Women only tours to Iran

Environment

Many Iranian hotels and operators provide small plastic bottles of water, so it’s easy to use plastic excessively, especially in the hot climate. However, we suggest that our travellers buy large five or ten litre bottles in order to refill their smaller ones. We are working closely with our suppliers to encourage them to do the same. To further reduce single-use plastics on this trip, we also provide all our travellers with reusable cloth bags.

Water is a precious commodity in Iran. Our trained tour leaders are well versed in advising travellers on initiatives to manage their water consumption. We also ask that our travellers treat this scarce resource with the utmost respect.

As part of our responsible travel philosophy we use local forms of transport wherever possible. On this itinerary we travel by overnight train, public bus and the subway. Whenever public transport isn’t an option, we endeavour to ensure we use private vehicles that are suitable for our small group sizes. For example, we wouldn’t use a 16-seeater minivan if we only have five people joining us on the trip.

This tour is run by our own local Iranian operator who shares our commitment to responsible travel, from waste and water management to ensuring we leave as minimal a footprint as possible. Our local team are also trained on our global responsible travel policies and practices.

As a company we are committed to carbon offsetting. The main sources of carbon emission from our trips (transport, accommodation and waste) are assessed and offset into renewable energy projects. We’ve offset over 250,000 tonnes of carbon emissions from our trips and offices worldwide, including over 40,000 tonnes of carbon in 2016. Plus, part of the cost of your trip is dedicated to carbon offsetting.

Community

All aspects of this trip (on the ground) are operated by local Iranians including all of our leaders, drivers and accommodation providers. We provide our leaders with formal training so that they are up to speed with the needs of our travellers and help update their skills.

An important part of travel is mixing with the locals and experiencing “real life” in your chosen destination. On this trip, travelling in a female-only group with local female leaders allows us to access places and experiences otherwise off limits to mixed gender groups. This presents travellers with an excellent opportunity to interact with a range of fascinating local women – young, old, religious, conservative, rural, modern and liberal while respecting traditional cultural values. While our company believes in inclusiveness, these female-led, women-only expeditions offer a socially responsible and culturally sensitive way for travellers to access female-only establishments, experiences and customs in these traditionally conservative countries.

We also stay only in locally-owned hotels or guesthouses that are locally staffed, enabling the money you spend to stay within that community. We source local activities which we believe are sustainable to the economy in that they allow the flow of income from visitors to be distributed to a greater audience, rather than remain concentrated with tourism providers. This could be as simple as a meal in a small local restaurant, a home-cooked dinner or a village stay.

Our company’s commitment to women’s equality extends beyond our new range of Women’s Expeditions. We’re committed to diversity and inclusion at all levels of the business, with the ultimate goal of doubling its number of female tour leaders globally by 2020.