Responsible Travel 

Responsible travel and sustainable tourism is an ethos Wild Frontiers has been committed to since our birth. Our adventures are designed with the local people, culture and eco-system in mind. We believe that a successful trip not only delivers a unique and unsurpassable journey for our clients, but that it also benefits the peoples whose lands we are privileged to visit.

To ensure that we keep abreast of the diverse needs in our destinations, we have created strong partnerships with local charities and non-government organisations whose mandate is to protect the delicate environmental and socio-economic balance in their region. As part of our support, for every Wild Frontiers trip that is undertaken, we pledge a percentage of the trip costs to the ongoing protection of the region. We are also happy for our clients to visit the charities so that they can see for themselves exactly where the money – their money – is going. We feel this is the best way to deal with the traveller’s conundrum of giving without spoiling. Examples of the NGOs we work with are set out below: 

Growth in the adventure market

We believe it is essential that companies such as ourselves play a responsible role in what is becoming the fastest growing sector of a fast growing market. Wild Frontiers has been expanding at a rate of over 30% a year for each of the last 5 years. As the overall tourism market grows so people are looking for new experiences and new places to visit. In many of these locations tourist infrastructure is small, or even non existent, and it is the job of the operator to see that their business carries a positive, rather than negative, and sustainable impact.

In the last five years adventure tourism as really taken off. Destinations like Georgia, Kyrgyzstan, Ethiopia and Libya – countries that all have that vital combination of stunning landscapes, fascinating culture and a hospitable population – have seen their tourist numbers double. Since 2002, international ‘in-bound’ tourist numbers to India have exploded from 2 million to over 6 million. This growth needs managing and we feel it is up to us to help.

Village India

As such in 2007 we launched a new responsible tourism product called ‘Village India’, designed to get our clients off the well-trodden tourist routes and into the beautiful rural regions where ordinary Indians see little benefit from this tourism explosion. As well as utilising more traditional accommodation; on all of these trips our clients will stay with local families in the villages and be provided for by them. They will have the opportunity to interact directly – milking buffalo, printing saris, joining with the puja – giving  them the chance to learn about their life and culture, and they about ours. In this way it will not only be money that will benefit the locals, but friendship as well. 

Conclusion

All in all this is a great business to be in because, so long as things are handled right, everyone – the tourist, the local and the operator – wins.