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When we began our journey to establish Green Cultural Travel, we wanted to offer people an opportunity to have amazing experiences, adventures and also create memories that last a lifetime. We also wanted to ensure that what we offer is, as much as possible, sustainable and ethically sound, too. What does that mean, and how do we quantify it ? Rating Your Footprint So, we began working on our own rating system, looking at the “Footprint” of our products. By its nature, the act of travelling generally has a heavy carbon footprint, and in addition, when you visit a location, you are often using their limited resources such as clean water and fresh food. This use of these precious resources can drive up prices, such that it becomes too expensive for the local population to sustain itself. Every Unique Experience, Tour and Package offered on our Website has been assessed in terms of its footprint. This is the impact --- both positive and negative, that your journey makes in terms of the environment, to the local community and also for other additional external factors. To reduce or offset your footprint, we seek wherever possible: 1) To use local service providers such as transport, expert guides and locally-owned accommodation wherever appropriate. 2) Encourage and support our partner-hotels in improving their environmental footprint. 3) Incorporate visits to local community projects that are making a positive impact. 4) Our Foundation is supporting sustainable local projects within the communities that our guests visit. So, for example, a locally-owned hotel that is undertaking best-practice environmental initiatives will achieve a high score. A chain hotel owned by a multi-national company (MNC), even though they are also undertaking the same environmental initiatives, will score lower, as the profits do not remain within the community.   We have