RESPONSIBLE TRAVEL POLICY
Our Local Tour is an innovative tour operator with a focus on responsible travel and sustainable tourism. We aim to develop and promote authentic travel experiences. They should benefit travellers, the host population, and local tourism businesses. We aim to respect the environment, culture, societies and religions of the communities and areas that we visit, and we encourage all our staff and partners to take an active interest in responsible travel and sustainable tourism.
Responsible Tourism requires action from all. Operators, hoteliers, governments, locals, and tourists must work to make tourism more sustainable.
We aim to boost local economies and improve communities. At the same time, we want to give our customers a rewarding experience. Our business aims to minimise the negative social, economic and environmental impacts of tourism.
There is no off the shelf solution. We understand that the responsibility and action needed in a particular location will depend upon the local environment and culture. Tourism is one of the most important and largest industries on the planet. It accounts for 11% of the world’s GDP and 12% of its exports. It employs more people worldwide than any other industry, with millions of families relying on tourism for their daily needs.
Our niche, off-the-beaten-track tourism can benefit many communities. It can help preserve the environments when we travel local. It can also provide authentic, positive social exchanges.
Our Local Tour and our approach to responsible tourism
1. Respect for the local communities that we visit
It is important that we always respect the local customs and culture and abide by the laws and etiquette of each region. Our customers will be encouraged, through our literature and through our local teams, to act in a socially responsible way. We provide guidelines for respecting the environment, cultures, and religions of the communities we visit. All our tours operate in a way that encourages positive cultural exchanges.
2. Working to support the local economy
Our Local Tour will always try to use small locally owned hotels, guest houses and homestays to provide accommodation. We use local businesses for activities, wherever possible. This ensures your tourist spend goes back into the communities we visit. We will build long-term relationships with our local suppliers. This will ensure ongoing economic benefits. There must also be a visible benefit to the local communities. We ensure local suppliers and operators get a fair rate for their services. We support and encourage fair employment practices.
3. Preserve and enhance the environments in which we travel
Our Local Tour recognises that climate change is one of the most urgent problems facing our world today and the tourism sector is a growing contributor to the problem. Travel and tourism are responsible for around 5% of global CO2 emissions. We must prepare for a low-carbon society. We need to reduce our environmental impacts. At the same time, we must preserve tourism's social and economic benefits for both the host community and our customers.
We will work with all local bodies and authorities. Our aim is to preserve or improve the environment. We also want to benefit the host community in the long term. All our suppliers should have or be developing green practices. Reduction of the use of single use plastic water bottles will be actively encouraged. We encourage all our customers not to use single use plastic bags and bring along their own shopping bags or ‘bags for life’.
There are responsibilities at home. We are developing a culture of running our office responsibly. This includes monitoring and reducing our energy use and recycling.
We recognise the need to fly to a destination but thereafter we will encourage travelling overland rather than using internal flights, to minimise carbon emissions. Where possible we will promote the use of train rather than plane to reach a destination.
4. We respect Human Rights
We strongly oppose exploiting local people. We will only work with suppliers that care for their employees. Our Local Tour actively encourages tour leaders and guides to disclose any concerns they may have to us. All suppliers must respect elementary human rights such as non-discrimination, freedom of assembly, no forced labour and no child labour.
It is explicitly forbidden for any participation in or endorsement of commercial sexual activities, exploitative sexual activities or drug use on our trips, from staff or customers.
We do not engage with suppliers that exploit children in tourism. Children are not a tourist attraction and therefore we do not offer visits to schools, day-care centres and orphanages. We do not offer excursions or volunteering with vulnerable people.
If customers want to help children in need in the areas they are visiting, we advise them to make a donation to a non-governmental organisation which is focussing on special target groups, such as children, orphans, handicapped persons etc.
5. The promotion of animal welfare
Our aim is to help protect animals from exploitation, neglect, and cruelty. We do not offer elephant riding on any of our tours or holidays. The best place to view wildlife is in the wild whilst minimising our impact on the wildlife concerned. We actively discourage the buying of items made from any protected wildlife.
We advise travellers not to buy coral or coral products. Also, avoid all big shells, ivory, and ivory products. Do not buy cactuses, orchids, Chinese medicines, or products made from the skins of tortoises, crocodiles, snakes, big cats, butterflies, and parrots. For more information please visit www.cites.org
6. Our Responsible tourism policies are monitored on an ongoing basis
Our Local Tour is proactive in raising awareness of sustainability issues with our customers and on social media we encourage interaction with customers on sustainable travel issues. To achieve our goals we need customers’ support both through the purchases they make and the personal actions they take.
Most people don't choose holidays based on sustainability. But, we want it to be a key factor for our destinations and the environment.
It is important that we actively seek out feedback about our responsible tourism practices. The environmental impact and any customer comments are monitored and acted upon on a regular basis. The ethos of responsible travel is central to what we do and is promoted throughout our organisation. We actively communicate with our office staff and local partners on environmental and social issues, through team meetings, direct mail, newsletters and social media.
An annual review of our responsible tourism policy takes place to ensure that it is in tune with current needs.
Our Local Tour is a member of The Global Sustainable Tourism Council (GSTC). The Global Sustainable Tourism Council (GSTC) Criteria were created to provide a common understanding throughout the world of “sustainable tourism”, and are the minimum that any tourism business should aspire to reach. They are organized around four main themes: effective sustainability planning, maximizing social and economic benefits for the local community, enhancing cultural heritage, and reducing negative impacts to the environment. Full details can be found here - https://www.gstcouncil.org/gstc-criteria/gstc-industry-criteria/