Traverse Journeys

How the minimum criteria of the responsible travel standard was met...

Economic responsibility

People – This includes our local guides and community non-profits as well as individuals
such as our local talented surf instructor or gifted chefs to give travelers the opportunity
to engage in cultural exchange and provide income for the community we’re visiting. We
seek destinations where tourism income opportunities are needed and desired, and where
we can find fun, impactful ways to engage with and learn about the local community.
We prioritize local and organic food as much as possible
while enjoying the flavors of culinary customs of the area, and we do the vetting work for
by selecting vendor partners that are engaged in their local community to support
conservation and sustainable agriculture.

Environmental responsibility

Planet - We pick some of the most beautiful places on earth to unplug and recharge, with
the idea of "do no harm" by giving nature the respect she deserves. We stay in places that
demonstrate eco-friendly practices, such as water saving techniques, solar power or
renewable building materials

We encourage travelers to bring reusable water bottles and we work with hotels and partners to ensure a jug is available for refills. We also partner with Grayl water filtration systems for travel-friendly bottles.

we provide on-site education in each locale depending on the conditions of that place. For example, in water environments we suggest appropriate sunscreen that does not contain eco-damaging chemicals.

Many of our community partners are environment-specific such as Green Sail in Croatia, which works in ocean conservation.

Social responsibility

We provide the type of travel that allows one to grow and learn through
engagement and experience while taking off the pressure of making all the plans yourself.
Each trip generates a donation of 5% of sales to our loca community partner non-profit.
This allows money to stay within the community not only through the employment
provided through tourism but also by supporting local organizations that are working hard
to enhance conservation, support community healthcare, mitigate homelessness, provide
education, create job opportunities and engage in myriad other social and environmental
causes.

We send clients welcome packs. We also e-mail clients 60 and 7 days prior to the trip start and encourage US clients to register in STEP, a government program that sends out political updates from the local embassy in case of any issues.

To minimise negative impacts on local cultures we educate on-site according to local conditions. An example in SE Asia is not giving money to children selling things, as it deincentivizes parents from keeping them in school.

A local guide accompanies all group visits to local communities? We also list a bio of our local guides for some trips such as Ecuador and Nepal.

Please see our Partners page for examples of social projects that we visit in each locale. We do a half day activity with a non-profit partner in each destination, and 5% of sales goes to that organization.