Responsible Travel

At Scott Dunn we aim to travel responsibly and tread lightly, leaving a positive imprint on the destinations we visit. While the effects of climate change, plastic pollution and global poverty represent huge challenges, we are fully committed to being responsible both in the workplace and the destinations we visit. With new information emerging almost daily, any Responsible Travel Policy is a work in progress, but you can be assured that we are continually developing and refining robust strategies to minimise any negative impact we may have on our planet. Responsible Travel is integral to Scott Dunn and we are proud to help our guests travel as consciously and responsibly as possible.

Protecting the Environment

It can be easy to feel overwhelmed at the environmental threats facing our planet but there are many small steps we can all take to make a positive difference. At Scott Dunn, we are committed to reducing our negative impact on the environment.

• Since 2018, all our mailings are wrapped in 100% biodegradable potato starch instead of plastic wrappings. This has reduced our single-use plastic wrapper usage significantly and we continue to look for further solutions to reduce our impact.
• We have a Green Team in each of our offices who are responsible for ensuring that we are as eco-conscious as possible.
• Our USA office support the Surfrider Foundation, a charitable project dedicated to the protection and enjoyment of the world’s oceans and beaches. Inspired by their ethos, our US staff are regulars down on the beach helping to clean up and protect the local coastline.
• By working closely with our overseas ground agents we pledge that by 2023, 90% of the operators we work with will not provide our guests with single-use plastic bottles.

Carbon Offsetting

While we endeavour to travel as responsibly as possible, it is a fact that air travel is not sustainable. Yet it is also a fact that 10% of the global population, particularly in the developing world, rely on money from tourism for their livelihood. So, to help mitigate the effects of CO2 emissions produced by aircraft, at Scott Dunn we believe in offsetting our carbon footprint by donating money to renewable energy projects in the countries we visit.

We have partnered with ClimateCare to give our guests the option to offset their carbon footprint for flights booked through us, and from 2020 onwards, we pledge to offset all international travel undertaken by our staff for business purposes.

Please read more about it on our carbon offsetting page.

Protecting and Empowering People

As part of our mission to travel responsibly, we respect and honour all human rights, especially in developing nations where poverty can make the local population vulnerable. Given this, we positively support local community initiatives and enterprises but do not engage in activities which we feel would have a detrimental impact on the lives of local citizens.

• We are committed to ensuring that we are not engaged or complicit in the exploitation of people through forced labour, servitude, child labour or trafficking, in accordance with the Modern Slavery Act 2015. Read our full statement here.
• We do not support visits to vulnerable groups including orphanages and any community visits which we feel could have a negative impact on those involved. Instead, we work closely with the charity Pack for a Purpose which assists community projects without being disruptive by encouraging travellers to pack a couple of kilograms of requested supplies in their luggage to be distributed to local charities. All of our staff participate where possible on business trips, allowing Scott Dunn to give something back to the incredible destinations we visit, and we encourage all our guests to get involved too. We are committed to educating and encouraging more of our properties in Africa, the Americas and Asia to work with Pack for a Purpose to bring much needed supplies to more people.
• The Scott Dunn Charitable Fund raises money to support a range of community-based initiatives across the world, including Mary’s Meals where we have partnered with Kachere 1 Primary School in Malawi to provide a daily meal for every child encouraging the children to attend school and improve their future prospects. We are also proud to support CHICKS, a UK children’s charity which provides a free week-long holiday to some of the UK’s most disadvantaged children. We fund one of their retreats in Cornwall for 16 children.

Animal Welfare

The opportunity to see a wide range of exotic bird, marine and wildlife can be a major factor in choosing a holiday destination. In order to protect this indigenous wildlife, we only work with operators committed to ethical and genuine animal welfare practise. As a result, we do not promote any wildlife experiences which compromise on our animal welfare standards.

We will not sell any activities that exploit wildlife including elephant back riding, cetaceans in captivity, trophy hunting and bull fighting or running. While we work with a small number of properties that do still offer elephant back riding and dolphins in captivity to non-Scott Dunn guests, we pledge to use our influence to encourage these suppliers to stop offering elephant rides by 2022 and non-ethical marine life experiences by 2023.