Our Ecotourism policy

As responsible tour operators we offset all our business carbon emissions, making all our tours carbon balanced, using the Carbon Balanced Programme of the World Land Trust.

We power our office using our own 6KW wind turbine.

We take steps to minimise our carbon footprint, including regularly servicing our tour vehicle and driving conservatively.
 
In addition to offsetting our own carbon emissions through Carbon Balanced, we help to offset any negative impact of our guests' travel to Orkney by supporting the work of the World Land Trust saving tropical rainforests and other threatened wildlife habitats.

This is important work since, although figures vary, rainforest destruction by burning generally releases around 120 – 160 tonnes of carbon dioxide per acre.

More details of our support for this scheme can be found on our rainforest acres page. 
 
We encourage all our clients to offset the carbon emissions caused by their travel to Orkney by using a recognised carbon offset scheme.
 
We only use paper from Forestry Stewardship Council certified sources for our brochure and other correspondence.

Our brochure and tour information is also available as downloads from our website, removing the need for printing and saving resources.

We conduct as much of our business as possible via email, reducing unnecessary paper use. We do not employ unsolicited bulk marketing techniques and therefore do not send out ‘junk mail’ – our literature is only sent to those who request it.
 
We use local suppliers wherever possible, and the hotels we use serve local produce where available, thereby reducing food miles.
 
We respect the sites we visit and minimise damage by visiting sites with small groups, a maximum of only eight people, and timing our visits to avoid busy periods. Our groups keep to marked paths as appropriate and keep a respectful distance from wildlife and birds, to minimise disturbance.
 
Our groups are encouraged to ‘take only photographs and leave only footprints’
 
We visit the smaller islands of Orkney in order to spread the benefits of tourism to our more economically fragile areas, thereby helping to maintain a viable community in these islands.

We are members of the Orkney Tourism Group and fully support their aims to develop and maintain sustainable tourism in Orkney - the group's mission statement is:

‘Orkney Tourism Group will contribute to the growth of a quality tourism industry in Orkney by providing leadership, representation and support that helps tourism operators to develop and prosper in a sustainable manner’

We recycle wherever possible and use low energy light bulbs throughout our office.