The travel industry has rallied together to raise more than £17,000 as part of the LATA Foundation’s #Peru25for25 campaign to support out-of-work Peruvian porters and their families
The travel industry has rallied together to raise more than £17,000 as part of the LATA Foundation’s #Peru25for25 campaign to support out-of-work Peruvian porters and their families.
Due to the pandemic and the lack of tourism, the livelihood of the Peruvian porters who usually support thousands of tourists who travel to Peru each year to follow in the footsteps of the Incas to Machu Picchu and other Inca sites has been seriously impacted. Many of these porters have had no alternative source of income or government support since March 2020. As a result, the LATA Foundation launched a fundraising campaign ‘Peru 25 for 25’ which called on supporters to take on a 25-mile challenge, the length of the Inca Trail, during March 2021 to help raise funds for the Peruvian porters and their families.
The campaign ‘Peru 25 for 25’ saw 44 fundraisers each take on an individual 25-mile challenge during March, as well as a number of teams setting collective fundraising targets. Each £25.00 raised covers one essential food parcel for a porter and their family for one month with 100% of the funds received going directly towards the purchase of these food parcels.
Jude Berry, chair of the LATA Foundation says: “We are overwhelmed with the response to this campaign with the funds raised hugely exceeding our expectations. The global pandemic has put a huge strain on many communities, families and individuals, including the UK travel sector. We are especially grateful that so many people got behind this initiative despite their own personal or professional challenges, and we would like to extend our thanks to every single fundraiser and sponsor. As well as this initiative, the LATA Foundation continues to support other communities and projects in Latin America that urgently need support. More information is available here.”
The funds raised as part of this campaign will cover over 680 monthly food parcels.
