New Zealand tour, private departure

Planet

Having travelled extensively ourselves and witnessed first-hand how tourism can have either positive or negative effects on local communities and the environment, we always endeavour to leave a positive mark on all places we send clients and promote awareness of the local environment.

New Zealand represents one of the greenest and most natural environments on the planet. Therefore, it is essential to implement sustainability within the tours offered. Our New Zealand itinerary has been created to meet your expectations and protect what is unique and special about a destination like New Zealand. The tour will provide you with several visits to sites which have great environmental importance. Places such as the Tongariro National Park, the Franz Josef Glacier and the Waitomo Caves which are significant eco-systems for numerous animals and plants. Specific rules are given to travelers while exploring these areas and local and professional guides ensure that no contamination or possible damage is caused by tourists to the area.

While visiting the cities, we encourage travelers to take part in bike-tour which are eco-friendly and also more adventurous.

• Where we stay: As a boutique travel company we strive to offer unique and authentic travel experiences in line with sustainable accommodation. Many of the resorts and operators we work with are eco-friendly and run their businesses in a more environmentally friendly manner. For instance, guests are offered free drinking water refills to minimise wastage of plastic bottles. While in remote areas, we carry rubbish with us and ensure we do not disturb anything in the natural environment.

• As a company: We strive to operate as a paperless company as far as possible, and recycle wherever facilities are available. We use toxic-free fair trade products whenever we can.

People

Our tours are designed with the intention of maximising the benefits that our guests can have on the host community. This is the reason why we endeavour to follow responsible guidelines and teach guests about responsible tourism in order to encourage them to be mindful of the environment and respectful of local people and culture. With all our tailor-made trips we enjoy offering new routes and encourage travel to areas that are not on the main tourist trails and which further support smaller, local communities.

As many might know, New Zealand is world famous for its ancient Maori tribe and culture. The number, variety and quality of Maori tourism businesses have increased dramatically over the last few years and the sector now makes an important contribution to New Zealand's regional economies. We believe that the Maori's culture is second only to New Zealand landscape as the main reason people visit the country.

As a travel company we wanted to combine these two aspects into a unique product which offers you a winning combination. Through guides, museums and locals we want you to discover and gain insight into this unique culture in order to preserve it and make it a valuable heritage.

• As A Company: We believe in the importance of showing respect for local people and their customs and try to emphasis this in the way our tours are arranged. Where possible we aim to create a bond between staff and traveler so our clients gain insight into the real life of local communities. We endeavour to keep our groups small, minimising the environmental and social impact that the participants have on the destination. Through travel with us, we aim to help and meet an important local need by contributing to the area’s economy, creating jobs and by eating locally sourced food and using locally sourced products.

• Where we stay: As a boutique travel company we search for authenticity and uniqueness from the local suppliers and whenever possible, encourage our travelers to stay in privately owned accommodation such as guest houses. We believe that working with hotel/accommodation owners who source staff, products, services and produce from within the community gives the local people an opportunity to gain from the increase in tourism to the area.

• While we are there: As previously mentioned, we work in partnership with locally employed guides who having been professionally trained and strive to better their communities and provide insight into the local culture. We encourage interaction with local communities, however we keep our group sizes small and provide advice during the trip to ensure our impact on the indigenous way of life is minimised. Typically these areas also ask for a fee to appreciate the protected area, which go to aid conservation, employment and infrastructure efforts directly supporting the community and surroundings.