By Experience Travel Group‘s Alice Bayley.

Update on B Corp Journey – July 2022

We’ve been awarded B Corp status!

The approval process took a long time (9 months) as the B Corp movement is snowballing. We’re so proud to be part of that. Much work was involved, but our business fundamentals meant we started from a strong position. That was a credit to our team, our community, and our band of committed travellers.

We’ll continue to update you here on our journey. Here is what B Corp says about what it means to be B Certified:

“B Corp Certification is more than a badge or a set of standards. It indicates a community of business leaders who bring those standards to life in their pursuit of a more inclusive, equitable, and regenerative economy. It means sharing best practices and collaborating for greater social and environmental impact, as well as acknowledging the reality of recent disruptions and honoring the need for healing.”

Find out more about our full assessment on the B Corp website.

What is a B Corporation?

A B Corporation is an independently verified business that meets the highest standards of social and environmental performance, transparency, and accountability. The B Corporation mission is to prioritise ‘people and planet’ as much as profit in business – and over the past few months, we’ve been working on innovative ways to do just that. 

We want to be a company you are proud to travel with, safe in the knowledge that your holiday is ethically and environmentally sound.

Our Co-Founder and Managing Director, Sam Clark, said:

“We believe in the economic, social – even environmental – benefits of travel, otherwise we wouldn’t do what we do.  And we’ve always tried hard to make sure that travel done ‘the ETG way’ is a force for good.  We share the B Corp ethos that sustainability is not a single badge to be gained: it doesn’t mean standing still, rather a journey of continuous improvement and we’re proud to be on it. To misquote Dolly Parton, ‘We’ve found out who we are and we’re going to do it on purpose.’”

When it comes to responsible travel policies, we always support projects that not only mitigate our carbon emissions but promote biodiversity and provide local people with sustainable alternatives to logging and poaching. Our recent initiatives include: 

• A drive to reduce single-use plastic waste on our holidays one bottle at a time by providing drinking water refills and reusable bottles. We have implemented this in seven out of twelve destinations, saving average 56 single-use plastic bottles per person per two-week trip.
• A commitment to increase the local economic and social benefit of ETG tours which, since 2017, has resulted in over 770 ETG travellers enjoying a meal at a social enterprise restaurant during their holiday.
• A carbon contribution for all our bookings, which we have chosen to donate to mangrove and rainforest conservation projects in Cambodia, Myanmar and Indonesia.  

Our current priorities include reducing our office and employee carbon footprint; promoting slow travel and low carbon holidays; creating internship opportunities and recognising staff commitment to the local community by giving paid time off for volunteering.  

ETG work with travel agents across the UK to deliver tailor-made holidays to Asia. Sam Clark added:

“By working with a B Corp certified tour operator, agents have concrete evidence to show their clients they go the extra mile to deliver ethical and environmentally friendly holidays.” 

FEELING INSPIRED TO GO TO ASIA?

Explore our ETG trips, then talk to our specialists.

Feel free to get in touch or call us.