At it’s simplest this involves volunteering at a community project over the course of your vacation. However, many people like to go beyond that and ensure that every aspect of their travel is done in a way that positively impacts the environment and local community. Whatever level of ‘sustainable tourism’ you are interested in, the activities need to be planned thoughtfully with an eye for the long term.
Best practices involve using the services of the local community as much as possible (e.g. for transport, accommodations, food and activities) ensuring that money flows into, and circulates within, the local community. Any community projects undertaken need to meet real community needs and be designed to ensure the sustainability of the project going forward, even if the destination becomes less popular or attentions shift.
Through our work with Community REfund in Nicaragua, we’ve got a close insight into how tourism and real estate activity are influencing the local community and have links with best practice community projects. We have collated a network of local businesses that work in tourism related fields and seek to use their services in planning the tours
Getting involved and giving back
There are many ways to get involved with the local community, experience the culture first hand and travel with a light footprint. In fact they go hand in hand.
Get started by choosing the activities you would like to get involved in and we’ll design a vacation-that-gives-back just for you:
