We care about the places we work in and the people who live there, not as a line to put on a website, but as the reason a trip gets built one way and not another. Every itinerary we design passes through the same filter before it reaches a client: does this protect the people, animals, and places it touches, or does it just pass through them. That filter shapes which hotels we recommend, which excursions we leave off an itinerary entirely, and which suppliers we won’t work with, regardless of how well they sell.
We don’t offer activities built around performance or captivity, and we believe animals belong in the wild rather than in front of a camera. Every wildlife experience we sell, from elephant camps to marine encounters, is checked against internationally recognised welfare guidelines and against CITES and national wildlife protection law. Where a supplier falls short, we raise it and ask for change; if nothing improves, the activity comes off our offering, whatever it costs us commercially.
That standard runs into detail most travellers never see: groups capped for primate viewing, hygiene protocols for any direct animal contact, boats that keep clear of reefs and never chase marine life. Our full Animal Welfare Codes of Conduct, below, sets out exactly what we require of every excursion and supplier.
We don’t include orphanage, shelter, or school visits on any itinerary, however well-intentioned, and we don’t offer short-term volunteering with children either. It’s a position some travellers find surprising, because it’s often framed as a good deed, but the evidence from child protection organisations is clear: repeated, short-term contact with strangers disrupts a child’s development and turns institutions meant to care for them into a stop on a tour.
Every member of our team and every guide we work with is trained to recognise and respond to risk, and every supplier is contracted to the same child protection standards we hold ourselves to. Our full Child Safety Codes of Conduct, below, sets out where we draw that line, and how to report a concern.
Cutting plastic and waste, choosing partners who treat their staff and their environment properly, and making sure the money a trip generates actually reaches the communities it passes through, these aren’t separate initiatives, they’re the same filter applied to transport, accommodation, and everyday choices. We favour walking, cycling, and public transport where a destination allows it, and we assess every hotel and supplier on wages, sourcing, waste management, and what they actually contribute to the community around them.
We ask the same of the people travelling with us: buy from local makers rather than international chains, leave wildlife and heritage sites undisturbed, and think twice before giving money or gifts directly to a child. Our Sustainability & Responsible Travel Policy and our Guide to Travelling Responsibly, both below, cover the rest.
Our full codes of conduct on animal welfare, child safety, and responsible travel sit below, for anyone who wants the complete detail behind these commitments.
Where we draw the line on visits involving children, the safeguarding standards we hold our team and suppliers to, and how to report a concern.
Download PDFExactly what we require of every wildlife excursion and supplier, from group caps and hygiene protocols to keeping clear of reefs and marine life.
Download PDFOur commitments on plastic and waste, fair partners, low-impact transport, and making sure a trip’s money reaches the communities it passes through.
Download PDFPractical guidance for travelling with us: buy from local makers, leave wildlife and heritage undisturbed, and think twice before giving directly to a child.
Download PDFAsia’s tourism industry runs on people: guides, chefs, drivers, housekeepers, the quiet infrastructure of hospitality that makes a trip here what it is. The young people best placed to build a career in it rarely have an easy way in, so we fund one.
Contributed for every traveller who books with us, toward training a young person for a career in hospitality.
Practical instruction that leads to real employment, not a certificate with nowhere to use it.
Across a year of travellers, a steady and growing route from disadvantage into a stable, skilled trade.
We deliver Guiding Futures through Blue Dragon Children’s Foundation, a Vietnam-based charity registered in the UK, Australia, New Zealand, the USA, and Germany. Blue Dragon rescues children and young people from trafficking and exploitation, and builds a path forward through education, family support, and training that leads into stable, skilled work. Partnering with an organisation already doing that work properly means every contribution reaches the people who need it.
If you’d like to support their work more directly, you can visit Blue Dragon’s site and donate.