Sustainability Policy

Purpose

This is a policy document. It is also a guide which means that as we learn and grow into our role as a company which aspires to make an environmental difference, some of the strategies contained herein may be adjusted or adapted so that they better integrate with our business.

Scope

This policy applies to all. As a guiding document, we wish to instill a culture of sustainability for our children, our children's children and future descendants. As a guiding document, there is no enforceability, and no consequences of not following this policy, except where common law dictates as such, but is aimed to assist us as a company to inspire all to live a more sustainable lifestyle both in personal and business lives.
The entire Out and About Travel family is responsible in ensuring that we live in a way that does not negate the efficacy of this policy.
It is here to guide us when we are not sure of the most sustainable method of doing something. As such it is a dynamic policy which will change with our experiences over time.

Sustainability management & legal compliance

Sustainability commitment

  • Out and About Travel leadership is wholly committed to the company's sustainability performance and endorses the company's sustainability mission statement and policy.
  • We will use the Travelife platform to report on our sustainability progress and to monitor and evaluate progress. We are committed to (publicly) communicating our sustainability performance (by means of the Travelife report) every two years.

Sustainability management & legal compliance

  • Out and About Travel commits to continuous improvement of sustainability practices, including the ongoing
    monitoring and evaluation of our sustainability policy, with dedicated personnel and resources to achieve our
    sustainability goals.
  • Out and About Travel follows all local, regional, national, and international regulations as they relate to human resources, human rights, children’s rights, land rights, environmental management, wildlife, and land use. We follow a strict Code of Ethics, including a zero-tolerance policy for corruption, bribery, forced labor, and discrimination.

Internal management: social policy & human rights

Employees

We recognize that our employees are our biggest asset for delivering meaningful travel experiences to our
customers. Therefore, we maintain a clear human resource policy to ensure:

  • Leal compliance in all regards
  • A safe, healthy, and welcoming workplace
  • Fair contract conditions including fair compensation
  • Training opportunities including trainings on topics of sustainability, sexual harassment and
    exploitation in the workplace and in the industry
  • Participation in the sustainability planning activities
  • Inclusion and equal opportunity for all employees, particularly with regard to compensation,
    promotion, distribution of benefits, and professional development opportunities.

Out and About Travel is committed to a zero-tolerance policy for acts of bribery, corruption,
discrimination, and violation of human rights, including forced labour, human trafficking, and all rights of
children.

Out and About Travel seeks partners in the industry with such similar commitment.

Internal management: environment

Environmental management of office operations

- We are committed to keeping the direct footprint of our business operations as minimal as possible and
actively follow environmentally-sound principles. We have the following measures in place:

  • Follow all local and national regulations concerning environmental law
    Measure, monitor, and evaluate use of all commodities and products purchased, especially in terms
    of water, waste, energy, and carbon.
  • Procure office supplies mindfully keeping in mind all sustainability principles.
  • Print only when absolutely necessary and mindfully.
  • Energy saving measures are in place in all common areas.
  • All equipment and lighting is energy-efficient and turned off/unplugged/on sleep mode when not in
    use.
  • Water saving measures are in place in all common areas and restrooms, including water capture in
    external areas.
  • Waste is separated and is disposed of in an environmentally responsible manner.
    Noise, light, and air pollution is minimized.

Carbon management of office operations

Out and About Travel is committed to reducing our carbon footprint and endeavours to:

  • Reduce the amount we travel as much as possible
  • Monitoring and measuring carbon footprint with the aim to reduce as much as possible and
    offset remaining amounts.
  • Encouraging remote work whenever possible, and when it is not possible, making it easier for
    employees to limit their carbon footprint by use of eco modes of transportation.
  • We commit to offsetting our remaining direct and indirect carbon from travel and fossil energy use
    by living and working off-grid with sustainable alternative power supplies.
  • Installing energy efficient equipment and appliances.

Land use

  • The Out and About Travel office is located in a rural nature conservancy and abides by all local land use
    laws, respects local cultural and natural resources in our business operations, and favours sustainable
    architecture and design.

General suppliers policy

- Out and About Travel is committed to sourcing its products and services responsibly, avoiding harmful
impacts on society, culture and nature as much as possible. We expect the same level of engagement and
commitment from our suppliers.

- Out and About Travel prefers to work with partners that share the company’s commitment towards
sustainability. This means that we prefer partners that have a written sustainability statement as an integral
part of their business policy and/or a clear sustainability policy in place.

- Out and About Travel prefers to work with suppliers in the destinations that are locally owned or managed,
use local and seasonal products and services and benefit the local community by hiring locally and equitably
and by providing fair working conditions.

- Out and About Travel would appreciate its suppliers adhering to the legally subscribed following responsible
business practices:

  • Complying with all local, regional, national and international regulations.
  • Respecting all human rights including labour rights, children’s rights, and women’s rights
    Committing to fair employment conditions.
  • Following anti-corruption, anti-bribery, anti-extortion, and anti-discrimination policies.
  • Protecting children from (sexual) exploitation through tourism.
  • Protecting the environment and natural resources.
  • Acting in the best interest of local communities.

- Following a zero-tolerance policy, we will immediately terminate any relationships with suppliers that
violate any code of ethics, specifically through acts of bribery, corruption, discrimination, and violation of
human rights.

- Out and About Travel raises awareness amongst its suppliers to adopt sound social and environmental
practices, and to minimize their carbon footprint.

- Out and About Travel actively collaborates with suppliers to improve their sustainability performance. We
encourage our suppliers to continuously learn about sustainability and provide/support this learning
whenever possible.

- Out and About Travel maintains open lines of communication with our suppliers and partners and encourage
feedback from our stakeholders at any time and on any topic, particularly sustainability.

Inbound partner agencies

  • Out and About Travel only works with partner agencies that adhere to the company’s sustainable principles.
  • In the entire process of developing and operating our travel packages, we expect partner agencies to act in the best interests of the surrounding communities and environment as well as our guests.
  • Out and About Travel provides partner agencies opportunities for sustainability learning and management, including free access to the Travelife online learning and reporting platform.

Transport

  • Out and About Travel hopes to work with transport providers that adhere to the company’s principles and of
    course all national legislation.
  • When selecting transport for guests and business related travel, we commit to choosing the most environmentally friendly options available for travelling to, from, and within the destination – taking into consideration distance, price, route, and comfort.
  • Out and About Travel endeavors to measure and compensate for the unavoidable GHG emissions produced from transportation. Compensation costs are either included by default in the package price or compensation is actively promoted to the clients as a booking option.

Accommodations

  • Out and About Travel prefers to work with accommodations that share the same sustainability principles.
  • In the accommodation selection process, we consider the sustainability practices of an accommodation by taking into account their sustainability management and social and environmental footprint.
  • Out and About Travel favours the selection of accommodations that respect and protect land use, as well as respectfully highlight elements of local architecture, customs and traditions.

Activities & Excursions

  • Out and About Travel seeks excursion providers that adhere to the company’s sustainability principles.
  • All excursions and activities run by or on behalf of Out and About Travel respect local customs, traditions, cultural integrity, and natural resources.
  • We commit to not offering any excursions that harm humans, wildlife, environment, or natural resources such as water and energy.
  • We give preference to excursions and activities that benefit local communities, respect animal welfare and support environmental protection.
  • Out and About Travel has clear guidelines in place for environmentally and culturally sensitive excursions offered by or on behalf of the company. These guidelines are actively communicated to guests as well as distributed and implemented by excursion providers and guides.
  • We provide excursion and attraction providers opportunities for sustainability learning and management, including free access to the Travellife online learning and reporting platform.

Tour leaders, local representatives, and guides

  • Out and About Travel commits to hiring qualified local guides, porters, drivers or other local staff, paying
    them living wages and providing safe and fair working conditions. We expect the same from our suppliers
    that are hiring local staff on our behalf.
  • We understand that guides are the intermediaries between the guests and the socio-cultural and environmental context of the destination, conveying the appropriate behaviour to them. Therefore, we make sure that all guides hired by or leading tours on our behalf are trained regularly and knowledgeable in the sustainability topics of the destination.
  • Our guides are specifically trained on the critical issue of sexual exploitation of children in tourism.
  • Out and About Travel provides guides with learning opportunities on sustainability topics including providing free access to the Travellife online learning platform.

Destinations

Sustainable destinations

  • Out and About Travel prefers to work in destinations that have committed to sustainability as an integral part of community and destination development.
  • We aim to send visitors to lesser-known tourist areas to avoid overtourism.
    Out and About Travel does not support destinations that have a questionable human rights track record.

Contribution to local communities / local economic network

Out and About Travel commits to positive contribution to the destinations in which we operate, by:

  • Sourcing locally and responsibly, and supporting local and traditional arts and culture.
  • Encouraging guests to shop responsibly and educating them about illegal/prohibited/forbidden
    souvenirs.
  • Collaborating with other local tourism stakeholders [including local government, other tourism
    businesses, academia, community groups] to further the sustainable tourism development of the
    destination.
  • Respecting and advocating for all human rights (i.e. children's rights, women’s rights, labour rights,
    etc.) as well as land right.

Environmental stewardship in destinations

Out and About Travel commits to environmental stewardship in the destinations in which we operate by:

  • Ensuring natural resources remain intact.
  • Educating guests about the principles of responsible travel and responsible visitor behaviour.

Customer communication and protection

Privacy

Our customer protection is our priority. Therefore, we ensure

  • Legal compliance in all regards.
  • Customers and their data are protected.
  • Customers know how their information is being used.

Marketing and communication

  • Out and About Africa strives to be truthful in all situations and at all times. We offer products and services
    that do what we claim in our communications.
  • We honour our explicit and implicit commitments and promises.
  • We are anti-greenwashing and stand behind our sustainability claims 100%.
  • We endeavour to be inclusive and representative in our marketing, and to always take into account cultural,
    religious, and ethnic sensitivities.

Sustainability communication

Customers are informed about the social and environmental impact of their journey, and are educated about
the sustainable choices they can make, including transparent communication on:

  • Certified accommodations.
  • Compensation of their trips CO2 emissions.
  • Activities and excursions that benefit the local communities and environmental protection.
  • Responsible shopping and illegal souvenirs.
  • Child Protection legislation.

Customer experience

The company aims for all customer experiences to be positive, and follows strict health and safety,
marketing, and excursion policies to ensure customer satisfaction. These policies cover specific topics of
(but not limited to):

  • Health and safety.
  • Emergency procedures.
  • Privacy.
  • Group numbers.
  • Greenhouse Gas emissions and offsetting.
  • Transport.
  • Shopping.
  • Sexual exploitation.
  • Children in tourism.
  • Satisfaction and complaint.

Out and About Africa maintains open lines of communication with our customers and encourages feedback
at any time and on any topic, particularly sustainability.

Contact / Responsible person

  • All staff are responsible for the ownership and undertaking of this policy.
  • All staff are responsible for the promotion and implementation of this sustainability policy within their
    departments.

The implementation of this policy will be lead by the Directors, who can be reached at dianne@oatravel.co.za.

Effective date

  • This policy is effective from 23 September 2023

Revision history

  • This policy was revised on 23 September 2023.
  • This policy will be revised by October 2024.

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