Prince Harry brands tourism a 'double-edged sword' and claims it can harm communities
25 September 2024, 09:05 | Updated: 25 September 2024, 10:47
Prince Harry has branded tourism a “double-edged sword” that can harm communities as he visits New York for a slew of engagements.
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The Duke of Sussex travelled to the city without wife Meghan Markle ahead of the five-year anniversary of his travel sustainability organisation.
The Prince said he came to the conclusion after “conversation and debate around campfires” with people he is “proud to call friends”.
Harry is the founder of Travalyst and this week announced its five-year plan at an event at Climate Week in New York.
The Duke of Sussex said: “I’ve seen first hand how travel and tourism can be a double-edged sword, both a force that has the potential to do tremendous good or, if mismanaged, inflict significant harm.
“These experiences, as well as years of conversation and debate around campfires with experts that I’m proud to call friends, have shaped my understanding of the critical bond between people, wildlife, and the environment we share.”
Young people must be listened to, Harry says on New York trip
He continued: “By 2020, we’re expecting 1.8 billion international arrivals each year, nearly double the numbers we saw just two decades ago.
“That kind of growth can only be sustainable if we prioritise not just profit, but people and places too.”
Harry said his charity strives to “ensure that travel not only sustains communities but helps them thrive”.
Prince Harry’s trip to the Big Apple comes as a US judge confirmed his US visa application would remain private, despite him admitting to taking drugs in his memoir.
Harry's reference to taking cocaine, marijuana and psychedelic mushrooms in his book SPARE prompted a conservative Washington DC think tank to question why he was allowed into the US in 2020.
In his ruling, US judge Carl Nichols said: "The public does not have a strong interest in disclosure of the duke's immigration records".
The judgement continued: "Like any foreign national, the duke has a legitimate privacy interest in his immigration status.
"And the duke's public statements about his travel and drug use did not disclose, and therefore did not eliminate his interest in keeping private, specific information regarding his immigration status, applications, or other materials."
The Heritage Foundation claimed there was "immense public interest" in finding out if Harry’s drug use had played into his visa application.
Judge Nichols went on to say the public's interest in disclosure of Harry's immigration records is "outweighed by the duke's privacy interest".
He said: "Public disclosure of records about a single admission of a foreign national in the circumstances described above would provide the public, at best, limited information about the department's general policy in admitting aliens.
"And the marginal public benefit of knowing that limited information is outweighed by the privacy interest the duke retains in his immigration status and records."
Writing in his bombshell memoir, SPARE, Harry said cocaine "didn't do anything for me", adding: "Marijuana is different, that actually really did help me."
