Responsible Travel
In-depth knowledge and a close working relationship with local and international conservation groups relevant to our destinations help us to underline our responsible attitude towards tourism.
Travel offers some of life’s most memorable experiences and it can also bring tremendous good to the world. We believe Responsible Travel is about finding the right balance between minimising our impact on the environment while never losing the ability to open minds through new experiences and interaction with cultures different from our own. It’s also important to remember the economic value of tourism, and how it can support local livelihoods, sustainable development and conservation.
One way to take responsibility for our travel is to make each journey count to the full – fly less frequently, stay longer and do more. Of course words are cheap and have to be backed up by action and we therefore feel it is appropriate to put a proportion of the money we derive from selling you a holiday back into preserving our world.
Over the years, Discover the World has raised significant sums of money for organisations such as the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), the Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society and the Born Free Foundation, doing our little bit to support causes that tackle some of the most pressing issues facing our planet. We have also contributed to the Scott Polar Research Institute (SPRI) and the Iceland Nature Conservation Association (INCA).
Carbon Offsetting with World Land Trust
World Land Trust is an international conservation charity, which protects the world’s most biologically important and threatened habitats acre by acre. Since its foundation in 1989, World Land Trust has funded partner organisations around the world to create reserves and give permanent protection to habitats and wildlife. To date, WLT has helped secure more than 774,282 acres of threatened habitat in 20 countries.
Should you wish to offset the carbon footprint of your flight or holiday we recommend World Land Trust’s Carbon Balanced Offsetting Scheme. This scheme follows a three-step process to measure and reduce your emissions, before offsetting residual emissions through impactful conservation projects, which protect and restore carbon-rich wildlife habitats which would have otherwise been lost, avoiding the release of stored carbon. Return flights to Iceland can be offset from as little as £9.50.
Use the following link to calculate your carbon emissions and donate. Please select ‘Discover the World‘ from the drop down menu when asked ‘What prompted you to make this purchase‘.
Find out about some of our partnerships and projects we support:
Global WAKEcup
Discover the World are proud to be working in partnership with Global WAKEcup, a local British company offering stylish alternatives to single-use cups, bottles, bags and straws. Avoiding single-use plastic is one of the easiest changes we can make and one that will significantly reduce the amount of plastic waste which ends up in our oceans. We encourage our staff and clients to take their own reusable coffee cup and water bottle on holiday, avoiding unnecessary single-use plastic waste.
Global WAKEcup offer a range of sustainable products from bamboo coffee cups and water bottles to vegan friendly bags. Use our exclusive discount code ‘DTW15’ to receive a 15% discount on any purchases through Global WAKEcup and the great part is that 10% of profits will go directly to The Marine Conservation Society, who campaign tirelessly to educate and prevent the devastating effects of single-use plastic pollution on our oceans and marine wildlife.
Visit the Global WAKEcup website to shop now.
Kranavatn - Drink Responsibly - Icelandic Tap Water
Inspired by Iceland introduces Kranavatn, which is Icelandic for tap water – a free, abundant, premium quality water, available for consumption from any tap.
- 70% of all travellers say they don’t trust tap water on holiday
- 65% of all travellers say they use more bottled water on holiday
- 80% of all plastic bottles end up in landfill or in the ocean
It’s time for change. Kranavatn is pure springwater, naturally filtered through lava for centuries, before it reaches your tap. Help us reduce plastic waste and ‘drink responsibly’ by taking a reusable bottle on your travels.
Inspired by Iceland, in partnership with The Environment Agency of Iceland urges visitors to sign up to the ‘Kranavatn Challenge‘ online. Challengers will unlock a voucher reflecting the money they would have spent on plastic water bottles redeemable at several of the country’s premier leisure and retail outlets. Anyone who is planning a trip to Iceland this year can join the Kranavatn challenge online here.
Iceland Nature Conservation Association
Having operated the very first whale watching trips in Iceland back in 1993, whaling is an issue we do not take lightly. In our campaign to end whaling in Iceland we support the Iceland Nature Conservation Association (INCA). Established in 1997, INCA is a conservation NGO with the primary objective of conserving and protecting the wilderness of Iceland. In 2007, Árni Finnsson, chair of INCA’s board, was awarded the Animal Action Award, for his role in whale conservation.
The Husavik Whale Museum
Discover the World is also proud to have donated significant funds to developing The Husavik Whale Museum in North Iceland. This organisation is also at the forefront of the fight against whaling. We would encourage all our clients to take at least one whale watching trip when visiting the country and visiting the Whale Museum in Husavik if you are in the area.
Responsible Travel in the Polar regions
The polar regions have long inspired fascination and awe, from intrepid early explorers to modern day travellers in search of some of the world’s most beautiful and remote landscapes. Rather than having a negative impact on the environment, we believe that responsible tourism to Antarctica and the Arctic can help to raise awareness of the issues facing our planet. Visitors come away with an enhanced sense of the value of the natural world and become more aware in everyday life of ways to help preserve this legacy.
Discover the World is committed to working with leading travel partners in the conservation of the delicate Polar Regions. We only work with IAATO or AECO accredited voyage operators.
IAATO is the International Association of Antarctica Tour Operators, a member organisation founded in 1991 to advocate, promote and practice safe and environmentally responsible private-sector travel to the Antarctic. IAATO’s focus on protection, management and education promotes a greater worldwide understanding and protection of the Antarctic with the goal of leaving it as pristine and majestic for future generations as it is today. Discover the World is proud to support IAATO’s commitment to protecting the region.
AECO is the Association of Arctic Expedition Cruise Operators, an international association dedicated to managing responsible, environmentally friendly and safe tourism in the Arctic and striving to set the highest possible operating standards. AECO’s key objective is to initiate and support measures that are designed to ensure that cruise tourism in the Arctic is carried out with the utmost consideration for the natural environment, local cultures, cultural remains, as well as the challenging safety hazards at sea and on land.