Pacific Islands tour

Planet

We work with our local suppliers to highlight best practice in terms of environmental issues, an important effort in a country where the environment is often taken for granted and green thinking is only just emerging. In the Pacific Islands, fresh water is precious and the weather patterns bring about changes which affect the lives of the locals. For example the el nino effect can make waterfalls disappear to a trickle, and rain is a much welcomed blessing. In order to preserve water, rainwater is collected to be used as drinking water, and guests have water usage and preservation information notes in their rooms to help increase knowledge about how precious water is and how they can help preserve it.

On this tour only locally-run guesthouses and resorts are used, and all have been built using traditional materials found on the islands. The use of the coconut and pandanus are lashed together with handmade twine and used to build local buildings from houses to village meeting houses. This allows the traditional architecture and culture to continue to be present and stay alive in these small islands. Our guides will brief travellers on appropriate behaviour, both cultural and environmental throughout the tour of the Pacific Islands and we make a point of ensuring that we leave no permanent traces of our stay behind, taking all rubbish with us.

This tour does have a greater reliance on flights than your average tour, given the distances covered and a lack of alternative transportation options in between the islands. The flight schedules are predominantly for travel between the islands by residents rather than for the purposes of tourism; some of the islands we visit on this trip receive fewer than 1000 tourists annually with one island welcoming just 200 visitors a year. On this trip you will visit some of the poorest nations on Earth and increasing tourist numbers is vital for economic development here. The flights taken in between islands are essential for both tourists and the local residents alike.

Our groups average only six clients, and many tours operate on a private basis with just two travellers. This has much less impact when travelling through rural areas, reducing our environmental and social affects. This is especially important in some of the Pacific Islands, as some of the smaller islands are reducing in size each year, and there is a high possibility of them disappearing. Finally to emphasis our commitment to Responsible Tourism all clients will receive a copy of our Travellers Code of Conduct with their travel documents.

People

This tour has a lot of emphasis on using locally sourced goods and services. We only employ local staff and unlike many operators we believe that to send a foreign Tour Leader along to accompany your trip is an unnecessary burden on your wallet and our carbon footprint. We believe that locals know best. We work closely with our suppliers to ensure that the local communities are involved in providing services required such as hotels, guesthouses and restaurants. This means your money stays in the area to benefit the local community. When possible we use local transport, (i.e. rail or bus) and we always use local restaurants, markets and shops and encourage our clients to interact both financially and socially with the communities that they are passing through. In doing this your travels are supporting and encouraging the development of local services.

Throughout the tour clients have the opportunity to interact with local people through entertainment and cultural experiences. This promotes social interaction between tourists and locals and directly benefits the local economy. Clients also have the opportunity to purchase local souvenirs and handicrafts, helping to support the local community and their livelihood.

We believe that tourism is a double edged sword that needs to be wielded very carefully. Our philosophy is to have a limited amount of departures – usually between one and three a year - for each of our itineraries. By limiting our presence in areas where local culture can be quite fragile, we hope to avoid as much as possible the phenomenon whereby an area changes in character due to repeated and prolonged exposure to tourism. We want to visit an area as friends, not intruders and to ensure that what we see will also be there for others to enjoy for many years to come.