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We recognise that we have a responsibility to respect other people’s places and ways of life. So alongside ensuring you have a great cycling holiday, we make sure that the impact on the people and places you visit is as positive as possible.
To us it’s more than just preserving the landscape – we travel in small groups to minimise any disruption to local communities and ecosystems. As we see the growing problems associated with overtourism, inequality and climate change, we believe this responsible approach continues to be as important as ever.
We don’t want to be just tourists, we want our holidays to have a positive impact.
Paul Snedker, Co-Founder of Saddle Skedaddle
And that’s not all, we know that tourism, when done right, can bring benefits to the people and places we visit. That’s why our ethos is to develop global adventures with a local perspective, ensuring we provide value to local communities on our cycling holidays.
Our guiding principles
We believe in working with others in the tourism industry to encourage practices and policies that maximise the benefits for local economies and have a positive impact on the people and places we visit.
For our own approach, we continue to take into consideration the latest sustainable thinking. The United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals offer an excellent framework to understand how best we can focus our efforts in all areas. As we developed our approach we have also been guided by the following three key principles which we believe need to be balanced in order to have the most positive impact:
Protect the places we visit
We work to minimise our impact on the environments and ecosystems we explore
- We have joined the Tourism Declares A Climate Emergency community and are a signatory and launch partner of the Glasgow Declaration on Climate Action in Tourism, please read our official declaration here. We are committed to measuring and reducing our footprint and working towards a net zero future.
- We encourage our office teams to cycle, walk or use public transport to work. This includes the option to purchase good-quality bikes at affordable prices.
- Our tours are designed for small groups to minimise negative impact on the environments we travel through.
- While recognising the need for motor vehicle support and back up in certain circumstances we will where possible use locally owned and appropriate vehicles and look to minimise their impact on the natural environment.
- In the office we encourage our team to recycle and reduce waste. We also use print cartridges that are recycled.
- We are actively reducing our print for publications and also within the office. Where used we have recycled and environmentally friendly paper for our promotional publications.
- The introduction of the Skedaddle App means we can reduce paper use on tours and where it’s available, we encourage customers to go paperless and utilise this.
- We provide information for our travellers that enable the reduction of water usage, systems for collecting, recycling or safe disposal of litter and relevant suggestions to minimise damage to the environment, wildlife and marine ecosystems.
- Where appropriate and possible we work with or encourage local destination partners to work with appropriate local projects with direct or indirect environmental benefits.
- We believe in animal welfare. Whilst we understand animals play a vital role in many people’s lives across the world, we endeavor to ensure any animals we proactively encounter as part of our holidays are well cared for.
- We look for environmentally-friendly products where possible, for example our UK bikes are maintained using green oil products which have a plant-based and fully biodegradable formula.
Provide economic benefits to the people we visit
Trusted local partners help to design and deliver our cycling holidays, maximising the benefits and ensuring these remain in the destination
- In all our destinations we work with small local destination companies or locally based people that contribute fully to the local economy and employ local guides.
- We aim to work with partners on a long-term basis developing close, transparent, fair, and mutually beneficial working relationships.
- We aim to ensure that the local supplier, their employees and guides receive a fair wage for their activities measured by locally appropriate standards.
- Working with local people in designing itineraries and tours we will aim to use small locally owned accommodation, equipment and food providers that employ local people.
- Either directly or with our partners we ensure that our global guides are provided with appropriate cycling kit and training.
- In each destination we inform travellers of the ways in which they can do more to ensure their purchases or activities benefit the local economy.
- We are committed to ensuring that slavery and human trafficking does not take place in our business and work with partners who share the same values.
Respect local cultures and communities
We work fairly with local people who have the knowledge and enthusiasm to share their favourite places in a way that’s both responsible and fun
- In all our destinations we work with smaller local suppliers or locally based people that employ local guides who understand and work with local communities to provide authentic experiences in a sensitive way.
- We provide travellers with information on the people and places we visit with suggestions of ways to minimise negative impacts on local cultures.
- Working with local people in the design of our trips we will only visit areas where local people are happy to be visited and do so in a way that supports understanding of the local community.
- In each destination we inform travellers of the ways in which they can do more to benefit local social projects with direct or indirect benefits to the host community.
- We value equality and diversity in our team and on our tours across the world.
- Our Child Protection Policy details our commitment to safeguarding children’s welfare, health and safety on our holidays. We do not support the exploitation of children in any way, a value shared by our partners and supply chain.
Get in touch!
Developing our approach to how we run our trips is an ongoing process. To let us know your thoughts on our approach, please email us at info@skedaddle.com or call us – we’d love to hear from you!