There’s a lot of noise in tourism these days about responsible travel. Buzzwords like ‘green travel’, ‘eco-lodge’, ‘environmental sustainability’ and ‘cultural sensitivity’ are pretty much compulsory marketing gimmicks on a website like this.

So, yeah, we’ve built some schools in Peru and Ecuador, and we help out underprivileged kids in Cusco, Peru, and we work with communities as much as we can, and a percentage of our profits go to conservation projects in New Zealand… We do care, and we do all sorts of bits and pieces, but we’re too small to fund a big ongoing project that we can proudly point you to. And unlike much of our competition, we’re not going to exaggerate it or blow our own trumpets.

We think a lot about the issues, particularly working in third world countries like Vanuatu and Peru where even small groups of tourists can have a huge effect on previously unexposed communities. But again, the things we do aren’t the stuff of eco-award ceremonies. We think about vehicle use, rubbish minimisation, water pollution, treatment of porters and community impact every day, but there’s not much glamour in that.

The best thing we reckon we, and you, can do for responsible travel is respect the culture you’re in and the people who live there, rather than expecting things to be the way they are at home. You’ll also find this makes your trip more enjoyable.

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