Vietnam small group tours

Planet

How our company is making a difference:
We know that making the positive difference we aim to achieve will not be an easy task. However, our enthusiasm and commitment towards our travel responsibility mission is far stronger than any obstacles. We believe that in order to achieve any objective, the company has to have accurate policies and procedures for the employees and the guests to follow in order to reach our goal.

We have decided that the environment is a major component of any local community and any negative effect on the environment would directly have an impact on the lives of the inhabitants of the local community. Therefore, we have drawn up a strict environmental protection policy that all our employees and travelers have to abide by. For example, we recycle empty ink cartridges. A company collects them and disposes of them the correct manner.

Marine life makes up for a great number of the population’s food. Fishing is one of the major sources of food. Our travelers are educated beforehand on not littering in any of the water masses that they will encounter during the tour.

The boats and means of water transportation we use during our tours will not contribute to dredging of the water masses.

Something that seems like such a small and regular thing to do, such as insect spray and deodorant, should also be avoided. Rather make use of roll on insect repellant and deodorant to lower the carbon emissions. Aerosol emissions are one of the biggest causes of acid rain over the areas of Vietnam.

We encourage them not to eat any forms of exotic foods that will leave wild life at the mercy of extinction. These even include some insect dishes. We encourage them to leave no trace, basically meaning no trash and no intentional damage to properties.

Our pre-departure information packs outline what to pack and what to leave behind. In a country such as Vietnam, that is flooded for many parts of each year, even the shoes one wears can make an impact on the areas that will be walked on. We therefore explain well in our information packs what to pack in terms of clothing.


For us, Responsible Travel is the only way to travel.

People

Throughout our long tourism business journey, exceeding 15 years of travel operation, we have succeeded in establishing strong links with the communities we are dealing with in the host destinations.

We believe that the Responsible Travel concept has to be a two-way strategy with both the travelers and the local community gaining benefits. We benefit the local communities we visit using a wide scope of activities that have a positive impact on the local economy, directly by donating money to charity organizations, financially supporting some local communities and by recruiting employees who belonging to the local community. We encourage our guests to buy local products and make use of services that people local community offer. We help indirectly through capacity building projects we implement with our employees and through the experiences and culture exchanges that take place between the locals and the travelers during our tours.

We promise to support the local community of every destination we take our travelers to. We will do this by employing local guides, using local handicraft shops and recommend shops to our travelers so that their holiday spending contributes to the people of that country. Furthermore, we provide each traveler with a tipping guide. By doing this we set a concept of tipping and gratuity for every person who will offer a form of service to the traveler.

We have also considered the social aspect of the local community and how to respect the customs and traditions of the inhabitants helping us operate our tours. We always provide our guests with all the information needed to understand the community they are visiting and we create valuable opportunities for the travelers and the locals to mingle and exchange ideas and thoughts.

The first objective is to operate our tours in the most perfect way possible. Our second objective, but not second in importance, is to benefit the local community, protect the environment, and have a positive social impact on the inhabitants living in our host destinations. One of the ways of doing this is to inform and educate our travelers on the cultures of the destinations. By doing this we aim to create a form of respect between the travelers and the local citizens who they will face along their tour.

We educate all our staff on the real life situations of each destination. Sales consultants will use this information to inform potential travelers of the correct information and threats that they may face. By creating long lasting relationships with our local ground handlers, we are able to establish what needs the community has and through their information we can inform our travelers what they can contribute to the local community from their home countries.

Vietnam suffers from a number of floods during the rainy season. There are numbers organizations that collect food parcels throughout the year that is then distributed to the families during the flood seasons. We encourage our travelers to donate money to the specified charities, giving the travelers the assurance that their money will go to the right place and that the families will receive those parcels.

For travelers from Australia, New Zealand and the United States, supporting war veterans may hold a special connection. We aim to provide a connection to such charities whereby travelers are able to support them in the form of donations.

In a country such as Vietnam, a simple hello, thank you and good bye in the native language means the world to its people. People should also not be patted on the head as it is a symbolic curse in Vietnam. Interacting with the children is one of the biggest gifts one can leave behind. They appreciate some form of friendly attention more than pushing money in their hands to give to their parents.