During our first year as signatory to the United Nations Global Compact (UNGC) we have formally commenced our journey to make the Global Compact and its principles part of the strategy, culture and day-to-day operations of our company, and playing our part in advancing the broader development goals of the United Nations.

We recognize that a key requirement for participation in the UN is the annual submission of a Communication on Progress that describes our company’s efforts to implement the UNGC Ten Principles.

In compiling our inaugural Communication on Progress, we are encouraged by the fact that

the philosophies that have been enshrined in the company’s 45-year old foundations also embody many UNGC principles – they are simply the way we have always operated. Key activities and achievements that demonstrate our commitment to supporting the UNGC

principles this year include:

• Establishing the Worldwise Committee to develop and implement our Responsible Travel Charter and commitments to the UNGC;
• Appointing a network of Worldwise ambassadors to assist in the education of our colleagues and customers throughout our retail and corporate businesses plus our head offices across Australia;
• Conducting an audit of over 10,000 of our suppliers to assess animal welfare practices in accordance with Association of British Travel Agents (ABTA) guidelines and implementing the recommendations of that audit;
• Partnering with ReThink Orphanages Network in the journey to remove orphanage visits from tourism;
• Furthering our efforts to support strong representation of women in senior leadership roles and continuing to advance diversity at all levels of the organisation;
• Establishing a working group to establish environmentally sustainable best practice across
• our organisation;
• Forming a strong partnership with an Indigenous group to help develop and promote Indigenous cultural tourism both domestically and internationally;
• Escorting the first Flight Centre Travel Group cohort with Cambodian Children’s Trust (CCT) to increase awareness of the child protection issues of orphanage tourism;
• Further strengthening the Flight Centre Foundation’s 5-year partnership with Australia’s largest food relief organization, Foodbank, to help end hunger in Australia; and
• Continuing our active engagement with our charity partnerships around the world to drive real impact.

In our first year we have already witnessed some remarkable progress on our Responsible Travel journey, among others, and we look forward next year to updating on our continued delivery of our UNGC commitments. We are proud to share with you our first Communication on Progress.