CODE OF ETHICS

We are aware of the impact of travel and the privilege our travelers enjoy, as well as the importance of learning from inspiring cultures and people to better consider the challenges facing our human society.

The two key words that will dictate our choices are responsibility and conscience. These will imply the application of a whole set of values and practices signified by the current terms of sustainable tourism, fair tourism, regenerative tourism, Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), for which we will only adopt those that we really apply, or for which we make a real effort to apply, banishing the practice of green washing. However, we will endeavor to be transparent, and this will constitute an additional value in our commitments, when we cannot, for reasons we consider justified, fully apply these principles.

Indeed, as much as we love the travelers who join our community, we are also aware that radical positions, even if they define our distant horizon, will not easily make this adventure a sustainable initiative, if it cannot find a viable balance, especially economically. Which means we’ll also be working to educate our travelers, to make our journeys ever more virtuous.

It’s also by understanding the local economic equilibrium that we’ll enable travelers to approach and discover the treasures that each destination and its inhabitants have to offer, without jeopardizing the micro-societies that receive them.

It’s worth noting that we prefer to avoid the term “tourism” for its consumerist connotations, in favor of the term “travel”, more in line with the noble sense of adventure and discovery, capable of envisaging even the hazards as a constitutive part of the journey.

Our commitments are as follows:

TO OUR TRAVELERS

• Respect for our commitments: promised service = fulfilled service, unless the passenger chooses otherwise,
• Constant concern for travelers’ safety, by offering services in the best health and safety conditions (1st aid, etc.),
• Offer activities that enhance and enrich the traveler’s experience. Avoiding services considered to be folkloric for tourists.
• Information on the cultures visited, their practices and tangible or intangible heritage, to value and respect them in all their dimensions.
• Travelers share and sign the document entitled GOOD TRAVELER PRACTICES.

IN RELATION WITH OUR SUPPLIERS

• Agreement with our suppliers on fair prices that satisfy them, favoring balanced negotiation in accordance with the principles of free and informed consent,
• Compliance with agreed payment terms,
• Preference for partners who practice committed tourism, particularly regarding local communities and sustainable consumption patterns.
• Signature of contracts or partnership agreements, mentioning among other things our socio-environmental requirements, with our partner incoming agencies and, when possible, with our main suppliers.
• Produce an annual report covering all aspects of our collaboration with partner incoming agencies.

TO OUR STAFF

• Promoting personal development, through the assumption of responsibilities within the company and through training,
• Fostering a spirit of camaraderie, sharing and caring,
• Compliance with ILO recommendations,
• The granting of economic conditions that exceed legal requirements.

TO OUR PLANET AND ITS INHABITANTS

• Preference given to human-scale hotels integrated into their natural and cultural environment,
• Promotion of products that allow our travelers to participate in development and conservation initiatives, either physically or economically,
• Priority selection of service providers using local or fair-trade products,
• Working in partnership with local communities who are at the heart of the welcoming process, to participate in their development without creating “tourist highways” in remote regions, or generating a significant imbalance within the community,
• Setting up a fund to finance virtuous projects in the communities we visit, thanks to travelers’ contributions as a form of compensation for unavoidable air travel,
• Making our travelers aware of the impact of their presence by agreeing in advance to respect certain “good practices”,
• Preference for transportation with low greenhouse gas emissions, encouraging “soft mobility” and slow travel, for a more human pace, preferring depth to productivity,
• Respect for the host country’s customary practices, without trying to give lessons, and favoring active listening,
• Preference given to digital over paper for data storage and communication,
• Use of ecological and/or recycled paper, reuse of scrap paper, printing only when necessary (and on both sides),
• Economical use of drinking water,
• Use of low-impact light bulbs,
• Switching off electrical appliances when not in use,
• Waste management, with priority given to reducing waste production (by favoring eco-designed, low-packaging products), reusing products whenever possible, recycling when reduction, reuse or recovery are impossible, sorting all waste (if collection is organized for this purpose by the local authority).