responsible travel

We believe that you can travel responsibly and in line with our personal and company values we want to do what we can to protect the planet for future generations.

Carbon Offsetting

By far the biggest impact that we have on the environment when travelling are the carbon emissions produced by the flights that we sell. In line with our own values we hope you will also be pleased to know what we offset all of the carbon from these flights from 1st Jan 2020. We are working with our partners to understand how we can work towards offsetting more of our carbon footprint.

Choosing your Transport

Whilst it is not always possible to avoid a flight and we are doing our piece to offset the carbon from these, we always encourage our customers were possible to think of other modes of transport to enhance their journey. Scenic train rides are becoming more popular in places such as Thailand and Sri Lanka. These not only avoid internal flights in some instances but also allow you to experience some of the countryside that you may otherwise have missed out on.

Supporting Local Communities

We use local partners that share our values for all of the itineraries that we plan. We find that they will without exception use local guides that take pride in showing you the heart and soul of their city. From both our own experience and that of our customers it is the best way to really see all that a country has to offer. They are also best place to advise you on any local customs and how best to make sure that we are respectful of these. As part of our responsible travel policy it also makes sure that the money they are paid stays within the local community.

Locally Owned Hotels

We believe that the best hotels are boutique or independently run as they can often provide more of an insight into local ways of life. If privately owned the levels of service can often far surpass that of a large rambling hotel. We will always endeavor to use hotels that are locally owned to help support the local economy.

Supporting Local Projects

We support a number of projects through our carbon offsetting programme and will continue to widen this portfolio. We understand that many of our customers also want to help support the local communities and the most popular idea is to take pens and notebooks for local schools. We will help you to do this by suggesting the most appropriate charities in each of our destinations that can help to facilitate this in a responsible way.

Ahead of Travel

in advance of your trip we will provide you with your full itinerary, and as much information as we can about the visas or injections you might need and emergency telephone numbers. We will also provide some information about things that you can do to travel in a more responsible way.

Being a Good Partner

We carefully select the partners that we work with to make sure that match our values and can give our customers the standard of holiday that we would expect. In return we make sure that we behave in the right way towards them and are clear of our expectations, get back to people in a timely manner and pay our invoices on time.

Climate Care Partnership

At The Travel Design Company we work with Climate and Development experts ClimateCare to offset carbon emissions from the flights we sell. ClimateCare ensure the projects selected not only cut carbon, but also alleviate poverty and improve lives.

Find out more at www.climatecare.org.

Pack for a Purpose

Make a meaningful contribution and say thank you to the place that you visit.

We are really proud to be an advocate for Pack for a Purpose, an organisation that connects travellers with local organisations in over 60 countries.

Use the extra space in your suitcase to provide supplies to the communities that you visit.

Their website is updated regularly by the community-based projects with the supplies that are most needed. These are typically things like toiletries and school supplies that you can buy in your home country and take on your trip

To see what is needed in your next destination please click here