Responsible Travel

Everybody can be a responsible tourist when they travel with i-to-i, as responsible travel is at the very heart of what we do. We make meaningful travel experiences possible with our sustainable volunteer projects abroad which embrace community development, conservation, building and teaching projects across 24 destinations. 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 volunteer overseas. We also only work with locally run and locally organised projects that are designed to have a positive long-term impact on communities abroad.

It seems that ‘Responsible Travel’ is the new buzz-word for travel companies, but we’ve been passionate about travelling responsibly since we began operating over 15 years ago. Our philosophy is based around respect for the places that we visit and the people that live there. We believe in working in partnership with local communities rather than imposing ourselves upon them. We are committed to sustainable tourism and we design and operate our trips with this in mind. Our key objective is to minimise the negative cultural and environmental effects of international tourism and to make a positive contribution to the places we visit.

When you volunteer overseas, you may come into contact with social differences that you do not always feel are right or morally agree with. As a travel 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 we offer a caring and safe environment for our volunteers and the communities they benefit; responsible travel in the truest sense of the word.

We choose to do this in a smallscale, local and hands-on way to ensure that our help directly benefits those who need it. We believe that this ‘grass-roots’ style of travel not only benefits the local economy, it also helps preserve the local environment and provides real and positive cultural exchanges. We are passionate about using local support teams and suppliers wherever possible and developing long-term relationships with our partner projects overseas. We are against aid-reliance and firmly believe in assisting communities to realise their potential through the volunteers that assist them, without reliance on i-to-i or drip-fed financial aid.

Our Promise!

All our projects are created from a real need – from animals in distress or to protect biodiversity to community projects that help children and adults alike

Our Big Giving Programme – designed to ensure that our projects have the materials that the need without relying on aid.

We ensure we have lose relationships with all our project to make sure we have the best understanding of what communities need

All our partners overseas who support volunteers are always local to that destination

To always consider the environment is all our activities especially when dealing with projects in destinations

All our projects are designed to have long-term, sustainable impact through volunteers

In Our Office

We try to keep a paper free office where possible and only print when necessary

We have an online customer account system to keep our paper usage as low as possible

In-country materials are sourced locally where possible

We recycle as much as we can including paper, bottles, light bulbs and office supplies

We monitor our energy usage and turn things off when not needed

Our Volunteers

To minimize the environmental impact of flying to their destination, we encourage our volunteer to carbon offset.

We encourage our volunteers to use public transport is taken where possible in country to minimize their impact while there as well as to experience local life!

We have a Code of Conduct to ensure that our volunteer experiences are a positive one for both the project and for the volunteers

Everyone who travels with us intends to do good and make a positive influence

What you can do to minimize the impact of your trip?

While you are away we ask that you too show this respect by remembering that every destination is someone else’s home!

Respect the local people, their environment, customs and values. Be aware that smoking, drinking alcohol, public displays of affection and sexual relationships before marriage are likely to be viewed differently than at home

Ask permission before taking a photograph of someone and respect their decision if they decline

Never buy products that exploit wildlife or the local environment

Use rubbish bins or take it with you. Even if littering is common practice, try to avoid doing so yourself

Avoid wasting water – it is a very precious resource!

Dress appropriately – it will have a direct influence on how you are regarded!

You may want to investigate offsetting the carbon caused by your flight and associated transport. Check out someone like Climate Care for more details (www.co2.org)

Volunteer Code of Conduct - your role as an i-to-i traveller

While you’re on an i-to-i trip you’ll be interacting with the local community and this means that you’ll come face-to-face with a number of cultural differences. Some of these will be very obvious, sometime amusing and at other times frustrating. There will also be cultural differences that are not easy to spot and you’ll need to keep an eye out that you’re not causing any offence, or in fact that you are not offended by something that is not intentional.

We’ve listed below a number of key points that should help you to stay on the straight and narrow, so please try to consider these along the way. There’s a more detailed code of conduct in our terms and conditions if you want to read more:

Listen to and respect your in-country team, they are the experts and are there to help you

Consider the way you behave and what impact it has to the local community, their opinion of you and other foreigners

Look at what the locals do; how they dress, what time they stay out until, how they behave and try to fit in with them as much as possible

Avoid trouble; this could be demonstrations, it could be a local person with a bad reputation or it may just be letting your hair down too much. Think about your safety first; remember you are not at home!

If you are struggling at your project, your accommodation or in general, talk to your in-country team as soon as possible. They are much better placed to help you than your family, friends or even us back here