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Responsible Tourism & Inntravel
Inntravel is a member of AITO (the Association of Independent Tour Operators), which has always been at the forefront of the promotion of responsible tourism in Britain. It is now a condition of membership that firms sign up to its responsible tourism guidelines: • Protect the environment - its flora, fauna and landscapes
Protecting the regions our holidays visitOur holidays are, by their very nature, 'responsible':
• We benefit the local economy of the regions we offer holidays to because, almost without exception, the hotels and taxi companies with which we work are local, family-run businesses. The fact that our holidays are for individuals rather than groups means that we can offer hotels and guesthouses with as few as two or three rooms. • Luggage transfers on walking and cycling holidays are combined wherever possible - if several Inntravel customers are moving on to the same hotel, their suitcases will be transported together, or, where a luggage transfer is operated by a taxi firm, they often transport the suitcases at the same time as carrying passengers. • Travel between the destination airport and the hotel is always by rail whenever possible, with taxis used only for the journey between the station and the hotel. We also offer options by Eurostar for those holidays that can easily be reached by rail from London, and encourage customers to offset the carbon emissions produced by their holiday flight. • We help to increase our customers' understanding of the region they are visiting by providing information on the region's culture, history, traditions and gastronomy in our documentation. • A large number of our chosen hotels already feature local produce in their menus, and some also have an environmental policy relating to laundry, lighting and energy conservation etc. We encourage those who have not yet taken such steps to adopt an environmental policy. • Similarly, we include information about responsible tourism in our customer documentation, thus helping to spread the message. The information includes tips on how customers can help while on holiday, from turning down the heating in the bedroom to restricting souvenir purchases to locally produced goods. The National TrustAs well as helping to protect the regions we offer holidays to, Inntravel also works with The National Trust to offer a programme of walking, cycling and self-catering holidays for National Trust members and supporters. Inntravel makes a financial contribution for each booking made through these programmes so as to help fund the work of The National Trust here in the UK, preserving our own countryside and heritage. Inntravel's office environmental policyWe cannot ask hoteliers to act responsibly if we do not do so ourselves in our office.
• We will soon be switching electricity suppliers so that we get our electricity from a company which generates a considerable proportion of its power from renewable energy sources. • We use paper from sustainably-managed forests, and the envelopes for mailing our brochures are made from recycled polythene and are themselves fully recyclable. • We recycle all paper used within the office, as well as the glass, plastic, steel and cardboard packaging from the food staff bring in for their lunches - the cardboard is used for horse bedding. We give all printer cartridges to a charity which refills them. • We buy Fair Trade tea and coffee for the staff kitchen. • Although the secluded location of our office unfortunately means it is not served by public transport, many staff car share. • We offset all our business air travel emissions with a financial contribution to Climate Care. • Each year we donate part of our profits to a number of charitable organisations, namely Plantlife, which works to preserve the natural habitat of endangered species in Eastern Europe, VSO and the Yorkshire Wildlife Trust, which helps to fund the management of nature reserves in the county. More informationIf you would like to discuss Inntravel's responsible tourism policy in more detail, please email our Responsible Tourism Manager, Peter Hunt. |
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At
Inntravel, we recognise that we have social, cultural and environmental
responsibilities to the people that live in the regions our holidays visit.
We wish to respect and preserve both their environment and their way of
life. 
To
recognise those companies which have taken these guidelines further and
implemented their own comprehensive responsible tourism policy, AITO has
established a 2- and 3-star responsible tourism award system. Inntravel
is one of only a handful of members to have been awarded 3-star status.
•
Many of our holidays take place in remote, rural parts of Europe where
depopulation has been a feature for decades. We help to bring employment
and regeneration to these areas. Furthermore, the walking routes featured
in our Walking and More programme help to keep
open traditional drovers' roads and other paths.
•
Our offices, sympathetically converted from a disused farm building specifically
for Inntravel, are very well insulated and use energy-saving lighting.