Textile tour of Gujarat, India

Planet

-Our environmental policy starts from our office and our homes. We use minimum of papers, we donot print unless and until it is essential. Once paper is printed and has served its purpose, it is reused from opposite side either for printing or for manual writing, for office internal use. Once fully used, paper is sold further for recycling.
-We donot use single use plastic like plastic cups or plastic plates or even sealed water bottles in office. For our each guest we give stainless steel water bottles that can be used each day for filling filtered water from their hotels before leaving for visits…this avoids using Plastic Mineral water bottles.
-To receive our guests at airport, hand written reusable board is used instead of a paper paging board or laminated paper paging board.
-As a welcome kit, guests are handed over cloth bags which can be used for shopping or to carry small items during the travel in India and later can be carried back home for further use.

Hotels for this particular tour :
-For this particular tour, we have used hotels which are owned by Indians.
-In Bhuj, we have used homestay that has only 4 rooms (incase it is not available, we will have to provide alternate hotel).
-Some of the hotels are heritage properties converted into hotels with modern amenities. However, these are not luxury hotels.
-All hotels make conscious effort towards environment in terms of water conservation, water harvesting and waste disposal.
-Some hotels employ local people from their surround area giving employment to locals.
-Most of the consumable items in the hotels are sourced locally.

Transport :
-Our vehicles regularly go through fitness checks as fixed by the Government of India ensuring that they donot pollute environment.
-Drivers in India may not be very much educated to communicate with you in fluent English but they will be able to converse with you are well experienced to drive on Indian roads and ensure comfort of our guests.
-Some of the vehicles are owned by us while others may be contracted from other transport vendors.

People

Economic responsibility :
-During this particular tour you will be visiting some NGOs and Co-operatives which are involved in preserving ancient art of tie-and-dye and textile weaving. Some co-operatives are managed and employ local women.
-You will be visiting endagered Asiatic Wild Ass in a sanctuary for which you have paid entrance for your jeep. This entrance cost is used in the conservation projects around Wild Ass.
-We will assign you an Indian guide for this tour from Bhuj to Ahmedabad. At some monuments he may be hiring local guides.
-With your help, we do our bit by contributing financially to NGOs like Sightsavers India and those taking care of Mentally Challenged. We are personally involved in giving yoga lessons to Visually Impaired Girls.
-To experience the Indian society and its culture, we will try to book your stay in Bhuj with a family which has only 4 rooms.
-This region is rich in handicrafts, textile weaving and tie-and-dye practices which will be showcased during the tour. Buying these products will help them in conserving the traditional art.
-We ensure that our partners (hotels, transporters, guides and any other partner helping us in your tour) are paid immediately after they have rendered their services to our guests. Some of them could be contracted through other partners, we hope that final service provider is paid at the soonest since we have paid from our side.
-Cuisine in India changes from state to state, and we love giving you the glimpse of same by taking you to local restaurants for meals. Taking meals in these restaurants supports them and the locals associated with them.

Social responsibility :
-Our tours include visit to monuments and which are managed by conserving associations. Buying entrances tickets to these monuments and sites helps these organisations are doing their best to conserve the heritage of our country.
Besides this you may visit local museums and craft centres including painting schools important in preserving the craft.
-During the tour, you will get the chance to attend local music and dance performances. These activities employ huge number of locals and some of the families carry the tradition of music and dance from generation to generations.
-If your travel happens to be during the festival time, we love to take you to the local families to celebrate festival with them and experience it from the closest.