FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Wildland Adventures

CONTACT: Kurt Kutay, President

TEL: 800-345-4453

E-MAIL: kurt@wildland.com

WEBSITE: http://www.wildland.com/

Click here for Media Kit.

SEATTLE—Wildland Adventures recently contributed to an annual scholarship fund sponsored by Snohomish County Peace Action to help provide an alternative to military service for low income high school graduates who would rather attend college and enter careers that will uplift and unite the community.

“With well-funded military recruiters working inside our high schools and colleges, this endeavor supports and encourages our young people to think about how they can bring more peace to our community and to the world,” said Kurt Kutay, President of Wildland Adventures, a Seattle-based adventure travel company, and father of a 16-year old high school student.

Chloe Beardsley of Edmonds, Washington earned a $1,000 award from the combined donations of two travel companies, Wildland Adventures and Rick Steve’s Back Door Travel, for her essay describing how international travel contributes to world peace.  

In her essay, Beardsley writes, "Interaction with different cultures is part of growing up and learning how the world works. We're here on this earth to learn more about each other." Click to read the full essay.

After graduating from Meadowdale High School in June, she enrolled to take classes at Edmonds Community College. Her goal is to transfer to Washington State University to study broadcast journalism, a field Beardsley became interested in two years ago when she and her family were featured in a TV news story after losing their home to a fire.

Since the company attended the first conference of the International Institute for Peace Through Tourism (IIPT) in Vancouver, Canada, 20 years ago, Wildland Adventures has conducted its tours on the premise that all travelers can be ambassadors for peace by building understanding and tolerance between individuals and nations. “The travel industry must consider and understand how travel impacts tourists, their hosts, the natural environment and cultural traditions,” Kutay says.

From its beginning in 1986, the IIPT has sought to stimulate the creative thinking of future industry leaders regarding the potential for tourism to be a vital force for peace and sustainability.  In November 2000, Wildland Adventures’ Middle East Program Director, Anne Morrison represented Wildland Adventures at the Global Summit on International Peace Through Tourism in Amman, Jordan where she was presented the King Hussein Peace Through Tourism Award for her treatise  on "Building a Culture of Peace Through Tourism”. 

“Travel professionals should accept the responsibility of creating and supporting thoughtful journeys that lead to building a culture of peace through tourism,” wrote Morrison. She cites an example of North American travelers visiting rural environments in Turkey, a predominantly Moslem country surrounded by war. “In a rural Turkish village, the owner of a large house opened his home to small groups of foreign visitors for overnight stays.  His motivation was not merely financial gain.  He was also genuinely interested in exposing his rather isolated community to thoughtful people from the outside world.  Likewise, he felt it was important that travelers see and experience the life and hospitality of ordinary Turks.  A walk around the village to visit the local weavers, farmers, marketplace and coffeehouse is a simple and unique experience that advances cultural understanding.”

Louis D'Amore, the founding president of the International Institute of Peace through Tourism was commissioned by the Canadian government to develop a code of ethics and guidelines for sustainable tourism that have become an international model.

"World leaders are now beginning to realize that if we want peace, we must prepare for peace. And if we are to prepare for peace, we must have, and share, a common, positive vision of peace," says D'Amore, who is passionate about bridging the "have, have-not" regions of the world, healing the wounds of conflict and building an educational network for a culture of peace through tourism that applies to tour guides, travel agents, and both business and holiday travelers.

"The tourism industry has the potential to become the world's first ‘Peace Industry’; an industry that recognizes, promotes and supports the belief that every traveler is potentially an Ambassador for Peace."

Further Information:

Wildland Adventures: http://www.wildland.com/

International Institute for Peace Through Tourism: http://www.iipt.org/

Chloe Beardsley’s Essay: International Travel Contributes To Peace

Anne Morrison’s Essay: "Building a Culture of Peace Through Tourism” (available on request)

Images: Pictures of Kurt Kutay, Louis D'Amore, Chloe Beardsley and Anne Morrison are available on request.

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