RESPONSIBLE TOURISM

In a world increasingly aware of the harm that tourism can do, helping to protect the environment - both at home and overseas - is very important to us. So we have to balance the environmental impact of travelling with the immense benefits sustainable tourism can bring to destinations and the people who live there. Helping to conserve natural and cultural assets and injecting often much-needed cash into local economies is hugely important to many of the rural places in our programme.

What we do in the office

• We turn off all lights, printers, photocopiers and PC's at the end of each day: a PC monitor switched off overnight saves enough energy to microwave six meals; leaving a computer on 24/7 costs four times more than if you switch it off; a photocopies left on overnight uses enough energy to produce over 1,500 copies
• We use energy efficient light bulbs and make sure they're regularly cleaned - dirty bulbs can reduce the amount of effective light by over 25%
• We've turned down every radiator by 1 degree in a bid to reduce energy consumption by as much as 10%
• All our brochures are printed on paper from sustainable sources and sent in bio-degradable packaging
• We strive to reduce paper consumption and, what we do use, we recycle
• We recycle all our used laser printer and inkjet cartridges

What we do overseas

• We encourage hoteliers to recycle wherever possible and we look to work with accommodations who have an eco-policy
• We support hoteliers who cultivate their own fruit, vegetables, wine, meat, oils, etc. Many of our hoteliers are part of farming communities that have lived off the land for centuries so their menus are based on fresh, home-grown produce requiring little or no transportation
• We suggest that hoteliers adopt water saving policies - showers instead of baths; towels not replaced daily, etc
• We advise hoteliers to replace traditional light bulbs with energy efficient ones - typically 75% more efficient