We ♥ responsible travel
At Intrepid, we ♥ travel. Especially RESPONSIBLE travel. And it seems we’re not the only ones! Those of you who recently completed our Responsible Travel and Sustainability survey noted that Intrepid’s approach to Responsible Travel is one of the top 3 reasons you travel with us. The survey also showed that over 90% of respondents want to travel with a company who practice Responsible Travel and agree the travel industry has a duty to reduce its environmental footprint.
Take climate change for example. The tourism industry is both impacted by climate change and is a sector that’s a growing contributor to the problem. So as a travel company that creates and promotes holidays, we see it as our responsibility to be part of the solution, not the problem. And the good news is we’re not alone – 98% of survey respondents believe climate change is an important issue that Intrepid should continue to tackle.
Last year’s efforts to minimise our impact on the environment saw us reduce our global office carbon emissions by a whopping 21%. Contributing to this decrease was the introduction of a new recycling system into our head office, and we also welcomed a family of worms to our office to help munch through our food waste!
What we can’t avoid and reduce, we offset. Last year, our trips produced over 28,000 tonnes of carbon, which we offset into renewable energy projects in the developing world. We also saw more and more of our travellers choosing to offset their flights, contributing almost $3000 to renewable energy projects. Whilst offsetting your flight is not compulsory, almost 70% of survey respondents said they would offset their flights. That’s great news and a big sign that everyone is willing to do what they can for our precious planet.
Another Responsible Travel issue close to our hearts is Gender Equality. And from the survey results, it’s close to your hearts too. 88% agreed it’s important that Intrepid step up and address gender inequalities in the destinations we visit and our global offices. See the work our SAMA project is doing for gender equality at intrepidtravel.com/sama.
We’d like to thank all those who took the time to complete the Responsible Travel and Sustainability Survey. We value your input and have used the information gathered to help us identify and address areas that you think are important.
The winner of Intrepid’s 8-day Thailand Discovery trip was Cherise Elliott and in her entry she noted that Responsible Travel is all about “exploring boldly but treading lightly” – one of the many great reasons why we all ♥ Responsible Travel!
Photo: Sue Elliot, San Francisco USA
