Mexico & Guatemala vacation

Environment

Traveling in a small group enables us to stay in locally-owned and run hotels. We work closely with our accommodation providers to minimise the overuse of linen and towels. Many hotels we stay in display signs asking travelers to reuse their towels and to take short showers to minimise water wastage. Equally, our leaders encourage travelers to turn off electrical appliances like lights and air-conditioning whilst not in their rooms.

Throughout this trip we use local transport for as many mid and long-distance journeys as we can. Traveling on local transport and avoiding flights not only helps to keep the cost of this trip down, but also reduces the use of fuel and the emissions they generate.

Two common environmental issues faced on this trip are littering and single use plastics. All our tour leaders are passionate about responsible travel and are also trained to help travelers identify and implement sustainable practices. These include disposing of rubbish properly, refilling water bottles, and avoiding the use of plastic bags and other disposable plastic goods.

Community

This trip has a maximum group size of 16, which allows us to minimise our impact on the places we visit. Over tourism is an issue we’re acutely aware of and we are taking measures to counteract it. For example, in San Cristobal and Antigua, our leaders take travelers on city orientation walks to explore the main highlights as well as lesser known corners that would be impossible to see on mass flag-following style tours.

A small group size also allows us to stay overnight with a local community in Totonicapán, Guatemala to experience a taste of rural living.

In addition, we have a foundation that was set up to empower travelers to have a positive impact on the communities they visit. Our foundation now supports over 50 local, grassroots projects around the world. Over the past 15 years, the foundation has distributed over AU $5 million to projects tackling areas such as sustainable development, human rights, child protection, environmental conservation, wildlife protection, education and healthcare.