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Responsible Travel Holidays

What is a ethical travel holiday? It's a holiday where your tour operator has put active steps in place to minimize economic, social or environmental damage to the region you are visiting and where they also encourage you to do so too. Tour operators may even go one step further and work to improve the economic, social or environmental situation of a region.

Tour operators should have a written policy if they claim to be responsible tour operators. Make sure you read this prior to signing up as an ethically friendly holiday is extremely fashionable at the moment and many are jumping on the bandwagon without having made any real changes to the way they operate.

Examples of how holiday providers can help include;

Paper waste reduction policy or recycling scheme set up.
Visits to grassroot local projects with community or environmental benefits and local markets and restaurants where your money will have a direct positive impact.
Employment and fair pay of local guides.
Use of local restaurants and markets to source food and other relevant suppliers such as local hotels rather than overseas chains.

Holiday providers should also help you understand how you can minimize damage whilst enjoying yourself. Examples include;

Advice on water usage, particularly if you are visiting an area that has a water shortage.
Advice on eco-friendly camping if you are sleeping outdoors.
Information on the local region. They should know the current local issues and inform you about them. For example, if you are taken to watch turtles nest on the beach, they should tell you prior to visiting how not to disturb the turtle and give advice on how turtle's habitats should be protected.
They should also inform you of the current social and political situation of the country you are visiting prior to leaving, so you are aware of issues and how you may impact upon them.
Advise on culture etiquette! Trinny and Susannah may not be so helpful in this edition of "What not to wear" Tour operators should also advise you on any body language issues that may be offensive or customary when you meet somebody. For example, in Thailand, a "Wai" is a traditional greeting (like a handshake) It is like you are praying, but the higher you raise your palms, the more respectful it is.

We cover diving, snow and ski, sport, yoga, wildlife, honeymoons, family friendly trips, culture, cookery and hiking and biking holidays and trips on our directory.

You can also visit our ethical travel section, which gives more information on how you can make a positive impact through travel.

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Ethical Morals

Work Travel Volunteer pledges to fund small overseas development projects to help them grow. We too are a small grassroots organisation (big is NOT always better!) but we're passionate about overseas sustainable development and want to give back as much as we get out of Work Travel Volunteer. Visit our sustainable project page to find out more and to see how you can contribute. We also want to highlight key ecotourism issues that are going on at present and how you, as a traveller, whether you are visiting for 1 day, 1 week or two years, can help. Visit our tourism campaigns page to find out more and how you can help.
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