Making a Positive Impact

Location - Tena, Ecuador

Shandia is located in the rainforest of eastern Ecuador and is home to Indigenous people of the Kichwa nationality. Shandia Lodge is owned by the community as was developed to generate employment opportunities for the local people. However, the community faced difficulties when it came to accessing the interational marketing and getting tourists to visit.

A local non-profit called EcoCiencia worked with the community to create immersive tourist experiences such as a cycling tour and a youth led community experience. Travellers are able to learn about the traditional agricultural processes used by the community, and can also learn how to make chocolate! Thanks to the help of our local team, revenue has increased which allows them to reinvest into the community and continue to create new jobs, whilst protecting their cultural traditions.

Location - Manaca Iznaga, Trinidad, Cuba

With the help of our local team, a textile centre was built that enables local women to sell traditional textiles to travellers, and gain access to the tourist market. A visit to the project has been incorporated into tour itineraries so visitis can see first hand how local embroidery techniques are used to create clothes and learn how the women who run this project are impacted. This local business not only empowers women, but also brings a ripple income affect to the area so other community members benefit too. 

Location - Sandakan, Borneo, Malaysia

Libaran Island is known as "Turtle Island" due to the thousands of sea turtles that return to next here every year. The FOSTER project (Friends of Sea Turtles Education and Research) was initiated on the island to ensure the turtles remain protected, and to encourage tourism that fosters conservation, as well as economic opportunities.

A Malaysian non-profit organisation has helped the Libaran community to develop a tourism experience on the island that is led by women, most of whom have never had a paying job before. They speak with travellers to highlight the uniqueness of the community's culture and share it with them, and they are also able to sell hand made crafts made from ocean plastic waste. 

Location - Malé, Maldives

99% of the Maldives is made up of water, and only 1% land. Therefore, pollution to the ocean has a drastic impact of the country. Over 280,000 plastic bottles are discarded in the capital every day, and with limited infratructure to allow for proper recyling, plastic waste continues to build up on land and in the ocean.

Our local team partnered up with a company called Voyages, to ensure that all travellers who visit The Maldives on a tour take part in plastic-picks ups, with a mission of reducing plastic waste from polluting the ocean. The plastic that is collected by travellers is sent to be upcycled in countries who have the infrastructure to do so. Whilst taking part in plastic pick-ups, travellers are able to learn more about environmental projects happening in The Maldives, and also learn to become more responsible travellers.