All tourism potentially has environmental, social and economic impacts on the destination involved. At Southern Cone Journeys, therefore, we design and operate our trips in a responsible manner, aiming to promote sustainability on each of these three levels. This set of guidelines is intended to help companies, customers and local suppliers recognize their common responsibilities as well.

We provide all clients with the World Tourism Organization’s suggested Code of Ethics for the Responsible Tourist and Traveller and encourage them to read our blog on responsible tourism (http://southernconejourneys.blogspot.com/), which provides useful tips on how to behave responsibly during their trip and make the most of the experience both for them and their host communities. We also supplement this advice with information on the culture, customs, language, tipping, and appropriate dress code of the destinations they will visit. Our guides are always ready to assist travelers with any questions they may have regarding their interaction with local communities.

In addition, we have the following considerations to achieve the triple bottom line of sustainability in our trips:

Environmental Sustainability

• We only organize trips for small groups (up to 11 people) to avoid overloading local infrastructure of the places we visit, particularly those that are environmentally sensitive.
• We dispose of litter responsibly, carrying our own trash bags on each trip and recycling rubbish accordingly once the excursion is over. By doing this, we are also contributing to social and environmental projects that benefit from recycling different materials in Chile. For example, The Committee for the Defense of Flora and Fauna (CODEFF) recycles glass to support conservation projects, while empty Tetra Pak containers are recycled by the A Roof for Chile Foundation to obtain funds for their campaign to build houses for families without a home.
• We give guidelines to our clients on how to act in the natural environment and respect wildlife. For example, we urge them not to feed wildlife, not to buy products made from endangered species, and to stay within the defined trails to avoid trampling vegetation and soil when visiting natural areas.
• We support the El Boldo Park conservation project, in Zapallar, by donating part of our incomes from tours to the area. The Corporación Bosques de Zapallar, Chile’s first land trust, created El Boldo Park, which protects almost 70 hectares (173 acres) of this unique and highly threatened forest. Thus, by booking this tour, our guests are helping contribute to the conservation of this fragile environment.

Social Sustainability

• We attempt to provide an insight and understanding of the host culture and community to our clients so that they can gain more from visiting them. In addition to the pre-trip information we provide about the destination, our guides are always ready to provide in-depth explanations about the people our travelers interact with and to translate for them any questions they may have for their hosts.
• We have three permanent staff members and employ 10 bilingual local guides that are recent college graduates, offering them an opportunity to gain knowledge and experience for their career. They undergo periodic training on different topics, including the destination’s history, current events, culture and traditions and the importance of sustainability.
• We also work closely with our providers. Many of them own small businesses in the countryside and do not have much experience promoting themselves to international markets. We offer them the benefit of showcasing their high-quality services and giving them input on how to improve their offer. In many cases, we spend time figuring out with them what works best in terms of responsible tourism and provide advice on commercial, marketing and sustainability topics.
• We operate our trips in a way that encourages positive cultural exchanges. Through our excursions, you get to interact with locals and spend enough time with them to learn about their way of life, customs, traditions and interests.
• We encourage travelers to respect the local culture and try to learn as much as they can from the people they interact with.
• We advise our clients to ask for permission before taking photos of people. We don’t promote giving money for photos as it can encourage a begging culture.

Economic Sustainability

• We have been actively looking for locally-owned businesses as suppliers, with the aim of contributing to sustaining jobs for local community members.
• The accommodations we work with are mostly locally-owned and hire local Chilean workers.
• The restaurants we work with are all locally-owned and offer traditional Chilean cuisine. We have also worked with them to prepare special menus for our travelers that will highlight typical Chilean ingredients in their plates, avoiding foreign produce.
• We promote typical Chilean handicrafts through our tours, taking our travelers to places with shops offering high-quality authentic products. In some of our tours we include visits to the stores owned by the Artisans of Chile Foundation, which is run by the First Lady and showcases products from small artisans throughout the country.
• We seek to build links with locally based projects that aim to support and produce a positive impact on local communities.
• Through our trips to the countryside, we are contributing to local economies by helping small business owners sustain jobs and avoid moving to urban areas. We are working with them to show the value of countryside lifestyle and products, such as handicrafts and typical foods. Our excursion to the Curacaví Valley is the highlight in that sense. Most tour operators just pass by the valley on their way to the Viña del Mar resort city and Valparaíso, Chile’s main port. Few of them stop in Curacaví, which is located half-way between Santiago and these destinations. If they do, it’s only at a pastry shop along the highway. Our excursion goes into the Curacaví town, however, where travelers can see life in the countryside and learn how some of Chile’s best typical foods are produced at small-scale factories owned by local community members. These people have created a tourism route to attract visitors to the area, but so far we are the only tour operators who are actively working with them and supporting their project.
• One of our principles is fair trade. We advise our clients about local bargaining customs and give guidelines to reasonable prices.
• Along that same line, we do not bargain with our providers to the point they feel exploited, which happens fairly often in the tourism industry. In many cases, we have even helped them realize if they are not valuing their products or services well enough.
• We encourage our clients to use public transport during their stay and in several of our excursions we use the subway (underground) instead of a car. Even if the trains are crowded, it gives them a good feeling of how Chileans move around the city and they can get a much better idea of the place by walking down the streets instead of just driving through them in a vehicle.