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We are committed to using guides who live in the holiday
area so you benefit from the depth of their local knowledge and our own staff travel
is minimised.
If staff travel across Europe is needed,
for example for research, then we try to combine as many trips as possible to minimise
the frequency of travel and get the maximum benefit from each trip.
Our local guides ensure that our guests are taken to the
heart of the communities they visit.
We keep our
groups to a small size to minimise the local impact.
We combine groups wherever possible. For example, painting and walking or painting
and photography. As well as offering you flexibility, this enables us to share airport
transfers and transport within the week.
On our holidays
we try to keep transport to a minimum, choosing suitable locations that are a short
distance from the hotel.
We use local transport firms
wherever we can, rather than large national or multi-national chains.
Wherever possible, we use local, family-owned hotels and
restaurants. They in turn, are employing family members or local people and using
largely regional produce, grown and bought locally. In this way, profits are kept
in the area visited. Moreover, we believe such businesses provide a much more authentic,
enjoyable holiday experience for our guests.
While
nearly everything is included on an AA holiday, we encourage guests to buy souvenirs
that are locally produced to ensure that again, as much money as possible goes into
the local economy.
We encourage our guests to learn
a few words of the local language as well as gain an understanding of the culture
and history of the area.
Day-to-day office life
All office stationery is made either from recycled paper or paper from renewable
sources. In turn, we recycle paper, as well as glass, plastic, cardboard, printer
cartridges, and obsolete office equipment. We try to use the minimum stationery
in day-to-day office administration.
We use only low energy light bulbs and encourage staff to turn lights off, lower
the heating settings and switch off idle equipment. In the kitchen and toilets we
use fair trade and eco-friendly products and all appropriate waste is taken home
for composting.
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Flying
We have no illusions about the lessthan- green aspect of flying to our destinations.
For this reason we are developing more itineraries in the UK. This year we have
introduced a French trip that is easily accessible by rail. Recent agreement between
the major European rail companies should simplify rail travel across Europe in the
future and we aim to offer more rail travel as an option.
Carbon offsetting
We counteract the environmental impact of our activities, particularly our flights,
by offsetting all the carbon emissions of our flight-inclusive holidays and all
flights taken by our staff.
We do this through our affiliation with Climate Care. Additionally, we are constantly
looking at ways that we can reduce our carbon footprint.
If you would like to offset the carbon emissions of your flight you can do so very
quickly and easily by visiting:
www.climatecare.org
Once on the website you simply enter your departure and arrival airport and the
online calculator will tell you within seconds the carbon emissions of your flight
and the amount you would need to pay to offset them.
This is not expensive – a flight between London and Barcelona would produce 0.3
tonnes of CO2 and would cost on average £2.47 to offset.Your contribution goes towards
a range of schemes designed to reduce CO2 globally, including the development of
new greener technologies, the creation of energy efficient projects and reforestation.
If you decide to go ahead, you can pay securely online. The ClimateCare site is
one of several excellent websites giving advice on travelling responsibly and lessening
our carbon footprint in all aspects of our daily lives.
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