FAIR2. TRAVEL: YOUR PARTNER IN SUSTAINABLE TRAVEL WITH AN IMPACT
TOGETHER, WE CAN MAKE A POSITIVE IMPACT ON THE WORLD OF TRAVEL, ENSURING THAT FUTURE GENERATIONS CAN ENJOY OUR PLANET AND ALL IT HAS TO OFFER THANK YOU FOR JOINING US ON THIS JOURNEY TOWARDS A MORE SUSTAINABLE FUTURE
Introduction1.
There are many beautiful examples of small-scale, ecological and local tourism in remote areas, where people are trained to work as a guide, to cook meals and to offer shelter to travellers. However, these initiatives often have trouble finding their customer base. That is how Fair2.travel was born. We help bridge this gap by offering travel experiences that offer social, sustainable and economic benefits to the local communities. Travelers who embark on these journeys have a once-in-a-life-time expeierence and leave with the most beautiful memories.
Nowadays, the word "sustainable" is on everybody’s lips, but what does it actually mean? For us, sustainability goes beyond just our environmental impact, although that is undeniably important. Sustainable travel should ensure the long-term economic, environmental, and community health of an area. Because it can be unclear what sustainability entails, this brochure explains how you can recognize it, which will be followed by the steps fair2. travel has taken to be as sustainable as possible.
2. Collaberation and Certification
Fair2.Travel is a Travellife partner. Travelife is a training, management and certification initiative for tourism companies committed to reaching sustainability.
The standard integrates both management and performance criteria and is based on leading international sustainability and CSR standards and guidelines. Important themes include: Energy efficiency and conservation, Human rights, Health and safety and Cultural impacts. They audit every two years
Fair2.Travel is a member of Social Enterprise, meaning that it has a social mission, it makes an impact as an independent company that provides a service or product. The company has as a revenue model, sees profit as a means, not as an end.
It is transparent and honest to everyone and is social in the way the company is run. It bases management and policy on equal influence of all parties involved.
Fair2.travel is a member of the Vvkr which is an association of small Dutch travel companies. All VvKR members must endorse the VvKR Compass for Sustainable Travel from 1 July 2023.
All VvKR members must endorse the VvKR Compass for Sustainable Travel from 1 July 2023. This Compass, specially designed for small-scale travel organisations, aims to give VvKR members more direction in making their travel organisation and travel products more sustainable.
Trees for All has been committed to a forested world for over 25 years. They plant trees in the Netherlands and abroad through various forest projects.They also make people aware of the importance of trees. They link support from society (private individuals and companies) to professional parties, such as landscape or nature conservation organisations. Fair2.travel is concerned with deforestation, and is engaged in tree-planting efforts
3. Sustainability
3.1 Socio-cultural sustainability
Jouw Socio-cultural sustainability is mainly about preserving and celebrating local cultures—including beliefs, practices and traditions—in the host destination. Tourism should also benefit the locals, as well as the guests. It can be identified with the following elements:
Social Equality is when: locals have equal access to similar activities and heritage
people who are normally not easily employable in certain areas, such as women or handicapped people, are given work and income the tourism has caused an increase in the number of additional services such as water, electricity, and health facilities
Visitor Fulfilment is characterized by that Tourists are encouraged to learn about local cultures
a high quality of host-guest interaction
Community Wellbeing can be recognized from High retention of the local lifestyle
Percentage of criminality, alcoholism, vandalism etc caused by heritage tourism goes down as a result of tourism development
High quality of recreational opportunities for residents due to tourism
Local Control is described as
The protection of individual and collective rights of the local people
Local people's responsibility and control over their lives
Local knowledge of heritage tourism and its sustainability
Attention to education for residents on how to portray their culture to tourists
the protection of Cultural Richness is marked by Availability of maintenance and restoration funds
Availability of guidelines for guests on “what to do” and “not to do” in attraction sites
At Fair2.Travel, development is done at the local level, and benefits locals. For instance, in Belarus, the project generated tremendous commitment among villagers and local officials for sustainable rural development and tourism. We have also collaborated with the locals in Ethiopia to create a natural soap factory. This has not only resulted in more employment but also in an increased standard of hygiene which is important for preventing diseases. Guests are encouraged to stay at the accommodation provided by locals at Fair2.Travel. We encourage cultural exchange between visitors and locals through activities and accommodation. The company also strives to invest part of its profit in helping the communities when they are in need. For example in case of a flood, war, or an outbreak of a disease
3.2 Economical
Sustainability
Economical sustainability is all about sustaining long-term growth, without negatively impacting the local community or the environment. It can be recognized with the following concepts:
Employment Quality entails that There are more job opportunities for the residents
Both men and women are employed in about equal amounts
There is employment of disabled people
There is are high quality tourism jobs (stable, high paid, permanent and full-time)
Economic Viability means that
There is local economic diversification due to heritage tourism
The seasonality level of heritage tourism is taken into account
Higher income to the local communities
Local Prosperity is characterized by A Variety of local products are available because of tourism
There is an increased availability of markets for local products
There is a low degree of financial leakage away from the destination, meaning that international companies do not take all the profits
Tourists' average length of stay. The longer they stay, the more the local economy benefits
At Fair2.Travel, we work with local small businesses. The company was started because our founder, Caroline, saw that there were beautiful local initiatives that had difficulties finding customers. One of our core values is to ensure that most of the money made from tourism stays with the locals. We ensure that the whole community benefits. With projects like a small soap factory in Ethiopia where locals are employed, the job opportunities are diversified. Not only can the locals sell their natural soaps to tourists, but they can also sell them to hotels in the surrounding areas. In Palestine, guests stay the night with Palestinian families or small guest houses, which results in locals getting fair wages. Women are empowered throughout the program there and we also offer training to local communities
3.3
Institutional sustainability
Institutional sustainability entails that there is a longterm strategy balancing economic success with social responsibility and environmental stewardship to ensure a company's enduring viability and positive impact. Sustainable ompanies need to pay attention to the following ideas:
In Local-Oriented Control Policy the following ideas are emphasized:
Local tourism developments are regularly examined to make sure they align with the ideas of sustainability
There is a high presence of tourism planners among the residents
Indigenous knowledge of heritage sites is included in the decision-making process
There is a high level of residents' participation in the tourism decision-making process
A Fair2.Travel, we do our best to employ as many local guides as possible. In Belarus, we collaborated with the local civil servants and people from the villages to develop sustainable rural development and tourism. We trained residents to set up community-based activities, such as homestays, meals in people's homes, walking routes and cultural activities. This helps the residents of this remote region affected by Chornobyl to generate more income and become more independent.
3.4 Environmental sustainability
Probably the most well-known element of sustainability, environmental sustainability refers to the responsible management of natural resources to fulfil current needs without compromising the ability of future generations to meet theirs. The following elements are important:
Physical Integrity means that: there is integration of tourism and the environment the facilities are suitable for tourism there is sensitivity to the environment from the private sector and local community
Attention to Biological Diversity means that the following things are taken into account
The pressure of tourist activities on fauna and flora species
Value to and protection of the natural environment
Efforts made to minimize damage on the environment
Resource efficiency is measured with The percentage of water and energy resources consumption caused by tourism
Renewable resources reusing/recycling practices
Quality of solid waste management actions
Environmental purity entails that the following things are taken into account
Level of pollution (water, sound, soil and air) due to tourism
The amount of litter attributed to heritage tourism try to reduce pollution (eg. Air, sound, water)
Here at fair2.travel, we try to work with sustainable local partners when possible. We mainly select ecofriendly and local accommodations, serve as much local food as possible and encourage sustainable energy sources. Fair2.travel tries to reduce its impact as much as possible. Transport has the most negative impact on the climate when travelling. Flying produces a lot of CO2 emissions, just like cars and buses that run on petrol and diesel. That is why we encourage travellers to make conscious choices and not fly every year. During the trip, we encourage them to choose to contribute as much as possible to a positive impact, with trips that contribute to the local economy and nature conservation. If possible, we try to avoid flying and other polluting means of transportation, and instead choose more sustainable options such as the train.
4. Emission compensation
Travel inevitably generates some emissions, even when making efforts to be as sustainable as possible. Recognizing this, we have partnered with Trees for Life, an organization dedicated to reforestation and ecosystem restoration. Through this partnership, we actively contribute to offsetting the environmental impact of travel. For every trip taken, we plant trees, helping to absorb carbon dioxide, restore natural habitats, and support biodiversity
5. The future
Because sustainability is always a work in progress, we are committed to continuously evolving our practices, adopting innovations, and listening to feedback from our travellers, local communities, and sustainability experts. By staying adaptable and forward-thinking, we strive to set new benchmarks in responsible travel and inspire others to do the same. An idea for future projects is that we want to encourage our local partners to make even more steps in sustainability by providing training on, for instance, the consumption of animal products. We do understand that the consumption of meat, milk, and eggs can be a crucial part of someone’s culture, and we want to find a way to respectfully engage in discussions and conversations about it while striving for a better future together.
Statistical Framework for Measuring the Sustainability of Tourism (SF-MST): Prepared by the World Tourism Organization in 2024
Assessing progress of tourism sustainability: Developing and validating sustainability indicators by Atsbha Gebreegziabher Asmelash and Satinder Kumarc in 2019
