Responsible travel

All the notions of: " solidarity travel, ethical travel, ecotourism or eco-volunteering " are included in the meaning of responsible travel.

According to this vision, a responsible trip is, first of all, a regular trip, during which the principles of sustainable development in economic, ecological, ethical and social terms are fully respected. Responsible travel aims to minimise the negative impact of travellers on the country they are visiting

Le respect de l’environnement, des cultures, des mœurs, des coutumes et traditions des habitants locaux, ou encore l’échange et la rencontre propices à la paix, sont au cœur des voyages responsables.

Respect for the environment, cultures, customs and traditions of the local inhabitants, or the exchange and meeting of people conducive to peace, are at the heart of responsible travel. The development of ecotourism formulas for the protection of the environment, of fair and solidarity tourism is done in favour of the improvement of the living conditions of the local inhabitants, by privileging the employment of the local workforce, the craft industry, for the wellbeing of the inhabitants or the voluntary missions, such as the assistance of the children of the underprivileged schools, or the assistance to the poor, also constitute the basic contents of this form of tourism.

HORIZON VIETNAM Travel is committed to this type of travel, translating its contents into our following practical actions:

• In order to protect the environment, we specialise in organising tailor-made and private trips (for 2, 4 or 6 people), trips for couples, families or friends (in small groups often limited to a maximum of 10 people). We intentionally avoid large group travel that may cause negative impacts on the natural or social environment of the countries we visit.

• We favour small structures, charming hotels and small restaurants, ecolodges.

• We encourage our travellers to buy local handicrafts from villages, we favour using local human resources.

• Cultural exchange trips, sharing, meetings with local populations, and overnight stays with local people, are our privileged products, in accordance with our philosophy and our ethical commitments in the tourism industry.

• HORIZON VIETNAM Travel carries out a humanitarian mission each year, targeting underprivileged schools in high mountainous and remote areas. During these missions, we provide the children of these schools with educational materials, notebooks, books, towels, soap, pens and pencils. To do this, we use part of our profits, according to this formula: 1 euro set aside for 1 traveller.

• We are committed to developing close partnerships with humanitarian associations, such as associations helping victims contaminated by dioxin from Agent Orange or people in flooded areas…

• We provide each group of travellers with detailed documents on useful themes, such as the Vietnamese and Indochinese way of life, in order to help them to behave in a proper manner, respecting the local people, their culture, their customs and traditions.