Cambodia highlights holiday, small group

Environment

Our Cambodia Highlights trip spends one week exploring this fascinating country's highlights and travelling on a variety of transport along the way. In Phnom Penh we travel by cyclo-rickshaw, a more sustainable way to explore the city that doesn’t contribute to city pollution and provides local employment opportunities. In Siem Reap we explore many of the temples on foot, and on Tonle Sap lake we visit fishing communities by longtail boat which offers a traditional and low-impact way to explore and provides employment to the local boat drivers and crew.

When coaches are being used, we keep the size of the coach to a minimum, so rather than using gas guzzling 40-50 seaters we opt for more environmental friendly 15-25 seat coaches that use less fuel and therefore admit less carbon.

We manage water consumption and reduce waste on this trip by encouraging people to bring along re-usable bottles and by supplying a large tank of fresh drinking water on our coach, available for refills.

As a travel company we are continually looking for ways to improve and are proud to be ‘Responsible in everything we do’. Education is key, and so all staff, Tour Leaders and partnering suppliers are trained in responsible and sustainable tourism. At our Head Office, we continually strive towards a sustainable and planet-friendly working environment, including having solar panels installed and a company commitment to reducing our plastic usage.

Conscious of our impact on the environment, by opting to travel most journeys on public trains we are drastically reducing the reliance on privately chartered transport within this trip. All travel has impacts, but we are confident this trip keeps those to a minimum. Train travel is also a great way to meet local people and get a more personal experience of travel in their country. This is an excellent opportunity to get chatting, so we do encourage you to try a few words of Spanish!

Ensuring that local people benefit from tourism is core to our philosophy and relevant to all countries, regardless of the level of development. Though you will need to drink plenty on this trip, we encourage you not to buy bottled water due to the plastic waste this generates. Tap water is perfectly drinkable in this area so bring your own reusable water bottle with you. We use locally owned transport and hotels for the majority of the time and try to spread our custom to a variety of local restaurants and attractions. It’s not just good for the local communities; we believe you get a better experience as a result.

In addition to the above, we are continually looking for ways to improve and are proud to be ‘Responsible in everything we do’. Education is key and so all staff, Tour Leaders and partnering suppliers are trained in responsible and sustainable tourism. At our Head Office, we continually strive towards a sustainable and planet-friendly working environment, including having solar panels installed and a company commitment to reducing our plastic usage. As well as this, we have valuable and longstanding partnerships with UK charities Toilet Twinning and Send a Cow, plus many smaller initiatives and projects around the world. We’re members of UK travel industry bodies Tourism Concern and AITO because we believe it’s important to share our knowledge and experience, as well as learn from other operators. We acknowledge that air travel has a negative impact on our environment, so we work together with Cool Earth to offset carbon and protect our important rainforests.

Community

One reason we use local tour leaders is so they can help bridge any cultural gaps between us and the local people. As well as helping to unlock many aspects of the destination; employing a local tour leader, local guides, drivers, and boat crews all contributes in supporting the local community through employment and training. Our supplier is a locally owned company and over the past 25 years we have built a long standing, mutually beneficial and respectful relationship.

In Cambodia, we help to support vulnerable communities through business; during our free time in Siem Reap we may choose to visit the land mine museum which helps to support affected families and land mine clearance. In Phnom Penh our Tour Leader will organise a group meal at the ‘Friends’ restaurant, where young people with limited resources are trained on all aspects of running a restaurant. This organisation also has worked with our hotels to ensure children are not exploited in any way.

As a company we have valuable and longstanding partnerships with UK charities Toilet Twinning and Send a Cow, plus many smaller initiatives and projects around the world. We’re members of the UK travel industry body AITO because we believe it’s important to share our knowledge and experience, as well as learn from other operators.