Skift Take
Tourism has never been a silver bullet for alleviating poverty and it often has adverse consequences. So just how far a push for living wage standards will go remains to be seen.
Intrepid Travel CEO James Thornton says he doesn't just want to pay a so-called living wage - he wants to exceed it. That goes for the company's own employees as well as all the workers involved with its tours and services on five continents.
Wage exploitation is a concern in the tourism industry and Intrepid has been publishing a Modern Slavery statement since 2018 for all countries where it employs staff. It's a requirement for certification as a Benefit Corporation or B Corp, which means companies will commit to using business as a "force for good" by implementing social and environmental standards.
Intrepid's next Modern Slavery statement will be released at the end of June. Together with wage exploitation, the statement looks at goals and outcomes the company has set towards a zero-tolerance approach to forced labor, human trafficking, and child labor.
Thornton said he wants the company to "extend above living wage standards ac