Responsible travel
Travel that respects the places we share
Travel brings people, places and cultures together, but it also has an impact. We believe our responsibility is to consider that impact carefully – designing journeys that support local communities, respect the places we visit and make thoughtful choices wherever we can.
Our approach
Thoughtful choices, made in practice
Responsible travel isn’t a single initiative or accreditation. It influences the decisions we make throughout a journey – from the places and businesses we recommend to how an itinerary moves through a destination.
Keep it local
Where appropriate, we work with locally based guides, independent businesses, accommodation providers, producers and specialists, helping more of the value generated by tourism remain within the places being visited.
Travel more thoughtfully
We consider routing, pace and transport when designing journeys, avoiding unnecessary travel and looking for practical alternatives where they make sense.
Respect place & community
The places we visit are people’s homes as well as destinations. We encourage respectful travel and work carefully around sensitive landscapes, heritage sites and local communities.
Choose with care
We build long-term relationships with suppliers and partners whose quality and approach we trust, while continuing to review the choices behind the journeys we create.
Travel differently
Slower can often mean better
A well-designed itinerary doesn’t need to race from one highlight to the next. Spending longer in a region can mean fewer unnecessary journeys, but it can also create something more valuable: time to understand a place.
We favour thoughtful routing, meaningful stops and opportunities to meet the people behind the destination. Where appropriate, we also encourage travel outside the busiest places and periods, helping visitors discover more while spreading the benefits of tourism more widely.
Turning principles into action
Partnerships with purpose
Our own actions are only one part of the picture. We also work with organisations and initiatives that help us measure, improve and support positive environmental action beyond the journeys we deliver.
Ecologi
Supporting verified climate action and environmental projects as part of our wider commitment to reducing and addressing our impact.
Eden Reforestation Projects
Supporting tree-growing and ecosystem restoration initiatives that combine environmental recovery with benefits for local communities.
Green Tourism
Providing a recognised framework that helps us review our environmental practices and identify practical opportunities for continued improvement.
Paperless
Reducing unnecessary printing and paperwork through digital itineraries, documentation and day-to-day business processes wherever practical.
In practical terms
Responsibility without compromising the journey
Responsible choices should enhance a journey, not dominate it. Where appropriate, you may see our approach reflected in the way your itinerary is designed and delivered.
Local expertise
Working with people who live in and understand the destinations you visit.
Thoughtful pacing
Creating sensible routes and allowing enough time to experience places properly.
Digital by default
Providing itineraries and travel information digitally while retaining printed options where they are useful or preferred.
Always evolving
There is always more to do
Tourism has an environmental and social impact, and we don’t pretend that every journey can be impact-free. Our responsibility is to understand where we can make better choices, act where those choices are practical and continue improving the way we operate.
As our business develops, so will our approach – informed by experience, our partners and the places in which we work.
Travel well
Discover Northern Britain thoughtfully
Explore journeys designed with the same care for the traveller as for the places being travelled through.