We are joining ReponsibleTravel.com. Please see their questions and our answers on AdvenTour's responsible travel policy below:
1. Do you encourage travelers to minimise waste and recycle? If so how?
When we travel to protected areas or to any remote regions in the countries we work in, we advise our travelers on the kind of luggage to take, i.e. minimal luggage that is needed for the day or two they will spend in that area. This minimizes the use of petrol (if everyone take all luggage they’ve brought, we would have to hire a larger car).
Also the kind of utensils and food can have a huge impact on the amount of rubbish (we do not use plastic bags, plates, etc. – only recyclable bags and utensils that can be used more than once).
Another example is the food that we do not use during the lunch or dinner at camping - whatever remains is given to the local community who can use the remains to feed domestic animals or as fertilizer.
2. Do you encourage travelers to save energy and water? If so how?
Energy and water are saved in a variety of ways:
a. by the measures described above (being clever about the amount of luggage needed);
b. when traveling to regions where the roads are really bad and special vehicles are needed (like in Svaneti in Georgia) we “pool” groups and share the special vehicles, i.e. instead of taking 2 vehicles for 2 separate groups of say 3-4 people, we combine them for this section of the road;
c. our fleet of vehicles is maintained in our own garage – the vehicles are well maintained to minimize waste of energy;
d. water is saved by accommodation providers we work with, they provide travelers with specific advice for example on changing the bedclothes or using water.
3. Do you use accommodation with environmental policies? If so what are these policies?
The local family-owned accommodations which form the majority of the facilities we use, do not have formal environmental policies but by giving jobs to people in the locality where they operate, buying the food in the small villages surrounding the hotel, they work towards the same end, we believe.
4. Do you support local conservation projects? If so which ones? How do you support them?
We work with Khosrov Nature Park and Lake Arpi National Park in Armenia as well as Borjomi-Kharagauli National Park and Tusheti Protected Areas in Georgia; we take groups to these protected areas; our groups not only use their facilities, guides, horses, etc. but also visit their conservation projects – like tree nursery and make contributions to the project.
When working with these protected areas we pay for clients’ entry as well as services provided to our groups – food, accommodation, horses, local vehicles – in this way we help them run and improve their activities.
We contribute to their “soft” development as well – for example with Khosrov Nature Reserve we have created a culinary demonstration product which was not in place before we went there and is now a great addition to the nature viewing product they already have. In these protected areas we comply with the local regulations concerning routes, accommodation, flora and fauna protection.
5. Do you encourage guests to support them? If so how?
In group visits we include conservation projects implemented by protected areas, provide information, help create live demonstrations (for example a Children’s Art Center in Vanador, Northern Armenia) and by taking part in the demonstration people choose to contribute to the project.
6. Do you give your guests information about the conservation of the natural environment? If so how?
Our guides have information about the natural and cultural environment the group visits and provide this information during their guiding process; also we use local guides from communities which are especially interesting and original (for example Russian Molokan “Milk Drinkers” community in Northern Armenia); these local guides are “living” examples of how to behave and interact with the community. Many of our past travelers have commented on the encounters with local people being an absolute highlight of their trip.
7. What is the group size and how does this impact on the community and environment?
On our activity holidays (which mostly visit protected areas) maximum group size is 8 persons – this decision was made to comply with the guidelines of protected areas – to help minimize the waste, noise and other type of impact which are critical in these environments (for example in Lake Arpi Trans Boundary National Park in Armenia and Georgia during the birding tours we take a boat trip to the island on the lake where birds nest – we do not take more than 3 people on one trip to this island).
On cultural groups the max group size is 12 people which is again based on our experience of the optimal group size both from the point of view of communities visited and from the point of view of travelers – creating a good balance between planned and independent activities.
8. In your office: how do you minimise energy use? Do you use energy efficient light bulbs and appliances?
As much as possible we try to use energy efficient bulbs and appliances (based on availability of these appliances in Armenia and Georgia); our office is located in the premises of a former Soviet factory in the “working” quarter of Yerevan where people have lost jobs due to the collapse of the Soviet Union – by giving jobs to people from these quarters, we believe we have a contribution to the living of these people; also we share the cafeteria, security, garage and many other auxiliary services / units with the part of the factory that still works which also minimizes many types of environmental pollution.
9. Do you recycle? If so what do you recycle?
We recycle mainly stationary as well as the food in the cafeteria – whatever remains is distributed to villagers from surrounding villages to feed their animals or use as fertilizer.
10. Do you run a paper free office? Do you use recycled stationary? Do you encourage car sharing? Do you work from home to avoid transport pollution? Please give details
We run a paper free office – we print only when something absolutely needs to be on paper, otherwise we use the electronic version of the file. We take our employees to our office in a minibus in the morning (our office is far from city center). This is done not only to make sure everyone travels to the office comfortably and in time but also to minimize transport usage; on holidays we work from home.
Thank you for your attention, any comments are welcome as usual!
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