Self drive tour of the National Parks of America

The Impacts of this Trip

We are committed to supporting a wide number of responsible and ethical initiatives, including environmental projects, community tourism projects and education programmes. We encourage our clients to visit many of these initiatives such as wildlife sanctuaries, local schools, orphanages and co-operatives.

Through client-specific notes in our tailor-made itineraries, we continue to actively recommend restaurants, shops and other local businesses so that the community is directly benefited. Most of these have been discovered by our country specialists and include craft shops that ensure tourist money is fed back to the individuals who produce the crafts, and restaurants which train local street children.

We promote environmentally friendly tours and accommodation in a number of destinations.
We prefer, where possible, to use smaller, locally owned ground agents. Not only does this ensure that it is the host community who are managing and benefiting from the local tourist industry, but we also believe that our clients will have a better trip as local agents have a much more intimate knowledge of the region.
For the same reasons as above, we always use local guides and drivers. This not only provides crucial employment and income for the local community, but also increases the authenticity of the client’s trip.

We favour ground agents who have an awareness of responsible tourism policies and strong environmental commitment. Responsible practice is one of the principle criteria during the selection of new suppliers, and ethical initiatives form a fundamental element in our ground arrangements.
In addition to feedback from country specialist visits, all our ground agents are asked to keep us updated on their own responsible tourism practices as well as potential community tourism projects, local charities and eco-accommodation that we can recommend to our clients.

Clients are asked to report on the behaviour and awareness of our agents and local guides once they have returned home from their trip.
We always try to favour small locally owned hotels over large international chains. We work closely with our local ground agents to source more small guesthouses, B&Bs, boutique hotels and eco-friendly lodges. This ensures that as much revenue as possible remains in the host country as well as providing an experience with more genuine character for our clients.

We always prefer to use hotels which have environmental policies in place regarding reuse of towels and sheets, electricity and water usage.
Where available we recommend our clients stay in ethically responsible accommodation, such as eco-lodges that aim to preserve the beauty of natural surroundings.
Ethical practice is not just limited to the destinations we operate in. Responsible practice is exercised in our office with various measures put in place aimed at reducing, re-using and recycling resources where possible.
We carry out dedicated responsible travel training sessions with all employees upon joining the company.

We minimise our electricity consumption by switching off lights, computers, fans etc in rooms that are not in use and at night. We also monitor thermostats and keep doors and windows closed when heating is on.
We recycle all office paper, encourage double-side photocopying and, where appropriate, circulate documents by email. We also exercise effective control of brochure production, distribution and disposal.

We encourage car sharing amongst employees and are part of a cycle scheme.
We offset the carbon emissions resulting from staff educational trips through the Friends of Conservation carbon-offsetting programme. We also offer the facility for clients to do the same for their own travels.