustainable tour operator that offers tailor-made holidays to Spain, Portugal, Latin America, and Antarctica.

In 2020, the company became one of the first UK travel companies to be certified B Corp - the premier sustainability certification only awarded to brands that are legally committed to balancing purpose and profit..and that meet… the highest standards of social and environmental performance.

The company is based in Brighton, East Sussex, UK and has subsidiaries in Chile and Peru.

The company is ATOL and ABTOT protected.

### History

Pura Aventura was founded in 1999 by Diego Martín, Thomas Power, and Xavier Etxarri who met whilst working and travelling in Chilean Patagonia. They created the company as a means of sharing the places they loved. In 1999, the company opened its registered office in Brighton, UK with Thomas Power as CEO, and subsequently began working with friends, partners, and members of the local communities they had met during their travels or began to meet during the early stages of the business.

In 2013, Pura Aventura opened an office in Llanes, located in Spain's Picos de Europa, and in 2016, it opened subsidiaries in Chile (registered in Santiago) and Peru (registered in Cusco) as a means of working directly within the company's destinations and communities. The subsidiaries were created on a co-ownership basis with local partners.

### Travel $Positive^{TM}$ and Sustainable Travel

Pura Aventura is committed to sustainable travel and has been addressing its carbon footprint since July 2019. The company measures the distance travelled by its customers and carbon balances every kilometre travelled by a mile, which equates to a 160% offset. In addition, the company provides 1% of its revenue to the planet and has become the first UK tour operator to carbon label trips, including international flights, and publish the total carbon footprint of each of its trips on its website. These flights routinely account for over 80% of a trip's carbon output. The metrics for the calculations are independently provided by leading carbon consultants and fellow B Corp, C Level.

The Travel Positive initiative focuses on creating exceptional holidays that benefit local communities and the environment. The company is committed to being ATOL and ABTOT protected and offers personalised holidays that limit the number of people sent.

Pura Aventura has received numerous awards and recognitions for its sustainable travel efforts, including the Best Sustainable Luxury Travel Company award and the Silver Award for Best Sustainable Travel Initiative. The company is also a member of the B Corp Climate Collective's Net Zero 2030 and a signatory of the Tourism Declares a Climate Emergency.

In addition to this, the company is working alongside other specialists to achieve Net Zero carbon emissions through its carbon offsetting program, carbon labelling of trips, and support for reforestation projects. Pura Aventura is signed up to Science Based Targets for its reduction strategy.

Travel $Positive^{TM}$ goes beyond carbon to track, and report, the following elements:

* Locally owned hotels
* Number of contracting partners
* Protected areas visited

All three of these elements relate to the concept that tourism can be a force for good where the benefits of travel go as directly as possible into communities - avoiding so-called 'economic leakage' whereby it is often reported that commonly only 5% of money spent in a place actually stays there. By directly contracting micro-enterprises and preferring smaller, local ownership of hotels that percentage rises to 90%+ very quickly.

By having thriving communities benefiting from protected areas, those communities are incentivised to protect their surroundings. In short, tourism makes sure that the trees are worth more to them standing up than chopped down.

### B Corp Certification & Travel by B Corp

In November 2020, Pura Aventura became one of the UK's first travel companies to be certified as a B Corp, an independent certification by the non-profit network, B Lab, with a legally binding commitment to balance profit with the interests of people and the planet.

B Corp is a global movement of nearly 4,000 organisations, with combined revenues of $80bn, pursuing purpose as well as profit, and using business as a force for good. Household B Corp names include Patagonia Inc, The Body Shop, Innocent, and Ben & Jerry's.

In March 2021, the company co-founded Travel by B Corp with Intrepid Travel, supported by other like-minded travel companies committed to using business as a force for good.

### Taking Root

Pura Aventura is committed to addressing climate change and has participated in the Taking Root project through the 1% for the Planet scheme. The project involves reforestation, which creates sustainable income opportunities for rural communities and assures the long-term environmental benefit of the investment. The company compensates the total carbon travel footprint of a trip by 160%, balancing every kilometre travelled by a mile from the client's front door and back again. The reforestation project has been responsible for planting 10 million trees worldwide over ten years.

### Recognition and Awards

Pura Aventura has received several recognitions and awards for its sustainable travel efforts, including:

Best Sustainable Luxury Travel Company award

Silver Award for Best Sustainable Travel Initiative

Platinum service awards - 2020, 2021, 2023 - Feefo 5* Platinum Rating

Best Sustainable Travel Company by LUXLIfe magazine in December 2021

One of the The Ten Greatest Holidays of all Time

Eleven sustainable travel companies going the extra, eco-friendly mile - Times Travel (thetimes.co.uk)

10 of the best travel companies committed to climate action | Green travel | The Guardian

### References

* ↑ (en) « Will 2022 be the year sustainable travel goes mainstream? », sur The Independent, 31 mai 2022 (consulté le 16 mars 2023)
* ↑ (en) « Our Story », sur Pura Aventura (consulté le 16 mars 2023)
* ↑ (en) « Seven of the best holidays balancing eco-credentials with a good time », sur The Independent, 29 avril 2022 (consulté le 16 mars 2023)
* ↑ Yorkshire Times, « Pura Aventura Pioneers Carbon Labelling », sur Yorkshire Times (consulté le 16 mars 2023)
* ↑ (en-US) « C Level: Carbon Removal - Balance Your Footprint », sur C Level Carbon Consultancy (consulté le 16 mars 2023)
* ↑ (en-US) « Net Zero 2030 », sur B Corp Climate Collective (consulté le 16 mars 2023)
* ↑ (en-US) « Tourism Declares A Climate Emergency », sur Tourism Declares Climate Emergency (consulté le 16 mars 2023)
* ↑ (en-GB) « Ambitious corporate climate action », sur Science Based Targets (consulté le 16 mars 2023)
* ↑ (en-US) « B Lab Global Site », sur www.bcorporation.net (consulté le 16 mars 2023)
* ↑ (en-US) « Travel by B Corp », sur Travel by B Corp (consulté le 16 mars 2023)
* ↑ (en-CA) « Restoring forests with smallholder farmers », sur Taking Root (consulté le 16 mars 2023)
* ↑ (en) « Seven of the best holidays balancing eco-credentials with a good time », sur The Independent, 29 avril 2022 (consulté le 16 mars 2023)
* ↑ (en-US) « Eleven sustainable travel companies going the extra, eco-friendly mile », sur Times Travel (consulté le 16 mars 2023)
* ↑ (en) Team W et erlust | 02 November 2021, « The Wanderlust Travel Awards 2021: The Results », sur Wanderlust (consulté le 16 mars 2023)
* ↑ (en-GB) « Pura Aventura (2022 Winner: Travel & Tourism Awards) », sur Lux Magazine (consulté le 16 mars 2023)
* ↑ (en-GB) Oliver Smith, « The 10 greatest holidays of all time, according to our experts », The Telegraph,‎ 7 avril 2022 (ISSN 0307-1235, lire en ligne, consulté le 16 mars 2023)
* ↑ (en) Chris Haslam, « Sustainable tourism — now is the time to change the way we travel », {{Article}} : paramètre « périodique » manquant, paramètre « date » manquant (ISSN 0140-0460, lire en ligne, consulté le 16 mars 2023)
* ↑ (en-GB) Lorna Parkes, « 10 travel firms turning green: new initiatives to boost sustainability », The Guardian,‎ 21 avril 2022 (ISSN 0261-3077, lire en ligne, consulté le 16 mars 2023)
