Tel. +44 (0)1273 600030 (UK)
Environment
This company has operated on responsible tourism values since its inception. From an environmental perspective, our initiatives extend from our company offices to our tours. A local green energy provider powers our head office and stores, we encourage cleaner transportation methods for staff, and purchase all supplies from a local green business supplier. Our office is as paperless as possible and our brochures use 100% PEFC certified sustainable paper. We offset emissions from all corporate flights and our marine vessel, and encourage our travelers to do so by providing an online platform through Sustainable Travel International.
Tour leaders provide travellers with information about local environmental issues in their respective regions, and provide suggestions of how we can best protect the local environment and culture. To reduce the amount of waste created on tours, tour leaders also encourage travellers to use refillable water bottles instead of disposable plastic, cotton tote bags, reusable batteries, etc. We also include destination-specific information in our guidebooks, which are provided to each traveller including information particular to the local culture and environment and tips on how to be a responsible traveller.
Low Impact Transportation: This trip gives you the chance to try out Japan’s famous bullet trains. Getting around as the locals do not only allows you to experience the culture on a deeper level, but the same way it is at home, using public transport is the most sustainable way to go – after walking and cycling of course!
Community
Supporting communties is and always has been at the heart of our tours. We provide business opportunities to local people by employing local guides and tour operators. The majority of accommodation used on our tours are small-scale, locally-owned hotels. Our tours mainly use public transportation wherever possible and are small in size to keep our impact on fragile sites and communities as minimal as possible. We monitor the sustainability of our tours through traveller evaluations in order to allow for continuous improvement. We support the local economy and business initiatives by visiting locally-owned shops, restaurants, and markets on our tours.
Many tours incorporate community projects as a way of supplementing community income and supporting community development projects. In 2003 we founded a non-profit organization as a way for our travellers and our company to give back to the people and places we visit. We develop community projects around the world in the areas of health, education, small business development and environmental conservation. Funds are raised through traveller donations and fundraising. The company pays all administration fees which means that 100% of each individual donation goes directly to the community projects. Each year, we continue to support and develop new partnerships with more community projects and community-based tourism initiatives worldwide, in Latin America, Asia and Africa.
Supporting local culture and businesses: There are a multitude of opportunities to support local businesses and immerse yourself in Japanese and Korean culture on this trip. Our style of trip, travelling, eating and staying with the locals, puts you right at the heart Japanese and Korean culture. Your visit makes a positive impact on the local economy as well as gives you the chance to appreciate cultures that may be vastly different than your own, a natural way to educate yourself and become more open-minded. On this trip you have the chance to visit the world's biggest wholesale fish market – Tsukiji Market in Tokyo. We also visit a place called Takayama in the Japanese Alps, which earned the nickname of ‘Little Tokyo’ because of its skilled craftspeople who built houses and temples for the Emperors in Kyoto. Takayama is home to many old wooden houses, which are unique in their design as they were built to withstand the harshness of the climate and terrain here. Takayama has something for everyone: visit the ‘Praying Hand’ houses at the Hida Folk Village, watch the Festival Floats at Yatai Kaikan or simply walk around the houses and stop for a cup of sake at one of the local breweries. Plus there is the lovely forest walk past numerous small shrines for those who want a little more exercise. Discover traces of a feudal past in the thatched houses and rice fields. An optional bike ride takes you well beyond the town centre.
Into Korea we visit the southern seaport Busan, host to the country's largest fish market - Jagalchi - where seafood lovers can easily pass a couple of hours. The 7th century Beomeosa Temple is one of the city's highlights in a mountain setting. In the same area, Seokbulsa temple is an impressive hermitage carved into the rock.
Support World Heritage: On this trip there are numerous opportunities to visit important heritage sites on foot or by bicycle. In Japan we visit one of Japan’s truly unique shrines, the World Heritage listed Tosho-gu. The building was constructed in 1634 and took 2 years to complete with over 15,000 artisans working on it! We also visit Hiroshima Peace Park. This memorial park is dedicated to people who lost their lives or suffered the first nuclear bomb attack. There is the haunting UNESCO heritage sight A-Bomb Dome which is the ruins of the old Industrial Promotion Hall that still stands. We also visit Himeji Castle. Himeji-jo is the finest surviving example of early 17th-century Japanese castle architecture, comprising 83 buildings with highly developed systems of defense and ingenious protection devices dating from the beginning of the Shogun period. Not to be forgotten is Kyoto. Kyoto has some of the most magnificent temples in Japan, which date back centuries. There are said to be 2,000 temples, shrines, palaces, museums and traditional gardens in Kyoto.
In Korea, Gyeongju is home to South Korea's first nominated UNESCO World Heritage Sites. Gyeongju is locally referred to as a museum without walls - a compact city of tombs and temples; palaces, pleasure gardens and pagodas. In Busan the 7th century Beomeosa Temple is one of the city's highlights in a mountain setting. In the same area Seokbulsa temple is an impressive hermitage carved into the rock. Celebrating world heritage is an important way to participate in sustainable tourism. Many world heritage sites are designated for protection so that all the world’s people can share in these fascinating and historical wonders for generations to come.
When Bruce went travelling after University in 1989 he realised he had limited options: he could either go backpacking or stay on a resort. Returning to Canada, he set up a company that bridged the gap and offered young professionals an affordable way to immerse themselves in the culture of different countries. Bruce gave some of the profits back to the communities he passed through. Today he has offices in 38 countries and runs a travel foundation that builds projects all over the world; he is adamant that all staff adhere to his original business model of sustainability and happiness.
We invite every traveller who books a holiday via us to send in a review. Because we don't run the holidays they're completely independent and unedited... remember to read between the lines though, as two people on the same holiday can have different views!
