It’s sort of funny that one of Prince Harry’s most successful projects, Travalyst, has completely flown under the radar for years. I suspect it’s that way for two reasons: one, the British media doesn’t want to talk about something which became so successful so fast because it’s associated with Harry; and two, the international media doesn’t even associate Harry with Travalyst, meaning Travalyst is so successful without needing a “royal patron” embiggening it or himself. Harry founded Travalyst in 2019 as a way to help tourists navigate their travels and vacations with environmental concerns. As in, Travalyst allows tourists to easily track environmental impact the same way they can track hotel costs or flight availability. Travalyst immediately found corporate partners in Amadeus, Booking.com, Expedia Group, Google, Skyscanner, Travelport, Trip.com Group, Tripadvisor and Visa. Now Travalyst has gotten so big, it needs a board of directors. The Mail wants people to think that’s a bad thing.

Prince Harry’s sustainable tourism project Travalyst has announced it has entered an ‘incredibly exciting’ era with a new board of directors – with no mention of the royal. The independent non-profit organisation based in London was launched by the Duke of Sussex in 2019 when he was still a working royal with wife Meghan Markle. Harry spent three years as the public face of the initiative to encourage the tourism industry to become more sustainable – despite a furore over his use of private jets.

But he was left out of a major announcement by the group in May about its transition from a ‘pilot phase’ to a new board of five people with ‘world-class expertise’. Travalyst’s statement was made eight days after Harry and Meghan’s spokesperson said the couple had been involved in a ‘near-catastrophic’ car chase while being followed by paparazzi in New York after the Ms Foundation Women of Vision Awards.

Harry, 38, is still in regular contact with the Travalyst chief executive and board behind the scenes and remains committed to it, according to a report in Newsweek. In addition, the Duke is still listed on the Travalyst website as its ‘founder and patron’.

But it is notable that he was not used as a promotional tool for the revamp – given how prominently he has previously been involved in conferences and marketing.

PR expert Sean O’Meara, managing director of Manchester-based agency Essential Content, said the change of approach at Travalyst could be due to the marketing difficulties presented by the negative publicity often faced by Harry. He told MailOnline today: ‘This move to lower Harry’s prominence as Travalyst enters a new phase of growth looks and feels strategic. It’s not an oversight. And it very well could be at Harry’s request or at the request of his advisors. Many in the PR industry, myself included, were speculating in the press earlier this year about how he might rehabilitate and refresh his media profile and one of the most common recommendations was for Harry to step away from centre stage and give himself and the organisations he’s associated with some breathing room. Harry had become something of a lightning rod for negative PR which was harming perceptions of the organisations he was trying to support.’

[From The Daily Mail]

They’re trying to make it sound like Harry was kicked out of the successful initiative he founded, even though it’s clear that Harry is still associated with Travalyst? Like, Travalyst has grown so much that they need a board of directors and professional daily management. I’m sure Harry is so pleased that the little project he nurtured has grown this way and that it can work independently. It’s like the Invictus Games too – while Harry founded the games and put the whole thing together initially, Invictus is now a real thing with a CEO, a competent team, managers, a board of directors and all of it. Invictus is still Harry’s baby, but it’s all grown up, same with Travalyst.

After the Mail and Newsweek made this big, dumb deal about Travalyst’s board of directors, Travalyst’s chief executive Sally Davey told the Telegraph: “Prince Harry is the founder of Travalyst and remains an invaluable part of this organisation. His role has not changed in any way, and he is regularly involved in strategic discussions and decisions alongside our partners and Board.” There you go.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Travalyst video.