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Event organisers said there was a fantastic turnout of women from across the industry |
Women in Travel (WiT) raised an additional €17,500 for the ‘A Drop of Life’ charitable drive at last week’s event in Cannes, closing in on the overall goal of HK$520,000 (€49,053).
Out of that sum, just over €8,000 was raised through generous donations from exhibitors and retailers who participated and donated prizes for the prize draw and silent auction. Companies that donated items for the silent auction included DFS, Furla, Bally, Bacardi, Moët Hennessy and La Prairie.
Another HK$100,000 (€9,370) was donated by The Edrington Group and presented at the event by Asia Travel Retail Regional Director Ryan Hill to bring the total amount of funds raised from last week’s event to €17,500. That number is expected to rise with money to come in from the auction of a bottle of rare Baron Otard ‘Fortis et Fidelis’ Cognac, which was donated by Bacardi.
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Ryan Hill from The Edrington Group presents a HK$100,000 cheque to WiT |
WiT member and supporter Gerry Munday said there was a fantastic turnout at last week’s event from across the industry, acknowledging the hard work that many people put in towards raising funds.
“Catherine Bonelli was our star fundraiser and in addition, there are many others we would like to thank: Rob Grossman and his team from Questexhibits for their invaluable help in collecting and delivering the prizes and supplying the Champagne flutes, Follador for the Prosecco served at the event, Rowena at Essential Communications and the trade media for raising awareness of the project, and TFWA – particularly Marissa Phanivong.”
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Exhibitors and retailers generously donated gifts for the prize draw and silent auction |
WiT Founder Sarah Branquinho added: “The biggest thank you, however, must go to everyone in the travel retail industry who made donations, bought prize draw entries and bid in the silent auction.
“Year after year we ask the industry to dig deep into their pockets for various charities and year after year they do.”
The total funds raised will go towards building a dam to bring clean water supplies to a thousand people in a remote region of China. The idea to support ‘A Drop of Life’ is thanks to La Prairie Hong Kong Ltd Regional General Manager Tina Tam, who was presented with the cheque by The Edrington Group’s Hill at last week’s event.
Tam emphasised the importance of the work that the charity does: “For these remote communities, water is the most precious commodity. Each bucket of water needs to be fetched from several miles away – and all in the community are involved – children even sacrifice schooling in order to source the water needed to keep their families alive.”
She added that once the dam is built, the children will be able to return to school and that it will bring clean water to hundreds of people, which will immeasurably improve their health and lives. Tam also said she is confident that over the next couple of months that WiT will reach the final target.
The next WiT meeting will take place at the MEADFA Conference in Doha later this month (25-26 November).
