Argentina and Chile 26 day tour

Planet

Making a difference to planet and people underpin our itineraries and travel philosophy, across destinations. Argentina is a particularly good example of this. As a hot spot for nature lovers who are keen to immerse in local culture in a meaningful and informed way, we have gone above and beyond to ensure that we maximise the positive impact of international travel in the locations that we offer.

We acknowledge that travelling through Argentina and Chile involves a lot of air miles due to the sheer scope of these regions. Therefore it is extra important to us to decrease the carbon footprint of the South America trips in these areas. For instance, when in situ, we encourage a range of unique tours that utilise 'human powered transport' like walking tours in cities, shared transfers from airports, hiking trips and sailing trips in the glaciers.

In our office in sunny Brighton we work hard to recycle as much as we possibly can. We even buy our paper off the same company we recycled it with resulting in a closed loop system. Our local suppler in Argentina and Chile share our values when it comes to recycling, also separating paper in their offices.

Even before take off, we offer tools to our customers to encourage sustainability, carbon reduction and caring for the environment both at home and away. These include 'zero waste while travelling: our top tips', as well as our 'make it meaningful policy' that promotes animal welfare (underpinned by our relationship Animondial, an animal welfare group), 0 waste (exemplified in our almost entirely paper free office), and a slower pace of travel. We’re serious about this animal welfare stuff and want to do everything we can to improve the welfare of animals in tourism. We’ve therefore teamed up with animal welfare experts, Animondial. Their vision is to minimise tourism’s impact on animals, natural environments and the people that depend upon them. They’ve helped us to improve the welfare standards of our trips even further and create long-term plans to support animals in tourism. Best of all though, we’ve worked together to create an Animal welfare in tourism starter kit for small businesses, to help other travel companies improve their animal welfare standards too.

As a team, we believe that protecting the environment goes hand in hand with building stronger communities, which is why we have both lead and joined in with beach cleaning initiatives with surfers against sewage, and local community gardening initiatives.

People

Our trips aim to put positively impacting local communities at front and centre of our itineraries, as local interactions are what make our trips so fantastic.

In Argentina we work with local initiatives that support low income families with their basic needs, improving their health, offering education and the chance to improve the quality of life. The project aims to feed, teach, strengthen and support the poorest families in Buenos Aires, offering the families work in a community orchard and farm, allowing families to be self sufficient.
Furthermore, during your trip, there is a wealth of local shops, cafe’s, bars and restaurants that you are encouraged to visit and enjoy. This helps bolster the local economy.

One of the key aspects of our itineraries is that we work with local partners who are based in country in order to provide the most authentic insight into everyday life in the destination, and divert from the usual tourist trail (which is important when considering the mitigation of environmental degradation in tourist hotspots) but also supports the country's economy even before our customer has touched down as the local partner helps to develop their itinerary. Our local partners only employ local people and offer them flexible working hours so they can fit their work around other commitments.

We’ve searched high and low in Argentina and found hotels offering small-scale, local charm to give you a real taste of Argentina and Chile. Locally run boutique hotels offering a unique experience with money going directly in to the local economy. These establishments also employ local staff, and pay a fair wage to their employees.

We maximise local economic opportunities further by using only locally owned excursion companies where you will meet and learn from expert local guides throughout the trip, for instance when travelling on the Beagle Channel a local guide will educate visitors on the responsible way to view the wonderful wildlife, explaining the importance of seeing things in their natural habitat, without disturbing and harming the environment. This makes a difference in a multitude of ways. For instance, using expert local guides ensures that you receive top quality information on your tour means you will be learning from people who's knowledge of the local environment is unparalleled. Secondly, it helps support local businesses and the economy in the region. Lastly this style of tour maximises environmental responsibility of the traveller, long after the tour has finished.

Argentina is an openly LGBTQ+ friendly destination, and was the first country in Latin America to legalise same-sex marriage.