Booking Cares Fund Award-Winner, Xun Ji, To Support Chinese Travellers With A Disability

Amsterdam 3rd May 2018. Booking Cares Fund announces its first ever recipients.

One of the five winners, Influencer and ENAT Member, Xun Ji, will develop a database and WeChat service portal to provide accessible tourism information, services and cultural experience opportunities for Chinese travellers with a disability and people over 60.

Booking Cares Fund writes:

"After the successful launch of the Booking.com Booster in 2017, which supports sustainable tourism scale-ups to grow their impact and business, the Booking Cares Fund was created to further drive innovation in sustainable tourism by supporting dream projects in the non-profit realm."

"We received hundreds of applications from all over the world, and awarded grants to 5 projects that really stood out. Their ideas represent a diverse mix, from launching a cutting-edge hospitality school for unemployed women in South Africa, to building a WeChat app for information on accessible travel; each of these projects is driving innovation in sustainable tourism and makes a truly positive impact on the industry."

The five awarded projects and their respective NGO support teams are: 

• The Jordan Trail - with Jordan Trail
• Blue Habits - with Oceanic Society
• Rare & Roll - with European Network for Accessible Tourism - ENAT
• The Million Gallon Challenge - with Hostelling International USA
• Khwela Tourism Stars - with Khwela Academy

All the grant recipients came together in Amsterdam for a two-day programme consisting of workshops and Booking.com mentorship to help grow their impact.

Commenting on the Award to Xun Ji, Ivor Ambrose, Managing Director of ENAT stated: 

"This is a great award for a very worthy recipient. Xun Ji has done really well to make her innovative project stand out amid strong competition.

She has presented a convincing plan to engage with Chinese domestic and outbound tour operators to raise their awareness about the untapped revenue and the enormous social benefits that can come from addressing this overlooked market.

As an experienced world traveller with a rare disease herself, and with her large following on social media, Xun Ji expresses not only the dream but also the reality of how tourism can become accessible for all.

We are especially thrilled to be working with Xun Ji on this project, which also falls in the 2018 EU-China Tourism Year, so the timing could not be better, as ENAT invites cooperation with state and private enterprises in the Chinese tourism sector."          

Further details of all the projects will be available at Booking Cares Website in due course.