Health Habitravels Takes On “SUSTAINABLE TOURISM”
On the most basic level Sustainable Tourism means LEAVE NO TRACE. Add to this respect the local culture and environment, and go a gentle step further and strive for your travel presence to benefit the destination’s economy, environment and people and the result is rewarding travel for all involved.
Under Sustainable Tourism Umbrella
ALL Health Habitravels programs: Pilates Retreats, Cultural Tours, Active Adventure Travel and Ecotours, fall under sustainable tourism’s protective umbrella. Sustainable tourism and ecotours are often thought of as one and the same. Not true. Natural settings are the focal point of Ecotours. Sustainable tourism can and should strive to be “green” in urban as well as tropical jungles.
Following Green Travel & Sustainable Tourism Policies
ASSOCIATES AND LODGINGS: Whenever possible Health Habitravels works with local tour operators, guides and lodgings that follow these sustainable tourism policies:
- They have written policies regarding the environment and local people, and keep accounts of their contribution to conservation and to the local communities.
- They have ongoing projects that help protect the environment and support conservation. They work with local charities that benefit their community. They provide ideas on how travelers can get involved with the people and conservation of the travel destination.
- They employ local people and advance them to management positions. Their guides come from local communities. This assures that Health Habitravels groups learn the heritage, traditions, cuisine directly from the source.
- A majority of their services, building resources, and supplies come from the local vicinity. A “green” establishment recycles, encourage guests to reuse towels and sheets, uses energy-efficient lighting, low-flow toilets and showers, and alternative energy sources like solar or wind power.
OUR Sustainable Tourism & Green Travel Programs
Our sustainable tourism and green travel programs emphasis quality not quantity.
- We travel in small groups.
- We stay at well appointed Inns, resort spas, retreat and wildlife centers that offer luxury flavor and local color.
- We travel among the local people, staying in locally owned and operated lodgings encouraging cultural exchange.
- Personal experiences such as:
- Visits to Andean schools where indigenous children become computer literate but also retain they’re native tongue.
- Embracing a domesticated three-toed sloth that survived because of rescue efforts at a Costa Rican wildlife sanctuary…
- Becoming spell bound as an endangered leather back turtle lays eggs on a Caribbean beach, will send you home with knowledge on ways to help protect wildlife and the environment, honor history and preserve vanishing cultures.
You left no trace but you are changed forever.
NOW, A FEW ASSOCIATES HEALTH HABITRAVELS LISTS WITH PRIDE:
Willka Tika Children’s fund result of profits/donations gained from Willka Tika Retreat Center the Sacred Valley of the Peruvian Andes. Quechua children receive education AND retain their language and cultural heritage:
http://196.33.120.67/WillkaTika/willka_childrenFund.asp
JUNGLE BAY SPA AND RESORT on DOMINICA the “Nature Island of the Caribbean” helps the local people of Dominica prosper. Find out more about this rustic-luxe “green” resort at http://junglebaydominica.com/aboutus.cfm
HERE’S KUDOS FROM THE PRESS for Jungle Bay…
Wall Street Journal: http://junglebaydominica.com/docs/WSJEcotourismReportCard.pdf
Body and Soul Magazine: http://junglebaydominica.com/docs/JungleBay.pdf
Also listed this year on Forbes 10 best Eco-Lodges—those sustainable tourism places that are not just “greenwashing” but are eco-lodges in the true sense.
COSTA RICAN ecotours introduced us to Caribbean Conservation programs: http://www.cccturtle.org/ccctmp.htm
Napo Wildlife Center in Amazonian Ecuador
http://www.napowildlifecenter.com/
The Charles Darwin Foundation (CDF) has carried out research for the conservation of the Galapagos ecosystem for almost 50 years.
http://www.darwinfoundation.org/
Join us on upcoming Sustainable Travel Ecotours, Adventure Travels, Retreats and Cultural Tours as we grow our “green” travel awareness and add to our list of Sustainable Tourism associates
