Sustainable Tourism
Caring for the places we visit and protecting our environment is important to us at Grand European Tours. When traveling with us you can be confident you are opting for one of the most environmentally friendly ways to travel and also that you are helping to support important conservation and sustainable tourism projects around the world.
OUR CONSERVATION FOUNDATION
We support The Travel Corporation Conservation Foundation, a non-profit organization
established by our parent company, which encourages sustainable tourism and supports
threatened communities, natural environments and historic sites all over the world.
Already, the Foundation has partnered with Conservation International to protect three million hectares of Atlantic Forest in Brazil, an area of unmatched importance to protect the planets biological diversity, supported World Wildlife Fund (WWF) to help establish the first sustainable tourism project wholly managed by the area’s indigenous communities, funded research in Venice to help protect the city from degradation, and contributed to the protection of Northern Botswana’s wildlife.
We continue to support new projects around the world and this year we are working with UK charity The Travel Foundation to reduce pollution on the River Nile in Egypt, The National Trust to protect the Giant’s Causeway World Heritage Site in Northern Ireland, and working with Glasgow University on archaeological excavation of important battlefields. The Grand Canyon in the USA has also been the site of one of our staff volunteering projects where teams worked to rejuvenate local vegetation. The Foundation is also a primary sponsor for the Tourism for Tomorrow Awards which encourages tourism operators to develop and share leading sustainable tourism practices. To learn more about the work supported by the Foundation please visit www.thetravelcorporation.com/foundation
Travel Lightly
Coach travel has been proven to emit less carbon or greenhouse gases on a per passenger basis than either train or car travel. Our coach fleet is among the best in Europe and is continually upgraded to adopt the most fuel efficient engines available.
Our Grand European Tours catalog is printed on SFI certified paper. SFI is one of the fastest growing forest certification programs with over 175 million acres of SFI-certified forests across North America. The SFI Standard also includes unique fiber sourcing requirements that promote responsible forest management on all suppliers’ lands and a chain-of-custody certification, which is used to tell buyers how much certified fiber is in a specific product. The SFI forest standard is endorsed by the Program for the Endorsement of Forest Certification schemes, a global umbrella organization that has strict requirements for endorsement. SFI Inc. is governed by a three-chamber board of directors representing environmental, social and economic sectors equally. By choosing SFI-certified paper, Grand European Tours is committed to improve forest management.