Rajasthan Christmas vacation in India

Planet

We promote excursions which foster a more sustainable tourism and we commit to maintaining small-group sizes for the excursions on your trip, in order to limit negative environmental impacts in accordance to the carrying capacity of the visited site.

We are trying to keep the extra unneeded waste to a minimum in your tour through our “bring it in, bring it out” policy for litter and rubbish such as food packaging and recycling wherever possible.

We have a recycling policy in our UK and local offices and re-use or recycle the information booklets we provide to every client on arrival wherever possible. Moreover, we do not produce a glossy brochure, concentrating on a comprehensive website, and providing as much information to our travelers as possible electronically, reducing the use of paper and inks.

During your time in Delhi, we will include a cycle rickshaw ride, which reduces our carbon footprint and will also give you the opportunity to meet and interact with the local people. For your city explorations, we will always give preference to slow, possibly non-motorized forms of mobility, such as city walks or bicycles. If motorized forms are unavoidable, we make sure that vehicle sizes are as small as appropriate and proper licensing on vehicles and certifying to national emission standards are maintained.

For your tour we have chosen responsible Heritage resorts like the Shahpura House in Jaipur, and old palatial house converted into a hotel. Rare among hotels, it has remained a family home, where the members of the erstwhile ruling family welcome you personally as their honored guest. Shahpura is an eco-conscious group, alert to the threat of carbon footprints. Traditional eco-friendly Indian practices, as well as modern hotel practices and policies in each area strictly ensure conservation of energy and water, as well as use of eco-friendly materials.

Through this trip you will also contribute to the preservation of precious ancient monuments, knowledge and Unesco World Heritage sites. You will visit the Red Fort or Fatehpur Sikri for example, both demonstrating exceptional results achieved in planning and architecture. You will also contribute for example to the maintenance of the most significant, most comprehensive, and best preserved stone observatory in India, the Jantar Mantar in Jaipur.

People

We make sure we only work with local guides that come from the very region you are visiting, giving back to their families and communities.

While many operators pay per day or per tour, our guides receive an hourly rate which allows a fair and fruitful reward for their expertise. We provide staff with written employment contracts and fair working conditions (e.g. overtime payment, national wage requirements, no discrimination, grievance mechanisms in place and no child labour).

Furthermore we ensure that our drivers do not more than 9 hours of driving per day and are provided adequate accommodation and do not drive at night (with the exception of airport pick-ups/drop-offs). After a driving period of 4.5 h the driver must take a break of at least 45 min.

By staying at the hotels we hand-picked for you, such as the Shahpura House, the Deogarh Mahal or the Park Plaza, you are supporting the local community in various ways. The family of Deogarh hotel for example founded a Charitable Trust, to save old temples and architectural monuments in and around Deogarh, help people with addiction problems or help the underprivileged in health and education. They give talks or make presentations to collect funds that are then used to support underprivileged children.

Also the Park Plaza for your stay in Jodhpur actively supports the company-wide global charity, World Childhood Foundation, which is committed to helping children and young women at risk around the world.

By staying at the Shahpura House, you support an organisation that is woven into and sustains the lives of the people in Shahpura and the villages around. Shahpura Hotels ensure a sustainable and progressive community by providing employment in numerous ways to the people of the villages and in Jaipur. Most of the staff that serves at the Hotel comes from neighbouring homes and is trained by experts at Shahpura. Local produce is bought for the kitchens, much of the stone, the fabric, the arts, crafts, the glass work and other decor used in the hotels is created and crafted by local artisans and artists. Restoration and maintenance of the work is often entrusted to local skills.

The Shahpura Family moreover encourages education and assists with healthcare, such as a foundation that runs schools, hospitals and veterinary clinics in the village. They build and help maintain temples to support the faith of the people. They bring in companies that sponsor education and healthcare.

If you want to do souvenir shopping, we will take you to the local markets where locals of that very region craft their products to help keep the money earned in that very community. When we take you to local shops or markets, we change the selected shops on a rotating basis. Also we make sure food stops are at locally owned cafes or restaurants and give customers recommendations on locally owned shop and restaurants, especially new start-ups.

We ensure customer awareness by familiarizing our guests with local history, culture, religions and traditions, by informing on culturally appropriate behavior, (e.g. dress codes for religious sites, taking photographs of people, language tips, etc.).