Geodyssey’s responsible travel policy

As in-depth specialists to our destinations, behaving responsibly towards our suppliers and hosts is at the very heart of what we do.

Our aim is to give our clients the very best experience of the destination they visit whilst benefiting the local community if we can, and never acting to its detriment.

To us, this means much more than a simple donation to a charity for each client. We try to build long and constructive involvements with local guides, guest houses, wildlife lodges, and hotels, in the course of which we, and our clients, can make lasting wide-ranging contributions to the wonderful places and people we engage with.

Everyone wins by this combination of the best experiences for our customers, and responsible approach to our suppliers and local communities. This is how responsible travel, put into practice, benefits all concerned.

How we make this work in our destinations

Our philosophy is to support local economies wherever possible, for example by staying at locally owned and run hotels and guesthouses, and employing local guides. We don't bargain hard with local suppliers: we would rather pay the good ones a fair price and allow them to improve still further by sticking with them. To help them develop and improve we constantly feed back to them the comments our clients make to us, both good and bad. We try to minimise any harmful impact on the natural environment and local cultures, and to encourage conservation wherever we can.

Our ideal scenario is to work with local hoteliers, guest house keepers, guides, drivers and others, who are gifted natural hosts, who have practical experience and training in their chosen field and in related environmental issues, and who are actively engaged in conservation. We look for those who provide a really good standard of service whilst also benefiting the local community. This to us is a wonderful thing.

We use local guides in all of our destinations. It is our experience that with the right approach, local guides with their superior local knowledge (often passed down through generations) are best qualified for the job, and are the best champions of their local communities. It is also a fantastic way of helping communities to survive and flourish when gifted people are able to work locally instead of having to leave for the cities to find work.

How we make this work in the UK

We have a comprehensive office practice policy engaging in responsible day to day management of our office including recycling and energy efficient ways of working.

We send our clients comprehensive information on how to act responsible when they are travelling and what they can do to help local people and communities.

We give information on carbon balancing including ways our clients can offset their air travel emissions.

Our partners

We are proud to be the first tour operator in the UK to form a partnership with The Rainforest Alliance to work towards the implementation of best management practices in sustainable tourism.

The Rainforest Alliance works to conserve biodiversity and ensure sustainable livelihoods by transforming land-use practices, business practices and consumer behaviour. The Alliance is perhaps best known in this country for its work on sustainable timber and fair-trade coffee sustainably produced.

Tourism is an excellent way to help sustain the world's forest and The Rainforest Alliance brings together a number of certification programmes under the Sustainable Tourism Certification Network of the Americas and provide workshops to help businesses reduce their operations costs and increase their overall efficiency whilst maintaining positive relationships within the local community and minimising negative impacts on the environment.

› more about The Rainforest Alliance

We work with or support several other partners in conservation and social projects, including the LATA Foundation, Galapagos Conservation Trust, Bird Life International and the Neotropical Bird Club.

Our Goals

To be one of the UK's foremost travel companies providing sustainable holidays of the highest standard to those customers looking for an exceptional experience which benefits both themselves and the local community.
In our destinations where The Rainforest Alliance is active we will actively support those hotels and enterprises with high levels of sustainable tourism certification.

In our destinations where The Rainforest Alliance does not operate we will actively seek hotels, lodges and guesthouses with high standards of responsible management, and we will actively support those properties.
To continue to work responsibly in the everyday conduct of our business and to build relationships with third parties who can help us to improve our practices.