In a digital age, Ponant has decided to bring back the paper travel folder. Presented in a white and blue leatherette pouch, the personalised passenger travel folder includes all the booking information about the cruise, any shore excursions, flight information, pre-and post-cruise programmes as well as any supplements that have been booked. The folder also contains luggage labels.
“After introducing the electronic travel folder two and a half years ago, we have taken on board feedback from our partner travel agencies and decided to maintain the option of a paper copy of the folder. The Ponant experience starts with making the booking and receiving the travel documents, and our passengers should have the choice between a digital or a paper copy,” explains Hervé Bellaiche, executive vice president sales & marketing.
However, in keeping with its commitment to responsible tourism, Ponant said it is keen to include passengers in an original initiative to support the Inuit communities in the Upernavik district of North-West Greenland. Since strict quotas have been placed on hunting, these communities must diversify their sources of income.
The cruise line is thus donating 10 euro to the Upernavik FabLab for each passenger who elects to receive only the digital travel folder, rather than the paper version (the digital folder consists of electronic files sent by email).
Ponant has also introduced Upernavik FabLab – the rirst 3D printing lab in Greenland, which it said is the “brainchild of the EDANA research laboratory from the HE-Arc University in Neuchâtel in Switzerland, the Ethnographic Museum of Neuchâtel and Nicolas Dubreuil, an expedition leader.
The aim of this FabLab is to produce 3D copies of traditional Inuit amulets, held in the collections of European museums. The objects reproduced from these copies by Inuit sculptors from the Upernavik district will then be offered for sale in museums and aboard Ponant’s ships, providing a stable source of income for the craftspeople.
