The Travel Foundation

The Travel Foundation is a charity established to manage tourism in a more responsible way. It does this through working with tourism businesses to improve their practice and through supporting and initiating sustainable tourism projects in destinations which benefit local people and reduce environmental impact. We are delighted to have incorporates some of the Travel Foundation projects into our tours.  In Sri Lanka groups can visit the tree planting project and women’s’ lace making co-operative; and in Brazil you may have the chance to join a community tour that gives a fascinating insight into local life whilst really benefitting the local people.

To find out more visit http://www.thetravelfoundation.org.uk/

Tourism Concern

Tourism Concern campaigns to effect change in the tourism industry towards fairer and more ethically traded tourism. Explore has supported Tourism Concern on a variety of initiatives and commends the work it has done in raising awareness on many issues such as porters rights and labour standards. We are part of Tourism Concern’s Ethical Tour Operators Group.

To find out more visit http://www.tourismconcern.org.uk/

Rainforest Alliance

The Rainforest Alliance works with local hotels and suppliers to promote best management practices that will help local business reduce negative impacts and potentially obtain certification in sustainable tourism. Through training, workshops and by providing tools and resources, the Rainforest Alliance encourages the tourism industry to conserve local environments and contribute in a positive way to their local communities. Explore supports the Rainforest Alliance by agreeing that a minimum of 50% of our nightstops in participating countries will be in properties working towards certification in sustainable tourism, and by actively encouraging the other properties we work with to sign up to local sustainable tourism programmes. The Rainforest Alliance works in eight countries in Latin America, and we support their efforts in Ecuador, Costa Rica, Guatemala and Belize.

To find out more visit http://www.rainforest-alliance.org/

Association of Independent Tour Operators (AITO)

Explore is a member of the Association of Independent Tour Operators Responsible Tourism Committee, working with the organisation on policy issues and assisting the membership in putting responsible tourism (RT) into practice.

To find out more visit http://www.aito.co.uk/

International Porters Protection Group (IPPG)

The IPPG was set up in 1997 to address the issue of working conditions for porters working in mountain areas. With cheap travel increasingly becoming a 'right', more demands are being placed on those people working in tourism. We are striving to follow IPPG guidelines to ensure porters working on Explore tours, particularly Tanzania, Peru and Nepal, are paid a fair wage, given adequate equipment, do not carry excessive loads and have access to health care.

To find out more visit http://www.ippg.net/

Born Free Foundation

The Born Free Foundation is an international wildlife charity working throughout the world to stop individual wild animal suffering and protect threatened species in the wild. The Foundation has offered invaluable advice and support to Explore over the years, enabling us to make informed and responsible choices about our wildlife visits and improve the quality of our training to staff. Born Free also offer an excellent service to customers to report abuses of wild animals worldwide.

For more information see http://www.bornfree.org.uk/

Farnborough Business and Community Group

Our remit to be a responsible business does not only apply to what we do overseas. We care very much that we are a good member of our own community in Hampshire. As part of the Farnborough Business and Community Group we are working with local government, businesses, environmental and community groups to make ours a brighter borough – socially and environmentally. In November 2009 a group of staff volunteered to plant 2,500 tulip bulbs for Rushmoor In Bloom.

For more on this visit http://www.rushmoor.gov.uk