Responsible Tourism, is without doubt, the current buzz word for the industry but, what does it mean? In general terms, Responsible Tourism aims ‘to create better places for people to live in, and better places for people to visit’.
For us, at Sunvil, this means building close relationships with our destinations and working alongside our local agents and the host communities to develop a sustainable and culturally sensitive tourism industry that aims to bring long-term social, economic and environmental benefits. We are not a company that introduces a destination only to remove it after a couple of years – we are dedicated to the destinations that we feature!
In fact, Sunvil was the first UK Tour Operator to promote self-catering on the island of Cyprus in 1970, and it is largely down to our initiatives in encouraging the renovation of village properties that has encouraged city dwellers on the island to respect their village heritage and breathe life into once forgotten settlements.
Our Initiatives
Overseas:
We promote owner-managed hotels and tourism enterprises, including a selection of renovated village properties within each of our holiday brochures. These properties offer guests the opportunity to meet and become part of the local community (even if only for a short time), and ensure that the ‘tourism pounds’ spent by our clients are spread throughout the host community. We have recently become part of the Travelife Sustainability scheme p.12 >
We do not feature ‘all inclusive’ hotels in areas like the Mediterranean, preferring to encourage our clients to leave the unnatural cocoon of such hotels and explore their chosen destination and support the local businesses. In addition, we have produced some simple guidelines (please see the links on the right) which we hope will help you to help protect the local environment of your holiday destination and therefore enhance the enjoyment of your holiday.
Sunvil use local suppliers and local representatives wherever possible, and we encourage our suppliers, through many initiatives, to protect and treasure their local environment. We don’t always win, but we try. In the Azores for example, where we offer a variety of nature based activities, we have chosen suppliers that are owned and managed by local geologists, biologists, marine biologists and certologists who strive to educate visitors and protect the natural landscape of their beautiful islands.
Our charities:
Sunvil Holidays are also active supporters of the travel industry’s ground-breaking charity ‘The Travel Foundation’, the creation of which we were heavily involved in.
For further information on the charities that we support in each of our featured destinations please visit our charities page >
The travel industry:
We believe in low impact, high revenue tourism and are vociferous in damning the ‘low cost’ airline model which has led to gross overcapacity in a number of European destinations, and the belief that you should be able to fly everywhere in the world, from a local airport, for next to nothing, no matter the environmental cost. We are also against the expansion of Heathrow airport, even though our livelihood depends on flying aircraft. We cannot reconcile Government policy on airport expansion while at the same time it (the government) purports to encourage a reduction in emissions.
In 2006, Sunvil Holidays was one of the first UK tour operators to introduce an opt-out carbon offset policy and, over the past year, 36% of our clients have chosen to pay the optional charge, raising money for two projects in the Retezat National Park in Romania. Find out more about our pioneering Carbon Offset scheme here >
Tourism 2023 – Creating a Sustainable Tourism Industry
The Tourism 2023 project sets out to help the UK outbound travel and tourism industry understand the challenges it faces and plan for a sustainable future.
Read more about Tourism 2023 by visiting their website >
Customer feedback:
We like to receive, and encourage, feedback from clients whether critical or complimentary. If you have any ideas on how we could improve our Responsible Tourism practices, or have seen our work in action, please do contact us > we would love to hear from you.
At home:
In our office in Old Isleworth, we recycle everything possible including paper, cardboard, cans, glass, plastic, printer toner cartridges and excess holiday brochures. We have also recently introduced a compost-bin for our tea bags and fruit. In addition, we ensure that all lights, computers and screens are turned off every night! Plastic milk bottle tops are also collected on behalf of a local charity. We support the RSPB ‘Save the Albatross’ campaign and forward all our used stamps to the charity. Through the sale of these stamps – whether they are used or un-used, UK, foreign or even first day covers – the charity can raise money to help protect one of the world’s largest flying birds Find out more about the Save the Albatross campaign here >
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