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Get in touchResponsible 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.
A company that arranges holidays using aircraft and promotes car hire in resort can never hope to call itself ‘green’ or ‘eco-friendly’. However, for many years we have striven to behave as responsibly as possible – long before ‘green credentials’ became fashionable.
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 (long before Airbnb thought of it), and ensure that the ‘tourism pounds’ spent by our clients are spread throughout the host community.
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. 
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 were 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.
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. In addition, we ensure that all lights, computers and screens are turned off every night.