We Believe In Responsible Travel
In the section below, you can read about some of the measures that we take in order to meet the requirement of what we believe to be Responsible Travel. It is essentially our mission statement and a list of our ethos.
Social Commitment and Responsibility Policy
Because we sell such a large number of tours and cruises (more than 205,000 at time of writing), many businesses, such as hotels and cruise ship operators, benefit from the business we bring them. This gives us a certain amount of leverage which we in turn use to ensure that these businesses meet certain demand if they want us to continue supporting them. Here are some of the criteria we insist upon:
- All of our partners must give travelers accurate and reliable information prior to travel, pertaining to things such as the locals traditions; social customs and any particular dress codes which might apply in/at every destination featured in a client’s chosen itinerary.
- We insist that our partners must employ their employees from local communities, thereby helping to lessen unemployment amongst local populations.
- We insist that our partners must be able to provide tours for people who are disabled, and they must be willing to do everything possible to everything accessible to disabled travelers.
- Our business partners must commit to training students during the annual summer holidays, teaching them about the principles of tourism and how to work with tourists.
- We are a member of the Misr Al Mahrusa Organisation, a charitable NGO. We expect all our partners to pay regular donations to the organization to help fund various projects such as raising and educating orphans.
Economic Responsibility Policy
- All tours offered by NileCruiseHolidays.com are run and led by experienced local guides. We also only use local drivers, and all relevant tour arrangements are made by locally employed staff members.
- We want local communities to benefit as well, and therefore we actively encourage visitors to purchase locally made handicrafts such as papyrus; rugs; perfumes, and another types of souvenirs. Under no circumstances do we ever attempt to pressurize visitors into buying things they don’t really want. Nearly all of our Middle East private guided tours do however including a visit to at least one bazaar, market or souk in each of the countries featured in the itineraries.
- We provide free travel insurance (10,000 USD) during your trip to Egypt. This insurance coverage is also purchased from a local Egyptian Insurance company.
- We invest money in our locally employed staff members by paying for them to attend various courses, including language courses; leadership courses, and other courses relating to tourism.
Environmental Policy
NileCruiseHolidays.com and our partners take environmental matters very seriously, and to this end, we have several measures in place in order to help protect the environment, including the following:
- We have a zero litter policy, meaning that not even a single piece of paper can be left behind at any of the sites/areas we visit. Every year, our local staff members at the Bahariya Oasis and at the White Desert also assist the government with cleaning areas that are used as camp sites for tourists.
- All our vehicles are clean and modern air-conditioned vehicles that have special environmental filters on their exhaust pipes. They also all have a wastepaper basket inside for things like empty water bottles, wrappers and etc.
- Smoking is forbidden within our company, and tour operators and guides are forbidden to smoking during working hours.
- During our weekly staff meeting, all those in attendance, and particularly our department managers are asked to contribute ideas or put forth additional measures we can implement to ensure that our operations have the smallest possible impact on the environment.
- We have a zero tolerance policy when it comes to damaging coral reefs during snorkeling and/or SCUBA diving excursions. Under no circumstance do we allow visitors to remove, or even touch coral reef, and our guides always make this known prior to entering the water.
- We do our best to support eco-tourism by using eco-friendly hotels and resorts when it is possible. As more of these hotels, resorts and camps are constructed, the more prominently they will feature in our tours.
- Last but not least: We listen attentively to any and all advice we receive from travelers relating to the environment. We deeply appreciate any advice because it can help us to protect the environment even further, and also help to improve the services we offer.
