Our Sustainability Policy | Nuratau Travel

Environmental Responsibility

Tourism can have a significant impact on local communities and the natural environment of our destination. Our responsible travel policy ensures we keep any negative impacts to a minimum and increase the positive differences travel can make to our country. In doing so, we hope to offer our clients a more insightful and authentic experience, as well as help to protect the people, wildlife, and natural environment.

Our Office & Tours

All our employees make the utmost effort to reduce waste and to promote sustainable practices. To ensure a positive contribution we take the following measures:

We do not use single-use plastic products in the office

We try to use eco-friendly cleaning products in the office

We only produce electronic brochures

LED lighting is used throughout the office

During our camping and trekking tours, we use reusable kitchenware, containers, and bags

We use gas bottles and avoid cutting wood for cooking and making fires

We try to recycle anything that can be recycled (paper, toner cartridges, batteries, and mobile phones are recycled or disposed of in the most sustainable manner possible)

We use energy saving and smart heating systems in our office. Our heating system is timer-based to limit waste

Our Homestay and Local Partners/Suppliers

To protect the environment in the Nuratau Mountains and avoid the degradation of the scarce mountain vegetation by the increased demand for fuel wood, we encourage the use of solar water heaters and gas bottles in the homestays that are members of our CBT project. We also encourage homestay owners to use other alternative devices of energy, such as hydro pumps, solar panels, and water wheels for the production of electricity.

All partners have eliminated the use of single-use plastic water bottles and have replaced them with reusable water containers.

Economic Responsibility

Nuratau Travel (legal name Responsible Travel LLC) is a tour operator and CBT office that has a commitment to helping local communities to earn additional income from tourism by developing and promoting Community-Based Tourism in the Nuratau Mountains of Uzbekistan.

Promoting CBT, we give subsistence farmers and low-income families opportunities to earn additional income from tourism. We hire local people as our escort guides, drivers, and mountain guides. We also hire animals from local people for our horse riding and donkey riding tours and pay them for their services. We accommodate our tourists in the rural homestays and give local people the opportunity to earn from tourism by providing food and accommodation. Furthermore, we involve village musicians and handicraft masters in organising traditional performances and handicraft demonstrations so that they can earn income by exhibiting their skills to tourists.

We always use locally owned, small family accommodations and restaurants during our multiple-day tours. We design our excursions and experiences in such a way that we include elements that help alleviate poverty in the destination.

Social Responsibility

We actively give priority to local suppliers and service providers that demonstrate an active position regarding their employees’ social and economic rights.

All our suppliers take positive steps to ensure their employees are treated fairly and all abide by the prevailing national employment legislation as a minimum; invariably exceeding such legislation.

Our tours and tailor-made itineraries provide the opportunity to visit local social projects either as an included activity or as an optional excursion. All such projects are vetted to ensure they provide either financial, social, or community benefits. In the Nuratau Mountains, we initiate social projects aimed to improve access to clean drinking water for the village population and help renovate community-funded elementary schools.

Responsible Travel and our partners/suppliers will not tolerate under any circumstances the following actions by guests. If suspected or proven, this would result in the immediate cessation of their holiday and would be reported to the appropriate authorities:

Any aggressive and/or discriminatory behaviour

Any kind of sexual tourism activities

The removal or purchase of any artefacts, relics, or similar

The trafficking or purchase of any endemic endangered animals or items made from the same