Here at Diethelm Travel, we’re committed to supporting sustainability in all areas of our business – from implementing responsible tourism practices to helping protect our environment and resources. Below are just a few of the sustainable initiatives, programmes and organisations we’ve supported in recent months.
saying good-bye to single-use plastic
We’re proud to share that we no longer offer any disposable plastic water bottles on our overnight tours. Instead, we provide touring guests with complimentary reusable stainless steel water bottles during their journeys that they can take with them to continue supporting plastic-free living in their home country after finishing their trip. Empty bottles can be refilled inside the Diethelm Travel cars. Additionally, our tour guides and chauffeurs will assist clients with finding various refill stations throughout their journey. With this move, together we’ll be helping to eliminate around 800,000 plastic water bottles from entering landfills each year!
offering marine biology awareness courses
Tropical ecosystems provide important resources both locally and globally with coral reefs, sea grass beds and mangroves among the most diverse of marine ecosystems. At present, these ecosystems are severely threatened by human activities. Diethelm Travel is offering guests a two-day course in collaboration with a respected Kota Kinabalu-based Marine Research Foundation.
Whilst experiencing the natural wonders of coastal Malaysia, our guests can learn from the experts and gain a deeper understanding of topics ranging from coral reef ecology to turtle preservation. On the first day of the course, guests attend a lecture covering coral reef ecology, biology and conservation for tropical fish and invertebrates, then visit a lush mangrove forest at Karambunai to identify various species associated with this habitat. On the second day, guests learn about the biology and ecology of endangered sea turtles, as well as conservation approaches and challenges before heading to the scenic Tunku Abdul Rahman National Park on Gaya Island. Here they are instructed in standard reef survey techniques, quadrant sampling, fish identification and more.
For more information about this course, please contact inbound@my.diethelmtravel.com.
meeting with the Roundtable Human Rights in Tourism
We’re passionate about exploring the world and opening up new, exciting destinations to travellers. When operating in a frontier, though, every decision can have a major impact, that’s why Diethelm Travel is honoured to have been part of a kick-off event for a new pilot project that’s creating a tourism social value chain assessment in Thailand and Myanmar. Organised by the Roundtable Human Rights in Tourism, a multi-stakeholder initiative in Europe’s travel and tourism sector, Thailand’s Manushya Foundation and focusright ltd, a Swiss consultancy firm specialising in business and human rights, the initiative will conduct a social value chain assessment and develop an action plan for follow-up measures in both Thailand and Myanmar. By assessing and analysing the social impacts that tourism and business relationships can have in the region, followed by implementing concrete programmes to increase tourism’s potential positive impacts, the project’s goal is to provide practical guidance for tour operators on how to operate ethically and sustainably.
making journeys of a lifetime more sustainable
Thailand has long been known as the Land of Smiles but it’s also gained notoriety as the land of single-use-plastics. To combat this trashy trend, Diethelm Travel joined a 4-day “Innovation Workshop” held by Lab of Tomorrow, an organisation run by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development. During the Bangkok workshop this September, Diethelm Travel met other experts from European and Thai companies, the Thai public sector and civil society to come up with collaborative, innovative business solutions that could reduce plastic waste in the tourism sector while benefitting all stakeholders. The four days were filled with inspiring work and ideas, the best of which will be developed further.
OUR PEOPLE, OUR WORLD, OUR ACTION
If you’d like to learn more about helping support our sustainable initiatives, please get in touch with us at here.
