Turkey tour, small group

Planet

CARBON REDUCTION

To ensure carbon emissions are kept to a minimum, we use public minibuses to travel to The Turtle Hospital in Dalyan, rather than chartering a private vehicle. While sightseeing in Istanbul we walk and use public transport - tram and ferry - and have chosen a centrally located hotel to enable this.
For many of the meals that are not included our trip leader will arrange group meals at local restaurants where is it possible to try some of the tasty and healthy Turkish food. Often these will be made from locally sourced, fresh ingredients. Be sure to try local specialties such as pottery kebab, a local specialty cooked in handmade bowls in Cappadocia or freshly caught fish when in Kas and other seaside locations such as Canakkale. It is also easy for vegetarians to find tasty and heathy alternatives to meat or fish dishes.

As a travel company we are acutely aware of our impact on the environment. All of our tours display a carbon footprint, and we strive to reduce our emissions by regularly reviewing our tours and embracing low-impact styles of travel such as trains, public buses or walking – which offer the added benefit of getting a closer connection with the destination and local community.

ENVIRONMENT & WILDLIFE

Our comfortable hotel base in Cappadocia has been designed to help reduce the environmental impact and support nature. The hotel has a solar system to heat water, the hotel grounds has been planted with trees and flowers and there are bird boxes.
We strive to support nature and biodiversity through protection and regeneration projects, and for every customer that travels with us we make a donation to Rewilding Britain and Cool Earth.

We include a large water dispenser on the charter bus to refill clients water bottles each day and minimise waste. We encourage customers to avoid single-use plastic on tour, and our leaders give advice on refill points each day. Where tap water isn't safe to drink we recommend Water-to-Go bottles, a filtration bottle allowing you to drink water from any source.

People

LOCAL ECONOMY

We have developed a long term working relationship with our various local suppliers who provide the elements of this trip providing long term employment. As well as respecting local people, we also like to be an economic benefit to them. We do this by using locally owned hotels, spreading our business to a variety of local restaurants (which is a great way to sample delicious Turkish food) and employing local guides where we can. Add to that that all our trips work to a strict Responsible Tourism Policy and you can be sure that even we've considered every aspect of our operation in Turkey and are confident it is best practice. Learning about the country we are traveling to is of really important on our trips and Turkey is just brimming with history and culture. One of the reasons we prefer to use local Tour Leaders is so they can give a real insight into the local culture; anything from learning about the education system, to making sure we don't fall foul of any taboos. Secondly it is our policy to generate business and employment opportunities in the countries we travel to by employing local people. All our Tour Leaders in Turkey are locals and we've personally trained them all too so they are comfortable in their work and you get great service.

We have been working for over three decades with our local partner that runs this trip. They are a Turkish owned company and they employ local staff in both the office as well as the hotel that we spend two nights in that they own in Cappadocia. We encourage the promotion of local crafts and specialties. Our trip leaders will also proudly promote local culture wherever relevant, mention local crafts and products and choose locally owned Turkish restaurants.
Our leaders are the heart of tours. They bring passion and unrivalled knowledge of the destinations and communities that we visit. Their guidance ensures we observe the cultural norms in a destination, they act as a bridge between travelers and the local community and ensure that tourism is a positive experience for both host and guest. We believe in supporting local; staying in locally-run hotels, exploring markets, buying snacks from street vendors, and by doing this we add money to the local economy and enhance our connection with the local community.

EMPLOYMENT INCLUSIVITY & DIVERSITY

Our local partners are an inbound Turkish tourism agency based in Nigde, Central Anatolia. It is run by Turkish nationals, employing 6 to 7 staff from the local community. The hotel that we stay in for the duration of this vacation is owned by the same company and employs around 10 local staff to run the property - all from the Cappadocia region. Between 30-40 local guides and tour leaders, all Turkish nationals, are employed across the season.