Culture Trip’s Commitment to Responsible Travel
The way we travel is changing. The desire to see other countries and cultures is as strong as ever, but so is the need to travel in a better way — for the benefit of everyone. One element that has been at the forefront of our minds as a travel company is how we can explore the world in a more responsible way, so here’s everything you need to know about Culture Trip’s commitment to responsible travel.
In 2011, Culture Trip was created to inspire people to go beyond their cultural boundaries and experience what makes a place, its people and its culture special, unique and meaningful. Fast-forward to today, and Culture Trip has evolved into a travel e-commerce brand with content at its core. We inspire people with our unique stories — and they can book with us from our carefully curated collections of Places to Stay and Experiences.
This year we are also launching our very own TRIPS by Culture Trip — unique small-group adventures that you can book with us.
We help you explore the world while being good to it
We are your trusted shortcut to booking travel that’s good, and makes you feel good. That means sharing travel inspiration with you, while offering stays and experiences that you can book with us. It also means helping people to explore the world, while still being good to it. We can all make changes to the way we travel — and however small, they can still have a positive impact. That’s why part of our approach to responsible travel is to create for our employees a work environment demonstrating care for the planet.
With the impact of climate change felt more now than ever across the globe, this has never been more important. We are all acutely aware of this, and we know that travel often means a greater carbon footprint. But travel also connects and brings opportunities to people around the world — it can change lives and support communities.
So we at Culture Trip have started a journey to help people travel responsibly. Our actions won’t be perfect from day one (and probably never will be) and we won’t make big claims because there is so much to do — but our intentions are good. We might start with small steps but what matters is that we are starting this journey and going forward, we will evolve to do more.
The first steps we have taken on our responsible travel journey, with more to come
We have joined Tourism Declares a Climate Emergency — an initiative supported by more than 300 travel organisations, companies and professionals working together to take purposeful action for a better future for tourism.
What does joining Tourism Declares a Climate Emergency mean for Culture Trip? As part of Tourism Declares, we — like all signatories — have committed to
developing a climate action plan within the next 12 months (read about our first steps below)
accepting current IPCC advice stating the need to cut global carbon emissions to 55 percent below 2017 levels by 2030 to keep the planet within 1.5 degrees of warming
working together with peers, suppliers and partners to share best practice and grow the community
sharing our commitment, and update on progress
advocating for change across the industry
TRIPS by Culture Trip — with a focus beyond mass-market offerings
We’re very proud of our TRIPS by Culture Trip. These unique small-group, multiday adventures come with a mission to let people experience extraordinary places in unexpected ways, together with other culturally curious travellers. Curated by travel experts and guided by Local Insiders, TRIPS by Culture Trip combines authentic experiences and local activities with — wherever possible — locally owned places to stay.
Many of our TRIPS itineraries include activities that put local people at the centre, going beyond mass-market offerings. For example, as part of our Sri Lanka adventure, our travellers will go to a local market to buy food and participate in a cooking class led by local host Chami; in Morocco, we’re including lunch in a women-led restaurant. In addition, our TRIPS don’t focus on areas with over-tourism and we are dedicated to not include unethical activities or animal activity that isn’t in the best interest of the animals.
Growing a Culture Trip Forest
Trees are key pillars of the world — for both humans and the environment. They benefit us by purifying water, air and creating better social conditions. They benefit the environment by providing homes for various forms of life, cooling our climate and improving our soil. At Culture Trip, we are helping to reforest the world together with our partner Tree-Nation.
How do we do this? For each of our employees, we have planted a tree in our Culture Trip Forest and for every new colleague joining the team, we will plant a tree as a welcome gift. We will also mark work anniversaries by planting trees to grow our forest.
We offset our entire in-house team
We offset the CO2 emissions generated by our employees, including office space, electricity at work, water, paper, short-distance team travel and occasional long-distance travel. The emissions of an office-based employee averages 3–3.6 tonnes of CO2 equivalent per year (according to calculations by French company Sinteo/ARSEG, then adapted to the European average). So, every month at Culture Trip, together with Tree-Nation, we will plant enough trees to offset the amount of CO2 emissions of our team.
Sharing the best responsible travel tips with our audience
Every month, millions of people come to Culture Trip for travel inspiration — and many of them book with us. We want to use our global reach to nudge our audience towards more responsible travel, and we can do this by providing practical tips and recommendations. We also highlight sustainably minded places to stay and destinations.
For more inspiration as well as things to do, have a look at our sustainable travel hub where you can find articles such as the Best Sustainable Cafes in Mexico City and many more. Or read about 11 Ecofriendly Destinations You Must Visit, the Best Sustainable Travel Destinations for 2021, the World’s Greenest Cities, Great Places to Volunteer Around the World and Tips on how to be a Good Traveller.
We are also scouring the world for sustainably minded places to stay such as the Best Sustainable Hotels in London, the Best Ecolodges in Costa Rica That You Can Actually Afford, the Top 7 Sustainable Stays in California, the Best Ecofriendly Hotels in Italy and Greece, Hotels Around the World With a Positive Purpose, as well as Sustainable Hotels in Cape Town, Barcelona and Cornwall.
Remote working
We recently implemented Feel Good Flex, a flexible work programme that allows all employees to work remotely. It gives them more freedom around when and where they work — whether that’s at home or in the office. This makes it easier for employees to balance their work and personal lives and helps us to cut carbon emissions by reducing the amount we commute.
Employee volunteering days
At Culture Trip, every member of staff has an allowance of two volunteering days per year during working hours to help their community and wider areas. This aims to better connect us all to the society around us, by helping our staff support organisations and charities with their time and skills.
Our Price-Match GuaranTree
We already offer a Price-Match Guarantee for our Places to Stay and Experiences, which means that if our customers find a better price on the exact same deal elsewhere within 24 hours of booking, we’ll match it. Now, our Price-Match Guarantee will also be a Price-Match GuaranTree. Customers will still have the price-match option should they find the same deal cheaper elsewhere or they can ask us to plant trees for them instead — which will be worth the difference in price — and help reforest the world, together with our partner Tree-Nation.
How does it work? If you find a better price elsewhere for exactly the same offer (same place to stay, same room type, same board basis, same cancellation policy on the same dates), please take a screenshot and email it with the link to customerservices@theculturetrip.com within 24 hours of your booking. The offer needs to be live when we check the price (membership or negotiated rates do not qualify).
For questions, please contact us via responsible-travel@culturetrip.com
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