Sustainability & Ethical Tourism

Recognizing travel as a transformative experience, we embrace our responsibility to tread lightly on the planet, ensuring that the wonders we explore today remain accessible to future generations. Group travel, for us, is not just a choice but a conscious step towards a greener, healthier, more sustainable future.

Our mission goes beyond tourism; it’s a pledge to promote mindfulness, responsibility, and awareness of the impact of travel on communities and environments. We advocate for sustainable practices and ethical tourism, striving to leave a positive legacy wherever we go.

Join us on our sustainability journey, as we continue to learn and take positive steps to better preserve, protect, and give back to the communities and natural habitats we visit and live in.

Some of the other ways we’re travelling more mindfully, responsibly, and sustainably are listed below.

Local Partners

We choose to work with and support local partners, hotels, attractions, restaurants, and guides who uphold the same values and commitment to acting responsibly and reducing their own environmental footprint whenever possible when planning our tours. It is important to us to give back to communities we visit and that tourist dollars support local businesses and people.

Animal Welfare

We are committed to protecting and conserving wildlife and wildlife habitat and choose to work with companies and organizations who demonstrate and advocate for animal welfare practices that provide a good quality of life. We believe in viewing wildlife in their natural surroundings, only riding domesticated animals that are well cared for, and respecting the natural habitats we visit by keeping them litter free and avoiding disturbance. We also avoid:

activities that involve obvious animal cruelty (such as, animal fighting or bull running, etc.) or use animals for begging (such as, snake charming, monkeys on chains, dancing bears, etc.);
performances or shows where the training involves punishment or food deprivation and causes animal fear, injury or distress, or where the tasks are not based on normal behaviour;
Any tourist holding of, or photo opportunity with, wild animals where the animal does not have the choice of terminating the interaction or moving away;
tourist contact or feeding of wild animals;
Drugging of animals to subdue them; and
Unlicensed zoos.

Child Welfare

We value and respect the health, wellbeing, and safety of children. We do not partner with businesses or organizations that utilize child labour, nor do we do visits to orphanages, or hospitals on as these situations can put children at risk. Please treat children as you would at home. We ask that you please don’t take photos of children unless you have permission from their parent or guardian, the child is not uncomfortable, photos respect their dignity, and are shared in a way that honours their privacy. We also ask that you refrain from giving money or gifts to children as this can lead to and reinforce a cycle of dependency and poverty. Please donate to reputable companies that support children instead.

Shopping Locally

We encourage our guests to support the local economy by purchasing meals, gifts, souvenirs, and other items from local vendors and family-owned restaurants.

Small Group Tours

We love to offer smaller group tours to unique communities and connect curious travellers with locals for more personal cultural experiences. Smaller groups allow us to stay in smaller local accommodations such as homestays and may allow people to learn more and connect at a deeper level with the places we visit and the people who live there.

Carbon Footprint

Choosing group travel is already a responsible choice to reduce your individual carbon footprint when travelling. We continue to reduce our carbon footprint by incorporating walking tours instead of driving tours and using public transportation where it makes sense to do so. Both are a great way to immerse ourselves in the sights, sounds, and local flavour of a new place.

Reducing Waste

We strive to reduce our waste and continue to incorporate eco-friendly practices on our tours and in our daily operations. Here are a few ways you can do the same:

Sign up (click here) for our digital e-newsletter and let our office know you’d like to receive digital copies of our quarterly Experiences Brochure.
Bring a reusable water bottle when you travel, as we do not provide bottled water;
Avoid bringing single use plastics;
Place your litter in the larger garbage containers at the front or back of the coaches during a stop, as we no longer use the individual plastic garbage bags at each seat; and,
Wear your reusable Wells Gray Tours name cards on lanyards or your Silver, Gold, or Diamond name tag, if you have one.

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