Responsible Travel

Travel can, and should, be a positive thing for both the traveller and the natives of the country visited. It can bring in vital money, improve the quality of life, and increase understanding across borders. It can also do exactly the opposite if not done in a responsible manner.

At Nomadic Travel, we firmly believe that tourism should be both sustainable and beneficial to all concerned. We are pleased that our suppliers have taken huge steps to ensure that their impact on the culture and environment of a country is minimal, while maximising the benefit to the local people. Typically these steps include using locally run hotels rather than big international chains, making use of local transport and guides where possible, and travelling in small groups. Many operators also run a "local payment" scheme, whereby a proportion of the holiday cost is paid on arrival in the country concerned. This helps make sure the money goes directly to those who are providing the services.

However, there is only so much the tour operators themselves can do. Encouraging clients to understand and respect local cultures, the environment and wildlife, and also the economic conditions of a country, goes a long way in making travel beneficial all round.

At Nomadic Travel we provide all our clients with literature highlighting these important issues. We also support the work of the following organisations:

Tourism Concern
Tourism Concern has a wide range of innovative projects. They work with communities in destination countries to reduce social and environmental problems connected with tourism and also with the out-going tourism industry in the UK to find ways of improving tourism to increase local benefits. All Nomadic Travel clients are provided with a Tourism Concern leaflet highlighting key things that can easily be done to make tourism sustainable and responsible.

Tourism Concern have successfully campaigned for tour operator porter protection policies. We are pleased to say that all the trekking companies we promote have in place a series of policies to provide essential protection, fair pay and humane working conditions for their porters. These policies are vital where porters play such a key role in the success and enjoyment of a trekking holiday.

For more information on Tourism Concern's work please visit: www.tourismconcern.org.uk

Survival International
We are pleased to support the work of Survival International, a charity that campaigns for the rights of tribal cultures around the world. It stands for their right to decide their own future and helps them protect their lives, lands and human rights.

For more information please visit their website at www.survival-international.org

Climate Care
International flights are a major cause of CO2 emissions that contribute to global warming. However, we are able to suggest a variety of ways in which our clients can offset the emissions from their flights. The environmental organisation 'Climate Care' have developed wide ranging projects such as rainforest restoration in Uganda and are developing community-based micro-hydro electricity in Bulgaria.

These initiatives either reduce CO2 emissions at source or absorb CO2 from the atmosphere. Climate Care advise that air passengers should contribute an amount that is directly related to the emissions produced from their flight. For example a return flight to South America emits 2.6 tonnes of CO2. per passenger. The offset price for this is £17.00, which works out to be approximately 3% of a typical air fare.

Further details can be found on www.climatecare.org

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