What is Responsible Travel?
Volunteer and educational travel is rapidly growing in popularity around the world. Traveling to far flung places gives us a wonderful opportunity to experience cultures that are so different from our own, however as travelers are becoming more and more seasoned, they are starting to seek a deeper, more meaningful alternative to ‘pure travel’. Rather than just witnessing from the outside the plight of developing countries, there are more and more opportunities to become actively involved in making a difference and giving back to the countries that touch us with their beauty, culture and spirit.
With the wondrous joy of volunteer and educational travel, however, comes the responsibility of ensuring that we do not adversely affect those countries, environments or communities that we work with.
Besides our regular Responsible Travel aims, that are about ensuring that you, as travelers, and Buffalo Tours, as a promoter of travel, respect the local culture; do not inadvertently introduce new social ills; and promote & practice environmental responsibility in the places that we visit, we also have clear Ethical Codes for our volunteer and educational experiences.
Our FIVE Ethical Codes are:
Poverty Alleviation: travel that empowers the host community to reduce poverty through economic and non-economic benefits for ownership of infrastructure, income generation and improved education and health care.
Cultural Preservation: travel that instills pride in the host community by providing respect and encouragement for the dynamic growth of local customs, knowledge and crafts.
Environmental Protection: travel that offers sensible alternatives to global and local impacts by providing guests with options for carbon, energy and waste reduction.
Community Involvement: travel that allows guests in depth interaction within a community to create new perspectives of our world through the eyes of their host.
Curriculum Enhancement: travel that creates learning opportunities that directly support a school, university or organizations learning objectives.