Vietnam and Cambodia activity vacation

Planet

Our environmental commitments include working closely with suppliers to encourage and support strong policies on environmental protection and wildlife conservation. Our provider for the Halong / Bai Tu Long Bay cruise in this tour, Dragon Legend Cruise, has long been a proactive player in efforts to ensure that cruise tourism in the greater Halong area has a net positive effect on the environment and local community, in which environmental protection and efforts to prevent pollution and remove rubbish from the sea are a big part.

Whenever possible we work with accommodation providers whose policies reflect a priority on environmental sustainability – for this tour we are happy to be using a hotel in Siem Reap with a firm policy against single-use plastic bottles, using glass instead. We are currently working with our transport providers here in Vietnam to supply drinking water tanks in all vehicles to support our travelers using refillable bottles.

Both our offices in Vietnam are participating refill stations in the RefillMyBottle (https://refillmybottle.com) program, offering a feasible alternative to the ubiquitous plastic bottles which are such a big part of the litter problem in our region.

People

As a local tour company in Vietnam, we well understand that tourism growth does not automatically translate into increased opportunity for local people.

As a result, we work hard to ensure that our tours play a part in putting tourism income into the hands of local people. In order to accomplish this, we place a strong emphasis on:
- Employing local guides, who have the best knowledge of and insight into the local communities we visit, and can best connect visitors with local people. On this tour, as on all our tours, you will have a different guide in each region, as all our guides specialize in the area of their expertise.

- Cooperating with other locally run suppliers, such as local artisan cooperatives which we rely on to provide authentic traditional gifts for travelers. We also use locally-run restaurants when quality options are available, as well as charity association restaurants, such as Hoa Sua or Koto in Hanoi, which provide invaluable vocational training for disadvantaged local youth.

We are an active member of The Responsible Travel Club of Vietnam (RTC) and adhere to the RTC programme and policy to support locals.