About Camino Travel’s Commitments ~ Vacations Costa Rica ~ Camino Travel

Visiting a new country is one of the best ways to open one’s mind !!! We believe in sustainability and we work continuously to put into practice the basic principles necessary for a better way of doing tourism that impacts the environment less and the visitor’s experience more.

WE STAND FOR:

Sustainable Tourism:

We know that the concept of sustainability involves a great amount of responsibility and hard work, aside from the business related issues. Being sustainable means that we care to maintain a system of both local and global resources. We intend to do this by conserving and preserving the ecological and cultural integrity, promoting social and economic equity, understanding differences, promoting community involvement, and placing greater emphasis on education. We believe that if something is not sustainable it will eventually disappear. Therefore our daily goal is to take actions against practices that are not sustainable. Camino Travel encourages sustainable business in tourism; not only by reducing the impact on the environment; but also with consideration to the social, cultural, and economic dimensions of sustainability.

Certification for sustainable tourism for Tour
Operators CST-TO:

Camino Travel is proud to be one of the first seven companies in Costa Rica to obtain the Certification for Sustainable Tourism for Tour Operators (CST-TO) achieving the fourth level. This certification is awarded by the Costa Rican Tourism Institute (ICT) to distinguish companies according to the degree to which they comply with a sustainable model of natural, cultural and social resource management. The certification is regulated by the Costa Rican National Accreditation Commission and consists of a scale of 5 "levels" of sustainable tourism achievement. www.sustainable-tourism.co.cr

Agreement with Rainforest Alliance

In 2005 Camino signed an agreement with Rain Forest Alliance, an international conservationist organization to promote and fortify sustainable tourism in the Costa Rican tourism industry. The Rainforest Alliance's Sustainable Tourism Program works with tourism entrepreneurs and community-based businesses in Latin America, to provide them training and information on environmentally and socially sound management, to help them gain access and to be more competitive in the marketplace. www.rainforestalliance.com

National Campaign against child sexual tourism

Camino Travel is one of the sponsors of the National Campaign against child sexual tourism, run by the World Tourism Organization, along with Costa Rica’s National Childhood Institute, the Paniamor Childhood Foundation, and supported by the Costa Rican Tourist Board and the Costa Rican Association of Tour Operators (ACOT). Some actions taken in the fight against such situations include: not recommending, promoting or selling hotels that have been openly identified as hosts of sexual tourism activities; supporting campaigns and undersigning agreements against sexual Tourism. www.thecode.org

PRINCIPLES & ACTIONS:

Encouragement of local suppliers: that are committed to providing quality services in line with environmental policies. We work with suppliers that have a long-term vision that takes into account the local communities, support equal opportunity concepts, and invest in their host communities.
Promoting contact between visitors and the local inhabitants: by providing guidelines to diminish the negative social impact, and by organizing activities in which tourism plays a major role in improving the standard of living for local inhabitants. Some examples organized by Camino Travel include: groups of tourists creating an orchard in a rural school in Northern Costa Rica together with the students, putting electricity in a rural school near the Nicoya Gulf, school desk donations in a town near the Manuel Antonio National Park.
Inform travelers: about key conservation tips that encourage them to give back the unused brochures so that they can be reused; avoid using excessive sunscreen lotion (or tanning oils) right before swimming in the sea; restrain from feeding animals in the national parks; try, when possible, to avoid having the towels and bed sheets changed every day, among others.
Ethical Business: Camino Travel will not use supplier-companies that mislead visitors regarding Costa Rica’s reputation, give out wrong information, or which are over charging for their services. We will also give priority to properties and suppliers who stand up for their employees’ social rights, and who have a long-term vision and honest, ethical and sustainable relationships with clients and travel agencies.
Quality Control Ensuring Top Services: We’ve established clear procedures and guidelines to assure the quality of our services. We listen to our customers, constantly evaluate our performance through evaluation sheets and telephone calls to our customers, drivers, guides and all other service providers. We look for the best service providers and we try to give them feedback in order to improve when necessary. We believe in working with fewer suppliers, but establishing strong relationships. We re-evaluate suppliers on a regular basis, and only work with hotels, tours and other services that we know have been evaluated by Camino Travel's staff.

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ABOUT US - OUR COMMITMENTS