Coming out of the pandemic, companies able to provide creative itineraries that allow for more self-direction along with an authentic commitment to sustainability are likely to win new customers. A recent analysis by McKinsey and Company observed with respect to sustainability: “Travelers are increasingly conscious about the size of their carbon footprint when they travel and may base their travel decisions on environmental issues.”
Predictions like this place companies like Lost Travel, a travel business with an unflinching commitment to both sustainability and adventure, in prime position. Founder Jake Gafner doesn’t sugarcoat reality when describing his company’s philosophy of travel. As the company’s homepage testifies, at Lost Travel they “believe in a good adventure,” the kind of adventures that challenge guests and have “more unknowns than most people can stomach.” With a positioning statement like that, it comes as no surprise that Lost Travel also approaches its sustainability policy with conviction and unflinching gusto, the first in the Tomorrow’s Air collective to commit 2.5 percent of trip revenue to support the scale-up of carbon removal with permanent storage.
Lost Travel offers both guided and unguided trips, and is winning a devoted following through its unconventional approach to exploring rural destinations in the United States. Their “Driftless 250” trip, for example, starts in Madison, Wisconsin, and has guests biking and canoeing - and carrying their own gear, navigating between transitions, and fixing their own flat tires - through the Driftless Region of Southern Wisconsin. On another trip, “Ash to Nash,” guests cycle 350 miles from Asheville, North Carolina over the Appalachian Mountains to Nashville, Tennessee.
Since its inception the company has directed five percent of trip revenues toward local organizations that support conservation projects in the places they visit. The introduction of Tomorrow’s Air and the opportunity to commit money to carbon removal with permanent storage inspired the Lost Travel team to divide their sustainability funding between carbon removal and local organizations. As Jake remarked, “We’re very excited to announce our commitment to remove carbon with Tomorrow’s Air. We've been giving back to the planet since our very first trip. It was really just 6 friends and one tandem bike, royally lost in Wisconsin. We paid our dues to Mother Nature then and we’re continuing that into the future.”
To learn more about how your business can engage with Tomorrow’s Air: contact [email protected].