Our Philosophy
We do everything we can to be a truly responsible travel business and we believe that everything we do should minimise the negative aspects of foreign travel and make a positive contribution to the places that our travellers visit. We have a set of core values that guide everything we do.
Responsible travel
Respectful and informed cultural exchange is at the very heart of what we do. We do everything we can to ensure that everybody who travels with us gets all the information, guidance and support they need to make a positive contribution while they are overseas.
We only work with locally run and locally organised projects. Many commercial volunteer travel companies set up their own projects overseas to meet the demands of international volunteers. This isn't something we'd feel comfortable doing. The projects we work with are organic in the very best sense of the word: they have grown out of the needs and demands of local communities.
When overseas, you may come into contact with social differences that you do not always feel are right or morally agree with. As an organisation we do not accept or condone certain cultural behaviours and work closely with local communities to lead by example and always seek to ensure a caring and safe environment for our volunteers and the people they serve.
When you travel with us you can rest assured that the work you do will help alleviate problems that have been identified by these local communities and the NGO's that work with them.
Supporting local communities
All of our partners overseas are based in the local community. They are in partnership with i-to-i rather than employed by i-to-i. When you travel with us, you will stay in locally run accommodation and travel on locally owned transport. In this way we can ensure that the part of your placement fee assigned for transport and accommodation goes directly into the local economy. That means that before you’ve even lifted a finger on your project, you’ve already made an important contribution to the local economy.
Against aid reliance
We do not give direct funding to the projects we work with. Many experts believe that the constant flow of financial aid into the developing world causes an over-reliance on foreign aid, which harms the long-term stability of developing economies. It is your time and effort (rather than cold hard cash) that makes a difference. We truly believe that by working together and forging relationships with the developing world, we can make a real and lasting difference.
Cultural exchange
By travelling with i-to-i you will have a unique cultural experience. You'll live and work alongside local people and gain a deeper understanding of their culture and way of life. But this is not a one-way process: by spending time with people from your host country (as opposed to travelling in a package tour bubble) you will give them an insight into your culture. This two-way cultural exchange plays a small, but important part in promoting international understanding. By taking these small steps (and travelling with an open mind), maybe we can all become a little closer and break down the misunderstandings and stereotypes that separate us.
Amazing experiences
We do everything we can to ensure that our trips are truly memorable experiences. We send around 5,000 people a year to some of the most amazing destinations on the planet and with a satisfaction rate of 90%* we think we're doing a pretty good job!
No single supplement
Unlike most travel companies, we don’t think that you should be penalised for choosing to travel by yourself. So we won't impose a single supplement on solo travellers. Travelling alone offers you the chance to reflect upon life, to make new friends and to experience travel in a way that is all too often impossible when travelling with friends or partners.
