Responsible Travel

As a travel company that curates holidays across the globe, we’re acutely aware of how important it is to look after the world we live and travel in.

We see the impact that travel can have when it’s used as a force for good to give back the destinations we visit. It’s essential to protect the world we love exploring for future generations to enjoy.

As the UK’s leading curated tour and river cruise operator, we have an important role to play. We have an ethical obligation to ensure the way we work is based around a solid Environment, Social and Governance (ESG) strategy (excuse the jargon! We prefer to call it 'Doing The Right Thing') and we’re also in a privileged position to be able to influence our partners and suppliers to ensure our efforts aren’t just surface level.

Responsible Travel has become increasingly important to both Riviera Travel’s guests and staff, but we absolutely want to avoid greenwashing – the act of making it seem like a company is being sustainable and ethical to attract eco-conscious travellers – and do something that’s genuinely impactful and meaningful. This is one of our guiding principles. The other fundamental principle is that we don’t want to compromise Riviera Travel guests experience. Your enjoyment of your holiday is our top priority, so we’ve put a lot of time and effort into creating four Responsible Travel Pillars that considers both our guests’ experiences and our impact on the planet.

Our Responsible Travel Pillars

Sustainability

Our goal: Halve our business use of paper and plastics

Our ambition is to reduce our paper and plastics usage by 50% by 2025 by better using technology to allow us to rely less on printed materials, developing an enhanced digital brochure, and replacing plastic luggage tags with quality reusable tags.

Group of happy Cambodian children riding ox cart in village near Siem Reap, Cambodia

Operating Ethically

Our goal: Setting high standards for ourselves and our suppliers

We're rolling out a Supplier Ethics Policy which sets out our minimum standards of how our partners should conduct themselves, as well as a Hotel Sustainability Checklist, to gauge the sustainability efforts of our hotel partners.

Carbon Footprint

Our goal: Reduce our carbon footprint by 20% within 5 years

Working with eCollective, our ambition is to reduce our carbon footprint by 20% by 2028 - including customer travel and within our business - by setting short- and long-term goals both at our office and on our holidays.

View eCollective's website

Charity

Our goal: Make a meaningful contribution to a charity we believe in

We will be supporting our new charity partner Practical Action with £1 donated for every guest who travels with us, and also offering our customers the opportunity to round up their booking to give an additional donation if they wish.

View the Practical Action website