Working towards Sustainability?

Based on the sustainability best practice guidelines, we ask applicants to tell us what they are already doing, and what they are going to do next - the action plan. For total transparency, we make this available on their main profile.

We expect that applicants with a commitment to principles of sustainability will already be doing much of what is practicably possible and locally important, and will already have ideas and plans they want to bring in to further advance the environmental and social benefits of their work.  

They should be rewarded. If we can generate them more business at lower costs, and save them time and money on their marketing, we believe that they will also have much more chance of advancing these plans.

Their plans are listed on their profile, and at least once a year we ask how they are getting on with them. With enough evidence, we will tick items off so everyone can see their progress. If little progress is being made, we will start to question their eligibility for membership.  

At any time we will not hesitate to reject or suspend members who we no longer feel share our vision. As we are not financially dependent on our members, we really can stay independent and unbiased in this – the holy grail, and if we may say so, one of the most significant features of our model.

We work with many truly forward thinking initiatives and community based projects that are using tourism to advance specific conservation and sustainable development goals. In some areas they may go beyond even these guidelines. We will be specially recognising such operations as the ‘Pioneers’ of much better adventures.

In the future we plan to visit more and more of our members to experience their operations first hand. For now we have to rely on trust, recommendation and reviews from guests.