Bhutan cycling holiday
How this holiday makes a difference
Environment
On this tour we work with a locally owned and operated operator. Together we strive to reduce our waste and impact on the environment. It can be a challenge to improve on a country that already excels in minimising its environmental impact. In Bhutan we are unable to use large refillable water bottles so we are restricted to using smaller throw away bottle. However, rather than waste these bottle we give them to farmers and local people along the route as they are able to use these bottles to carry drinking water to their fields and places of work.
When we have takeaway lunches to eat along our ride we do not use any foam packaging. All lunches are carried in paper boxes that have a far smaller impact on the environment. We are working towards using reusable containers for lunches in the future.
In our local operating office in Bhutan the staff have been so inspired by the biking ideal that almost all ride their bikes to work - even in the thick of a Bhutanese winter!
Our main office is, apart from accounting requirements, paperless. We deal with customers electronically and do not print brochures to distribute. By remaining only as an online presence we reduce the wastage associated with producing annual brochures.
Community
On this cycling tour all the crew including drivers, guides and crew are locals from the region. We provide extensive training to ensure that our team deliver high quality tours and which also helps develop their professional skills for future use.
Each that person that visits Bhutan, as a part of the tour cost, pays a tourist tax to the government. The government then uses this money to provide free education, free health care and other services to the people of this poor country. Just by visiting Bhutan on this tour, apart from the money spent on hotels, meals, etc, you wil be contributing over $1000 to the government to provide these services.
We encourage our customers to buy locally made products, both handicrafts and food products that are made in the villages and towns that we pass through and stay in. In Bumthang there is a wealth of delicious organic food products that can be bought and taken home.
Our group size is kept to a maximum of 16 clients. This is both a reflection of the limits in the accommodation of the smaller towns that we stop in and our desire to not be too over powering in our impact on a destination. We only run this tour a few times a year and have no desire to be bringing weekly groups through these regions.
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