Romania Photo Tours

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

Economic responsibility

Through our activity we want to support the local economy and ensure that travel brings them a real benefit. As a result:
All our employees are Romanian and have graduated from a local university
All the guides we collaborate with are Romanian and they are licenced by the Tourism Ministry; the pay is done legally.
We include locally-owned accommodation, either guesthouses owned by small families or hotels that are the result of an investment made to create jobs in the communities where they are built
We work with local providers only for our transportation services. Our main suppliers are 100% Romanian owned transportation and car rental companies

We support visits to local farms and guesthouses that produce their own foods and arrange meals at restaurants that use local organic ingredients

We donate money to charity - Magic Home. Magic Home is a charity that now helps build accommodation facilities for the parents of children with cancer. At the beginning they built hospitals for children with cancer and after this goal was achieved they took the next step and started building a place where the parents of those children can stay while their children are treated. Children from all over the country come to one of those hospitals, so in order to not create additional expenses for their parents, in those cities where the hospitals are located they built these accommodation facilities. As of now, there are 10 such facilities in 8 cities.

Environmental responsibility

Our aim is to have a very low environmental impact:
We encourage slow paced traveling, where tourists usually stay in the same location 2 or 3 days. They also travel in small groups as to lessen their impact on the places they are visiting.
Most of the time we rent cars with up to 1,5L gasoline engines in order to have low fuel consumption and CO2 emissions. When possible, we also use other means of transportation such as horse carts or bikes. We also encourage tourists to walk
When visiting natural parks or protected areas we follow the strictest rules
When staying in rural areas tourists get to eat locally grown and sourced, often organic food
Most of our documents are kept in a digital form only so there is hardly any paper being used

We provide tourists with relevant suggestions to minimise damage to the environment. For example, when staying at a hotel we encourage them to use their towels for more than one day, thus reducing the use of water needed to wash them    

At the beginning of each group tour we provide the participants with one water bottle, after which we constantly refill it, thus minimizing the use of plastic bottles

We include visits to a bear sanctuary, the home of previously captive bears have now been rescued and live in good conditions

Social responsibility

Social responsibility is part of our mission statement. As a result:
We show tourists Romanian traditions and customs that are still well-preserved. We have tours focused around local holidays, such as Christmas or Easter and we allow tourist to get involved into the preparations. We include, when possible, visits to traditional festivals and cultural events
We bring travellers to off-the-hidden-path, less visited places that are interesting, thus supporting the development of those areas
During our photo tours we do not intrude into people’s lives, we are simple observers and we are respectful of all nature, people and places we encounter along the way. By travelling in small groups we easily blend in local communities
We help conserve the Romanian heritage through different means: we choose hotels that are housed in traditional or historic buildings or we offer meals made from bio products obtained locally
We bring tourists in contact with local craftsmen or simple people that are still practicing traditional occupations, such as shepherding. During their visits they learn by getting involved, for example when taking part in an egg-painting workshop in Bucuvoina or a pottery workshop in Maramures. At the end of their visit travellers can usually purchase crafted objects as souvenirs

We ensure that a local guide accompanies all group visits to local communities