V'air Hong Kong is a youth-initiated environmental education organization with the mission to promote low-carbon local tourism as a means to mitigate climate change. Prior to the 2015 United Nations Climate Change Conference, our team came up with the idea of V’air at the Hong Kong Tertiary Schools COP21 Challenge and captured the champion title. V'air was established since then and continues to operate up till today. Addressing the problem of rising aviation emissions, V’air organizes local tours and education workshops to encourage Hong Kong people travel in a sustainable manner. "V'air" is a homophone to "Vert" in French, which stands for the colour green. This unique brand name displays our vision of incorporating “air” travel experience to “vert”, achieved through the curation of local itineraries to resemble overseas trips.
Tremendous amount of energy is required to power an airplane. Air travelling is one main source of greenhouse gas emissions from Hong Kong people, leading to climate change and detrimental effects associated. According to the Environmental Protection Department, the average carbon footprint per capita is 5.4 tonnes in 2018. With aviation emissions added, the figure goes up to 7.5 tonnes, meaning that around 25% of per capita emissions originates from air travelling before COVID-19. Therefore, the potential of local sustainable tourism can be harnessed for a low-carbon future.
V'air has three main streams of business – digital platform, B2B and B2C ecotours and public education events. For local tours, we have organized over 200 ecological and historical tours for schools and corporates. In terms of public education, V'air has held booths at environment-related events and carnivals. For digital platforms, V'air operates our website with close to 1 million views and engagement during 2020-2021. We are also active on our social media platforms, including Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and YouTube. On these platforms, V'air recommends less conventional travel destinations in Hong Kong with the incorporation of environmental information to simulate a holistic and immersive tourism experience. In October 2017, V'air published a book entitled "Low Carbon Tourism (低碳。好行)" by Wan Li Books Ltd. The book records 39 itineraries in rural and urban areas of Hong Kong with knowledge on nature conservation.
During the course of operation, V'air has been fortunate to receive wide media coverage, including Mingpao, SingTao, TVB and RTHK. Our work has been recognised by international media, including The Japan Times, Eco-Business Youth A-List, Tatler GenT List.
V'air is a recipient of the Chinese University Social Enterprise Fund, HKSARG Sustainable Development Promotion Award, Gold Award of Sunny Passion Programme from Chinese University of Hong Kong and Dorsett Young Entrepreneur Scholarship.
In the coming months, V'air will be hosting a series of events on rural revitalisation and circular economy, including a workshop at the UN Internet Governance Forum 2021 on achieving sustainable local tourism and nature conservation through digital technology and education.
V’air will continue to strengthen our work on youth empowerment and policy innovation through proactive exchanges with the international community as well as explore digital transformation pathways to scale up the existing ecotourism business.
For content, part of the website articles are bilingual with English translation. However, the full English website is still underdevelopment. Please follow our LinkedIn page for the latest updates.
In the past six years, V'air Hong Kong has counted on the support from our team and partners. We are ready for more transformative collaborations in the coming years of critical action. We are currently recruiting part-time tour guides, content creators and multimedia creators. Apply to be a part of the V'air team through the following form: https://lnkd.in/gYwUeJ_2
Facing the imminent climate crisis, V'air is determined to dedicate our efforts as youth in influencing Hong Kong people to take a more active role to combat climate change. Join us in the journey of exploring Hong Kong!
If you have any proposals on co-creating sustainable tourism and education experiences, feel free to contact us!
General Enquiries:
hello@vairhk.com
Media Enquiries: Ms. Annie Chau, Business Outreach Executive
annie@vairhk.com
