Fuoritinerario - Discover your Italy “Responsible Travel and Sustainable Tourism Policy”

Introduction:

Tourism is one of the largest and fastest growing global industries. Tourism growth means creation of significant employment and economic development. Tourism growth means also that more and more different people and cultures, different lifestyles can get closer and interact. Tourism growth leads to a strong impact on the environment, the local economies, the social and cultural heritage where it operates.

When not managed properly tourism impact can be negative and disruptive for the environment (from resource consumption to pollution and waste generation), for the destinations (from cities centers crowding to monuments preservation endangering), for local people and cultures (from interference with local habits to increasing of illegal activities such as drug and prostitution).

Tour operators are an important part of the Tourism industry. Therefore they are in part responsible for the negative impacts of tourism, as they determine where many tourists go and which facilities they use. On the other end, they can influence the choices of consumers, the practices of suppliers and the development patterns of destinations, in order to create a “positive loop”. A clean and pristine environment, with authentic local culture and friendly people, are the reasons why people travel. It is thus in the tour operators’ interest to preserve the environment in their destinations and to establish good relationships with local communities, to improve the quality of their tourism products and increase customer satisfaction. Besides strengthening their brand values and reputations with consumers, integrating sustainable principles into tour operators’ business practices can also create better relationships with suppliers, staff and local communities, increasing their respect as a partner in destinations and limiting the risk of problems or conflicts.

Our Principles:

Fuoritinerario – Discover Your Italy is a relatively small and young Tour Operator. The milestone of our company and our daily work is our passion: our passion for travel and our passion for our Country, Italy.

We consider ourselves lucky for being born, living and working in such a beautiful place, rich in culture and tradition. Therefore, we strongly believe that the way we operate our business should have a positive impact on “what we touch”: environment, local communities, art and cultural heritage of our Country, our suppliers, our travellers.

<<We recognize our responsibility to develop and operate in a manner that makes a positive contribution to the natural, social and cultural environment.

We also recognize and accept our responsibility to operate in ways that reduce environmental impacts, benefit local communities, safeguard the future livelihood of local people, and ensure the protection of destinations for future generations.>>

Our Code of Conduct:

We are committed to take into account Responsible Travel and Sustainable Tourism principles in the following relevant areas of our operations:

1. Offices and internal operations: we are committed in taking into account sustainability principles in our daily office management, HR management, office supplies and production of printed material

… in practice:

• We manage our operations throughout a nice office in Perugia we have rented from a cooperative society active in the social services field: this means the amount we pay for our rent is re-invested by the cooperative in social service activities.
• Our office building is solar powered: 100% of the energy we use for our office operations is produced by solar panels.
• We strive to have a paperless office. We are very careful not to waste any paper for our prints (and we always use both sides of each paper sheet); we try to minimize the use of paper brochures.
• We recycle all our waste (paper, plastic, organic). We drink “filtered” tap water instead than bottled water, that allows us to reduce of 95% the use of plastic bottles.

2. Product Development and Management: we are committed in planning Tours that minimise environmental, economic and social impacts; we are committed in planning Tour that fosters intercultural understanding and respect for local customs and culture.

… in practice:

• Our Tours are designed exclusively for very small groups (from 6 to maximum 12 travellers): Small groups allow travellers to get in close contact with the  places visited, easily interact with local people, while not overburdening them with visitors. This means greater opportunity for cross-cultural understanding. Small groups have a much “softer” impact on the environment: less pollution (they travel by small bus and public transportation rather than by a large coach; walking tours can be more easily organized); less waste (it is easier to give waste guidelines and control a small group of people).
• Our original Itineraries will take travellers to discover unique destinations off the beaten track overlooked by the large scale and mass tourism. Furthermore, even when we visit most touristic places we carefully try to avoid tourists overcrowded spots thanks to the ability of our local guides that can suggest secondary streets or less crowded timing to visit and thus better enjoy a “must see” spot.
• Our Tour Calendar and Planning allows travellers to choose also among many “low season” departures: we believe that travelling during the low season allows to get closer in touch with the local life and enjoy the unique atmosphere of most popular places, which will be too crowded during peak touristic season; this also allows suppliers to better spread their activity during the year and offer the customer a higher level of service.
• Most of the guided visits in the places included in our Tours are “walking guided tours”: we think that is the best way to appreciate the architecture and the atmosphere of most of our cities centers and villages; furthermore,  many of the historic Italian cities do not permit motorized vehicles in their centers  and we strongly support these local government initiatives.
• We plan our Tour calendar to coincide with local events and celebrations. Special events open windows into the local culture, and the money spent on food and crafts stays in the community.
• In every tour we include one or more “Slow Food” Restaurants (Slow Food is an Italian Association, founder of the international “Slow Food” movement, whose aim is to combat fast-food globalization by promoting local products, traditional cuisines and ways of life).

3. Suppliers and Local Partners:  we are committed in using locally owned “Italian style” infrastructure for accommodation and transport; we are committed in using local typical restaurants for meals; we are committed in using local experts and authorized local guides; we are committed in  supporting local artisans. This benefits local people by providing valuable employment and spreading the financial benefits amongst local people and operators; furthermore benefits our customers/travellers by making them experience the “real culture of Italy”, from every detail of their holiday.

… in practice:

• All the hotels we selected are locally/Italian owned and managed. We have visited them, we know the people who manage them and they have proven their sense of style, a fondness to detail, and an elegance typical of the Italian character; in the same time they are very attentive to the quality of service and to sustainability principles.
• We only use small hotels, that have a much lower impact on the environment. We prefer accommodations that formally adhere to the sustainable tourism principles or that can demonstrate efforts to reduce their environmental impact. We use as reference the guidelines indicated by “Legambiente Turismo”:- waste reduction, through less single portions versus more refillable containers and separate waste collection;

  - water saving,  through saving appliances and indications to customers for rational use;

  - certified-quality detergents and indication to customers for rational use;

  - energy saving through energy saving lamps and appliances;

  - healthy food (local fresh products; typical local food; organic food);

  - noise abatement.

• For all the meals we include in our Tours we have chosen the traditional cuisine using local products: form the small typical “trattoria” to the elegant gourmet restaurant, they are all locally owned and they guarantee the use of the best local/Italian fresh products.
• We participate to local Chambers of Commerce Programs aimed to sustain the tradition and the work from small local artisans and in every Tour we include visits to local artisans workshops: this enables travellers to understand the tradition and buy true handmade crafts from local artisans; and enables artisans to show their talent and get a fair reward for their valuable work.
• We have chosen to employ local guides: our small group formula allows us to give every group the support of more than one local guides, depending on the complexity of the itinerary. The local guide will be really capable to make the traveler understand not only the art, but the true culture of each place visited, making a much more in depth experience. Our local guides agree with our responsible tourism principles and will help the travelers to respect the environment while enjoying their visits (encourage travelers not to litter, by indicating the proper way to recycle waste, even in public areas; encourage travelers to respect the places they visit: art pieces, architecture, environment).

4. Tourism Legislation and Code of Conduct:  we commit to operate in accordance with all national and international rules regulating our business sector.

… in practice:

• We are a professional Tour Operator fully licensed and bonded in accordance to Italian Law.
• We only use fully authorized guides and drivers for our Tours (Italian and local legislation is very strict about that) and we support and encourage fair employment practices.
• We actively ban drivers, guides and passengers participation in or endorsement of commercial sexual activities or illegal drug use, as well as alcohol abuse on our Tours.

5. Customer Relations and Satisfaction:  we are committed to give our travellers the best possible value.

… in practice:

• We guarantee privacy, health and safety standards for our Tours and our suppliers
• We guarantee the respect of every detail of our commercial promise (itinerary described, activities included, accommodation and meals standards promised ect). Even in case we have to change some detail on our published programmes, due to unforeseeable circumstances, we guarantee the replacement with equivalent ones.
• We guarantee  to provide opportunities for travellers to “experience the true Italian culture”
• We provide our customers with information on responsible behavior and sustainability issues while they travel on our Tours in Italy: Read our “Responsible Travel and Sustainable Tourism: Guidelines for Travellers to Italy”.