Mexico holidays, culture & adventure

We are proud to support Tourism Concern, an organisation dedicated to minimising the negative impact of worldwide tourism. Tourism Concern works to raise awareness and implement change by involving both tourism organisations and host communities. We encourage passengers to learn some basic Spanish before they arrive so they can interact with the local people on a basic level and also as a sign of respect as visitors.

We use local operators and specialist guides on our tours throughout Mexico. This includes locally owned hotels, restaurants, agencies and guides for excursions. Our commitment to these local operators means we are constantly putting back into the community and ensuring these businesses continue to prosper. This also empowers local business operators leading to increased confidence and development of their products and services.

In the Caribbean, we also support the Caribbean Conservation Corporation & Sea Turtle Survival League. Since 2004 we have adopted a total of 7 Green Sea Turtles in conjunction with the Sea Turtle Survival League. Our support has provided additional funding for the league to establish sanctuaries and maintain habitat protection, continue scientific research and promote and educate others of the threat of extinction to Green Sea Turtles.

We have an extensive list of pre-departure documentation which includes maps, regional advice, responsible travel practices and detailed itineraries, and we send this out to our passengers well before their departure to ensure that when they travel they are socially conscious and respectful of their surrounding environments - both during our tours and before/after.

Office policy: We recognise that it is not only on-location staff who have environmental responsibilities but also our administration staff in our offices around the world. All our offices endeavour to be environmentally sound through practising energy conservation, implementing recycling plans and being responsible for the surrounding physical environment. We believe in leading through example and operate in this manner to encourage other businesses and individuals to be considerate of the environment and conserve the natural beauty we currently share.

Carbon Offset Scheme:

Working in partnership with international conservation charity World Land Trust in our continuing quest to establish and maintain our position as a leader in responsible travel, we are offering a new way for our travellers to make a real contribution to the health of the planet - the Carbon Offset Scheme.

World Land Trust is a not-for-profit, international conservation organisation that takes direct action to save rainforest and other biologically important lands. Since it was founded in 1989, it has helped local conservation organisations to purchase and protect over 375,000 acres of threatened habitats in Asia, Europe and Central and South America. There are many organisations offering carbon offsetting services, however we believe that World Land Trust has the most scientifically sound approach and socially responsible philosophy.

When you book your tour with us you will be able to offset a portion of your share of the carbon emissions created while you are on your tour. If you book your tour in the months of November and December 2008, we will match your contribution ‘dollar for dollar’. On top of that, from 01 Jan 2009, we will calculate what clients have donated, and donate an additional 10% of the total to World Land Trust. So the more you contribute, the more we can give! We will also absorb all processing fees associated with these payments, so there’s no administration cost to World Land Trust and they can spend the money donated where it counts - protecting threatened habitats worldwide.

What Will Happen to the Contributions?

World Land Trust will fund projects on your behalf through their Carbon Balanced programme, which reduces the amount of damage carbon emissions are doing to the environment. We will not profit from your carbon offsetting donations. Your contributions will be made directly to World Land Trust and we will not receive any direct financial benefit or commission from these donations.