According to the World Travel and Tourism Council, the travel industry supports 1 in 10 jobs across the world, and in many of our destinations, tourism is an economic lifeline. Seeking to support local business through our adventures not only gives our customers unique and authentic local experiences, it also provides economic empowerment and opportunity locally.
This is why around 90% of the accommodation and restaurants visited on our adventures are locally owned, and why so many of our itineraries feature homestays, visit community- owned initiatives or support social enterprises.
The UN’s World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) reports there are almost twice as many women entrepreneurs in tourism than in any other sector. Through travel we have a unique opportunity to include and support many who are often excluded, under- represented or disadvantaged. Here are some ways we seek to do this at Exodus:
- Over a third of people employed locally to deliver our adventures are women.
- Our Destination Community Council is a group of our tour operators and leader partners from across the world, who provide a representative voice for our destination communities. They help advise and guide our sustainability and impact activity to ensure local benefit and effectiveness.
- Through the work of the Exodus Adventure Travels Foundation, we support under- represented and disadvantaged communities through tourism. In Tanzania, our Mountain Lioness Project has supported 30 pioneering female porters to become mountain guides on Kilimanjaro. In Nepal and India, our Himalayan Community Project delivers training and materials to women living in remote Himalayan regions, so they can generate income in the low season. Our Community Kickstart Project offers small grants to our supplier network, for local initiatives which support nature and people to thrive.
- The Exodus Exploration Without Boundaries Grants help to fund explorers who may have taken alternative routes to acquire the skills necessary to conduct their research, giving them an opportunity they may have not accessed elsewhere.
- We pursue the protection of human rights across all of our trips and have high standards of welfare for guides and porters.
- Our child protection policy does not allow orphanage tourism or school visits.
- We avoid contrived cultural experiences that are not respectful of people. Instead, we actively seek to support the preservation of cultural and traditional heritage, using the knowledge of the local guides.
- Our child protection policy does not allow orphanage tourism or school visits.
- In the unfortunate circumstance that disaster hits our key destinations, we seek to mobilise funds through our Exodus Adventure Travels Foundation, where we have reliable and effective disaster response partners on the ground.