Family holiday in Northern Italy

Planet

Italy is currently experiencing a tourism boom, so it’s crucial for us to make sure that all activities we take part in are sustainable. For example, we take a lot of care when choosing accommodation and instead of staying in the big chain hotels, we opt for locally-run guesthouses. The Italian hotels featured on this trip practice the worldwide water usage program – ‘Replace or Reuse’. This simply asks customers to state whether they want to replace or reuse their towels using a bathroom hanger. Hotels have little place cards in their bathrooms explaining that every day millions of gallons of water are wasted whilst washing towels that have only been used once. If clients are happy to use their towels for another night they hang it up, if they would like a clean one they leave it on the floor. Many hotels will also ask guests to take short showers to minimise water wastage.

Choosing the right means of transport is another important decision for us and therefore we travel mainly by train on this trip. This helps us not only to minimise our carbon footprint, but also allows us to experience a really interesting way of exploring Italy.

People

Our company is committed to employing local leaders for all our trips and that includes our family range. All our leaders are specifically trained in travelling responsibly and are encouraged to live and breathe this ethos throughout each departure they lead. All travellers are briefed on responsible travel during their first welcome meeting, which is almost always on the first evening of each trip. We source produce locally throughout the trip, eat at local restaurants and encourage our travellers to purchase souvenirs from local artisans.

An important part of travel is interacting with the local community and experiencing “real life” in a destination. On this trip, we visit a local artisan in Venice to learn the craft of mask making and in Levanto we partake in a pesto making class. These are perfect opportunities for our travellers to broaden their understanding of Italian cuisine and culture, whilst picking up a few key local phrases to help them along the way too.