Gecko’s Grassroots Adventures a provider of specialist adventure holidays have recently won the ‘Best Tour Operator’ award in the Virgin Holidays Responsible Tourism Awards (2007). Gecko’s Grassroots Adventures who are based in Thatcham, Berkshire and Melbourne, Australia have a strong ‘responsible tourism’ policy in place. Initiatives include but are not limited to:
- Employing local leaders: “We involve local people in all aspects of our operations, providing training and employment opportunities, and ensuring an economic and educational return to the community.”
- Using local suppliers: “We choose to work with locally-owned business partners wherever we operate our holidays…We use public or locally-owned transport, family-run accommodation and restaurants and buy our supplies from local operators.”
- Small group travel: “The maximum group size on all of our adventures is 16 passengers - sometimes less - except in the Polar regions, where our ship carries a maximum of 110 passengers. Travelling in small groups ensures we make significantly less impact on the natural environment, as well as breaking down many of the communication barriers presented by a larger group.”
To find out more visit Gecko’s Grassroots Adventures website.
