UnTours Foundation

08/25/2026

Through our Reset Tourism Fund, in partnership with TUI Care Foundation, we’re proud to support Red Rocks Rwanda, a social enterprise working with the communities living around Volcanoes National Park in Musanze, Rwanda.

This coming weekend, Red Rocks Rwanda kicks off eight days of its Cultural Festival, now in its 14th year, running August 28 to September 4 at Red Rocks Base Camp in Musanze. Each day carries its own theme: heritage and cultural ownership, the economics of gorilla conservation, an Igisoro tournament pairing travelers with local masters of the game, hands-on workshops building and tuning traditional instruments like the inanga and ingoma, and a youth pitch stage for new ideas in cultural tourism. This year, neighboring communities are joining the festival with their own presentation for the first time as well. Entrance is free.

Gregory Bakunzi founded Red Rocks Rwanda in 2013, after years guiding tourists to the mountain gorillas and noticing how few ever met the people living alongside the park. He’d already built the Ruhengeri Community Eco-Tourism Association, which he still leads. Red Rocks put local people directly into the tourism supply chain: hostels and cultural cottages, craft workshops, farming partnerships, artisan marketplaces. Its nonprofit arm, Red Rocks Initiative, extends that work across the region by funding education, healthcare, and local artisan initiatives. As Gregory puts it, “Sustainable tourism and preservation can always succeed when the communities lead.”

We’re so proud to support Red Rocks Rwanda and can’t wait to see this year’s festival come together in Musanze! 🇷🇼

08/21/2026

We’re excited to spotlight Reset Tourism Fund portfolio business PashooPakshee as they celebrate 10 years this summer! 🎉

Over the past decade, founder Savini Sonavaria and co-founder Nikhil Dhanuka have built a model that puts more tourism spending directly into the hands of the communities living closest to India’s wildlife. They started Pashoo Pakshee in 2016 after noticing a gap in Indian ecotourism: travelers were spending money in and around wildlife destinations, but very little of that income was reaching the women living alongside those forests. Their response was to train local women to design and make souvenirs inspired by the wildlife and culture around them, creating a source of income for families while connecting tourism more directly to conservation.

Today, Pashoo Pakshee’s team works alongside over 20+ conservation partners across India. With support from the Reset Tourism Fund and our funding partner TUI Care Foundation, they opened a second Crafts for Conservation shop at the Moharli gate of Tadoba-Andhari Tiger Reserve, joining their original store at Bandhavgarh National Park. They have also opened three artisan-led community centers in Kanha and Panna, where travelers can meet the women behind the products and take part in hands-on craft workshops.

One of those centers near Kanha began with just four women in 2019. Since then, more than 40 women have been trained, with 16 now earning steady monthly income and some becoming the highest earners in their families. The women run the center themselves, managing raw materials, leading workshops for visitors, and completing custom orders for lodges and safari operators that can reach more than 1,000 pieces at a time.

Across its shops and community programs, Pashoo Pakshee now supports 460 families living near forests and alongside wildlife. We’ve been fortunate to play a small role in that journey, alongside TUI Care Foundation. Happy 10 years to Savini, Nikhil, and the whole team as they continue showing how tourism can create more value for the people and places closest to it.

08/18/2026

We’re less than two months out from Black Travel Summit 2026, taking place October 15-18 in Milwaukee, and through our Reset Tourism Fund, we’re proud to support Black Travel Summit.

Founder Anita Moreau (Anita Moreau | The Reticent Founder) was born in London to Seychellois and Haitian parents, and cultural heritage has shaped her path from the start. Her early career as a museum curator led her to create work spotlighting Afro-Indigenous communities around the globe, planting the seeds for what would become a deep commitment to the Black travel movement. In 2019, that passion took shape as Black Travel Summit, starting with virtual webinars during the pandemic and growing into a platform built to support, empower, and create opportunity for Black travelers, creators, entrepreneurs, and industry professionals, now backed by partners like Hyatt, WeTravel, and Royal Caribbean.

This year’s flagship summit lands at Milwaukee’s Baird Center under the theme “Renaissance: Rebirth. Renew. Reclaim,” a tribute to the historic Bronzeville neighborhood, with a lineup spanning a main stage speaker series, career and business workshops, the LaunchPad Accelerator and Pitch Competition, an Expo, a Wellness Lounge, and Opening and Closing Receptions. It opens October 15 with the Black Travel Film Festival at Nō Studios, celebrating Afro-diasporic stories across scripted, unscripted, and short-form work, before winners are honored at the Black Travel Awards Gala alongside the VICtor Awards, recognizing standout creators, journalists, advisors, brands, and allies in Black travel.

It’s why we started our Reset Tourism Fund in the first place: to back businesses building real community and opportunity in travel.

Make sure to head to Black Travel Summit’s profile to grab your tickets before Milwaukee sells out! ✈️

08/14/2026

The Sustainable Tourism Impact Fund (STIF) was born out of our Reset Tourism Fund, in joint venture with agoda and WWF-Singapore, built to reach Southeast Asian tourism businesses conventional lenders might overlook. These businesses most valuable assets like local relationships, environmental knowledge, the capacity to create jobs and protect ecosystems aren’t the kind of collateral a bank typically recognizes. STIF exists to close that gap with patient, flexible capital.

Asia Sustainable Travel spent time with all three partners and all five investees to understand how it’s working two years in. Swipe through for what they found, from the financing gap STIF is designed to bridge, to what each business has built with it, to the open questions about what comes next.

Thank you to Jeremy Tran and the AST team for this thoughtful look into the incredible work being done by our portfolio businesses around the world, Local Alike • Local Travel 🇹🇭, SEJIVA, Livingseas Livingseas Foundation, Bambike (bamboo bikes) Bike Tours in Intramuros, and Eco Hotel Philippines.

Read the full report at the link in our bio.

08/10/2026

We want to continue highlighting the incredible work and leadership of the entrepreneurs in our portfolio, including Megan Kennedy, founder and Chief Adventure Officer of Good Trip Adventures, a women and queer-owned adventure company based in Bozeman, Montana.

Megan’s path into this work started far from a boardroom: as a kayak guide at an eco-lodge in Wales, then leading day hikes for New Yorkers, then multi-day trips that grew into week-long adventures around the world. She went on to earn a Master’s in Outdoor Education from the University of Edinburgh, guided in Yellowstone and Grand Teton, and trained as a Wilderness EMT, all before founding Good Trip Adventures in 2020.

As Megan puts it, “Good Trip Adventures isn’t just about destinations; it’s about creating a movement where every step, every trail, every journey champions the cause of inclusivity and environmental stewardship.”

Today, Good Trip runs adventure trips across 33 U.S. National Parks, from Yellowstone and the Grand Canyon to Acadia and the Redwoods, handling permits and logistics so travelers can focus on the landscape in front of them. In 2025, the team served thousands of guests, and more than 80% of operating expenses went to local suppliers in the communities they visit. Their team of guides is made up mostly of women, LGBTQ+, and BIPOC individuals, and the company’s signature accessible trips open the outdoors to travelers of every ability.

The company also offsets 50% of the carbon emissions tied to guest flights, trains every guide in Leave No Trace principles, and work directly with the National Parks to steer travelers away from overcrowded trails.

Through our Reset Tourism Fund partnership with the Expedia Group, we are investing patient capital into tourism businesses advancing accessible and inclusive travel, and we’ve been proud to support Megan and her team as they’ve grown their reach while staying true to the inclusive, sustainable model they were built on.

Read more stories like this in our 2025 Reset Tourism Fund Impact Report, link in bio.

08/07/2026

On the edge of Kidepo Valley National Park, in one of Uganda’s most untouched regions, Namoni Lodge Kidepo has officially opened its doors! 🇺🇬

Through our partnership with Skyscanner, the Reset Tourism helped fund the construction of this new eco-lodge from Kara-Tunga Tours. And now, travelers who book a stay between August and December 2026 can take advantage of special introductory rates to be among the first to experience it.

NAMONI is led by Theo Vos, a Dutch-born social entrepreneur of Karamoja heritage who founded Kara-Tunga in 2016 and has since become a recognized pioneer of community-based tourism in the region and around the world. NAMONI was built under a formal concession agreement with the Karenga Community Wildlife Association (KCWA), through which 10% of all bednight revenue goes directly back to KCWA, helping empower local Indigenous groups, particularly women and youth, in the fight against poverty and environmental degradation.

Throughout construction, 40 to 50 community members worked on site daily, building with sustainably sourced wood and planting more than 1,000 indigenous trees around the property. Looking ahead, NAMONI will also serve as a learning environment for local youth to build skills in hospitality and tourism management, while women from the community are recruited across housekeeping, food services, cultural performances, and artisan production. The lodge will also house a community center for the surrounding area.

We’re proud to have played a small part in bringing NAMONI to life, and wish Theo and the Kara-Tunga team the best of luck as they welcome their first travelers. Head on over to their page to book your stay in Karamoja.

08/04/2026

Our 2025 Reset Tourism Fund Impact Report is out (link in bio), and we’re continuing to highlight the incredible work and leadership of the entrepreneurs in our portfolio, including Kelly Twichel, founder of Access Trax.

Access Trax makes lightweight, portable access mats that let people with mobility challenges get across sand, grass, gravel, and other terrain that would otherwise keep a wheelchair user on the sidelines.

In 2025, that work showed up at some of the biggest stages in adaptive sports. Access Trax supported the ISA World Para Surfing Championships and the Warrior Games, and co-hosted the San Diego Adaptive Sports & Recreation Fair for free. Across more than 22 events, the team reached over 52,000 attendees. Access Trax also made the inaugural Forbes Accessibility 100 List, a milestone that speaks to how far the company has grown.

Looking ahead, Kelly and her team have their sights set on an even bigger stage: working with the Paralympics and The Olympic Games™️ for , alongside continuing to support events like the Warrior Games and Invictus Games.

Through our Reset Tourism Fund, we’ve been proud to support Kelly and her team as they’ve grown their reach and taken on bigger stages. Congratulations to Kelly and the whole team on a well-earned 2025 and here’s to LA28!

07/29/2026

Our 2025 Reset Tourism Fund Impact Report is out (link in bio), and we’re excited to highlight the incredible work and leadership of the entrepreneurs in our portfolio, including John Sage, founder of Accessible Travel Solutions and Sage Traveling.

John founded Sage Traveling in 2009 after realizing that accessibility information for European travel was vague, outdated, or just wrong. Sage Traveling plans truly accessible trips for disabled and elderly travelers, down to door widths and lift access.

That same mission grew into Accessible Travel Solutions, the first global accessible tour operator, designing barrier-free shore excursions across the Caribbean, Mediterranean, Baltic, US, Canada, Australia, and Asia. Before it existed, cruisers with disabilities often just stayed on the ship. Thanks to John’s work, thousands got to go ashore who might not have otherwise had the chance.

Last year, Accessible Travel Solutions won the Travel Weekly Magellan Award (Gold) for Tour Operator of the Year. John also picked up the Travel Unity Inclusion Champion Award, voted on by the public for his own leadership in the space.

Beyond his companies, John is helping shape what accessible travel looks like industry-wide. As the only accessible travel CEO working with the wttc, he’s helped write global accessibility guidelines and advises the U.S. Travel and Tourism Advisory Board.

Through our Reset Tourism Fund, we’ve been proud to support John and his team as they’ve expanded their mission and challenged the entire industry to rethink what accessible travel can look like.

Congratulations to John and the rest of the team on a well-earned 2025, and here’s to an even bigger 2026!

07/22/2026

We're proud to share the Reset Tourism Fund's 2025 Impact Report.

Around the world, small tourism businesses are creating jobs, protecting natural and cultural heritage, making travel more accessible, reducing tourism's carbon footprint, and strengthening their communities. Yet many struggle to access the flexible financing they need to grow.

The UnTours Foundation launched the Reset Tourism Fund to help meet that need, providing flexible capital to tourism businesses that are often overlooked by traditional finance.

We're deeply grateful to our funding partners, Expedia Group, TUI Care Foundation, agoda, WWF-Singapore, Skyscanner, EXO Travel Foundation, MaCher, Hyatt Hotels Foundation, and Tourism Cares. Their partnership is helping demonstrate what's possible when entrepreneurs have access to the right kind of capital.

In 2025:
💸 We invested $658,000 in 23 tourism businesses across 10 countries.
🌍 Together, those businesses served 58,617 travelers, created 113 new jobs, and generated $18.7 million in revenue.
📈 Three out of every four businesses we support grew their revenue compared to the previous year, demonstrating what flexible, affordable capital can help unlock.

Since launching the Reset Tourism Fund in 2023, we've invested more than $1.5 million in 56 tourism businesses across 24 countries, building a growing portfolio of entrepreneurs who are redefining what tourism can be.

Thank you for being part of this journey. There's still plenty of work ahead, and we're excited to keep investing in the entrepreneurs shaping the future of tourism.

See how the Reset Tourism Fund is investing in entrepreneurs who are building more inclusive, regenerative, and resilient tourism around the world.

07/15/2026

Through our Shifting the Paradigm Fund, the UnTours Foundation invests in social enterprises using business as a force for positive social and environmental change. We also help strengthen local capital markets through our Local Capital Markets Initiative in Philadelphia, connecting mission-driven entrepreneurs with values-aligned investors. Remark Glass is one of the businesses we’ve had the opportunity to support through this work. Based in Philadelphia, Remark Glass is showing how a circular economy can strengthen both communities and the environment.

Founded by Danielle Ruttenberg and Rebecca Davies, Remark Glass transforms discarded glass bottles into handcrafted drinkware, lighting, sculpture, and keepsakes. Together with its nonprofit partner, Bottle Underground, the company has built a local circular economy that collects, sorts, reuses, recycles, and upcycles glass that would otherwise end up in landfills.

Since 2020, Remark Glass and Bottle Underground have diverted more than 250 tons of glass from landfill, engaged more than 3,000 community members in glass recovery efforts, and created 50+ work opportunities through recycling, manufacturing, and workforce development. Their work keeps valuable materials in circulation while creating jobs, supporting local businesses, and reducing waste across Philadelphia.

We first connected with the Remark Glass team through our Local Capital Markets Initiative, where the Managing Director of our Shifting the Paradigm Fund, Lisa Mitchell, works alongside partners including Zenith Wealth Partners to expand access to patient, values-aligned capital for local entrepreneurs. That relationship led to an investment through our Shifting the Paradigm Fund and reflects what the Local Capital Markets Initiative is all about: helping local entrepreneurs access the capital they need to grow businesses that create lasting value in their own communities.