Assessment of impact and statement of committment
- Define the scope of the audit: Clearly define the areas of the company’s operations that will be covered by the audit, such as energy use, waste management, transportation, and accommodations.
- Identify our current practices: Gather information about our current practices in each area of the audit, including data on energy and water use, waste generation, and transportation.
- Assess environmental and social impacts: Evaluate the environmental and social impacts of the company’s current practices, including the impact on local communities, wildlife, and natural resources.
Assess our dependency and impact on animals and nature
NOTES:
Animondial Animal Footprint Evaluation Tool: https://animondial.com/animalfootprint
Where do we directly interact with animals?
- Elephants in Thailand
- Monkeys – Sri Lanka, India and Thailand
- Whale watching, swim with the Dolphins New Zealand
- Snorkelling – Australia, Bali, Thailand, Vietnam
- Koalas – Australia
- Dingos – Australia
- Safari – Tanzania
- Sea turtles – Bali, Papua New Guinea
Where do we have deep nature immersion?
- Hiking (Tongariro crossing, Bridal Veil Falls), National Parks (Able Tasman, Milford Sound) in New Zealand
- Blue Mountains, Cape Tribulation (Daintree), Port Stephens, National Parks (Byron Bay, Whitsunday Island, other?), Fraser Island, Great Barrier Reef – Australia
- Mt Batur – Bali
- Thailand?
- Japan
- Meet National Park – Croatia
Where do we have active positive impact on nature?
- Reforestation, beach clean-up – Croatia
- Marine Conservation – Australia, Papua New Guinea, Bali
- Elephants – Thailand
Assess our positive and negative impact on the cultures we travel through
NOTES:
Where do we have positive cultural immersion
- Lake Aniwhenua, work experience – New Zealand
- Port Macquari, work experience – Australia
- Les Village – Bali
- Nepal
- Thailand?
- Japan?
- Colombia
- School – Tanzania
Assess our total carbon output
What are our biggest challenges
TO RECONCILE:
- U. takes travellers to the world’s most beautiful places – our trips are intrinsically linked to biodiversity and nature. What percentage of our trips are highly dependent on nature?? But at the same time our trips fuel conservation efforts and direct spend in the local economies. We are in a unique position to either destroy or protect our planet’s natural natural wonders.
- Partying, credit cards, long-haul travel sit uncomfortably with environmental sustainability. Our anecdotal experience is such that in our young travellers the say-do gap is actually much less than in older sectors.
- A Skift survey of 1,011 respondents for this report found only 14 percent of travellers have willingly paid more for such an option
- What percentage of U. Travellers have offset the travel carbon (create infographic)
- Create a goal and measure this
- We have been poor with offsetting flight carbon
- A 2022 Swiss study found when presented with the option to buy carbon offsets for flights, only around 5 percent of consumers did so—resulting in a mean carbon offset purchase of only around €1 per flight – compare this to U.Travellers since we started offsetting flights
- What percentage of U. Travellers have offset their flight carbon
- Create a goal and measure this
- Our own internal performance
- Offsetting Dan’s carbon
- Office performance
- Cultural interaction often involves children. Children are NOT for entertainment
- Our customers are insecure and often concerned about many of the basics of U. Trips
- Travelling with other cultures
- New (unusual) foods
- The adventure of a homestay
- Communicating to customers why we should not do things
- Riding elephants in Thailand
- Monkey forest in Bali
- Invasive school visits in Tanzania
- Cutting costs – by avoiding to use National Porters Association in Tanzania
- Western guides are sympathetic to the customers (often with young travellers centred around wanting to drink and party, not being overly fussed about too many temples) versus local guides creating direct employment
Contents
- Introducing U.
- Approach to creating a responsible tourism company
- The project
- Assess and Define: Assessment of impact and statement of commitment
- Dream: Evaluation of possible objectives
- Prioritise and blueprint: Prioritisation of objectives and action items
- Deliver: Project management
- Maximise: How we maximise the value of our efforts
- Monitor and Report: Ongoing review and next steps
- Appendices (online available offline)
- Travelife Certification Criteria
- BCorp Certification Criteria
Download the U. Responsible Tourism Framework.
Outcomes
Define what we believe are the best practice in responsible tourism
Cultural
Community (Economic)
Environmental / Nature
Self-awareness
Our role
Benefit local communities by validating local partner credentials (licenses, health and safety, local employment) – cheapest is not necessarily best;
Always choosing local companies as a priority;
Invest ourselves in local projects;
Reduce firstly and then offset carbon footprint;
Contribute to conservation programs;
Never use animals or children for entertainment;
Put our money where our mouth is in our own daily impact and in the office Actively contribute to UN SDGs
Create an environment of inclusivity both in our office and on our trips;
Be aware of our mental health as well as that of others;
Be mindful of “green everyday life” Strive to create awesome experiences for our customers
Travellers role
Be open-minded by letting go of their prejudices and preconceptions;
Try something/everything new
Be respectful to the different cultures we visit – trying our best to communicate despite language barriers
Proportion their travel budgets to allow for projects beyond just the normal (party) travel experience;
Spend local
Offset all carbon;
Reduce use of plastic;
Clean-up after ourselves;
Get involved in environmental projects
Guides role
Demonstrate with pride what it means to be a local
Never choose an activity, restaurant, bar, shop, accommodation for the purpose of receiving commission if a better option exists
Lead from the front on plastic, cleaning-up
Community role
Be completely welcoming;
Don’t offer up interactions that are not genuine in the interests of solely economic gain
Provide unique and genuine experiences
- Commit to our own code of ethics
Description
Status
Commitment
Create the best travel experiences we can dream of
Bring people together from all over the world in small groups to beautiful new destinations for the purpose of
exploration, enjoyment and enlightenment
Create a community of inclusivity, safety travel memories, laughs and great times.
Provide an all-in-one service with everything needed for incredible SUSTAINABLE adventures including guidance,
flights, tours, insurance, carbon-offsetting and much more.
Review
Document policies
Integrate monthly reports into board report
Improve reporting from in-destination
Improve
Member of team always to be available
Risk register in place
Improve
Maximise local spend
Maintain
Transparency
Provide transparency in the booking process the demystifies the customers emissions impact Info on sustainability
actions
What to expect on a trip (inclusions may change)
Integrate responsibility reporting into monthly management accounts
Improve
Improve
Improve
Improve
No orphanages
Responsible giving = Don’t create or perpetuate a culture of begging
Responsible interactions – children participation in cultural performances must be voluntary
Responsible interactions – animal interaction must not cause disturbance (eg like it does at Monkey Forest)
Maintain and Improve
Maintain
Sign an expectations and reposibilitiues agreement with partners
Hold information on licenses, health and safety policies, insurances, sustainability statements, local guide info
Improve
Improve