PHOENIX TRAVEL GROUP is committed to offering sustainable travel experiences where the tourist can enjoy and learn about the history, culture and nature of Colombia. We provide a personalised service with the highest quality and security standards while preserving nature and heritage, contributing to the development of the communities we visit, improving the quality of life of our employees as well as understanding and respecting the needs of our stakeholders.
PHOENIX TRAVEL GROUP is committed to its values (determination, honesty, respect and creativity), the protection of children from sexual tourism, abiding of national laws and continual improvement.
PHOENIX TRAVEL GROUP offers travel experiences where the tourist interacts with locals and enjoy the destination in a sustainable way. This is made possible by the local guides who are experienced and knowledgeable of the destination and encourage our customers to be respectful and careful with our ancestral, cultural and natural heritage.
Our projects also contribute to the local development and the preservation of the environment. Some examples include our reforestation projects, the use of small and local hotels instead of international chains, and the use of cleaner or eco-friendly transportation.
PHOENIX TRAVEL GROUP is member of the Colombian Association of Responsible Tourism called ACOTUR. This organization works for the development and promotion of the responsible and sustainable tourism in Colombia.
Our sustainability policy is reflected in each part of our supply chain:
Our customers:
Our customers are encouraged to be respectful of the environment and the communities they visit. We also remind them about the Colombian laws referring to the trafficking of cultural goods, species of endangered wild fauna and flora, the protection of human rights of vulnerable communities and prevention of exploitation, sexual abuse and other forms of child abuse. Our customers can voluntarily support our reforestation project to compensate the Carbon footprint left by their trip.
We evaluate the quality of our service through satisfaction surveys and travel reports from the operations team based on daily follow-ups and comments from our clients.
Our destinations:
We are committed to supporting environmental community and educational projects that help and promote sustainable development of the destinations we promote. Our clients support local artisans and local producers in such way that the community is benefited. We promote visits to natural national parks which generates revenue to support research and protection of endangered fauna and flora species, most of them endemic. We promote eco-lodges and other type of sustainable accommodations, of which many are run by the local community and in such a way that they also benefit from tourism. We monitor our destinations periodically based on the sustainability policy statements.
Our suppliers:
Most our accommodations are small boutique hotels run or owned by local people. In some destinations we used local hotel operators associated with international hotel chain that also have a defined sustainability policy. One of our principal criteria to select a supplier is that they engage in socially responsible actions and promote an ethical treatment of their employees. We always promote local guides and their training as well as education initiatives.
PHOENIX TRAVEL GROUP does not offer products or services of excursions, lodging and other touristic suppliers that damage or hurt human beings, fauna or flora, or other natural resources (water sources, etc.). We monitor our suppliers periodically based on the sustainability policy statements (surveys) and ensure their commitment through the code of conduct and/or signed agreement. Our internal processes: We give 1% of our net profit to reforestation projects in Colombia. We minimize our energy consumption by turning off lights, computers, fans and other equipment while we are not using them and during the night. We recycle all the paper that we use in the office. Our printing machines are set by default to double-sided and we print only when is necessary. We use teleworking so our team has more autonomy and flexibility. This is also represented in a more motivated team and a greater productivity since everyone is working on a set goal.
Through teleworking, we avoid taking either public or private transportation to meetings causing less impact on the environment. However, we have monthly online meetings to monitor and evaluate our team performance and improve our processes. We promote a safe, healthy, pleasant and motivated work environment. We stimulate open communication and confidence in our work team. We promote training and educational programs to our team that contribute to their professional development and impact the company competitiveness positively. We implement technology tools when necessary to improve our productivity and competitiveness.
Product development:
We promote new product development based on innovation, the sustainability policy statements, especially Community Based Tourism and Fair Trade travel experiences. We design an exclusive program of Fair Trade for one of our European tour operators and an allied foundation. We support the design of eco-tourism CBT product in Charalá, Santander, Colombia, in the surroundings of a national natural park called Santuario de Fauna y Flora Guanentá Alto Río Fonce, that has endemic species and unique landscapes. Finally, we affirm our commitment to the following current regulations in Colombia and we invite you to commit as well: We reject the exploitation, sexual abuse and other forms of child abuse in accordance with the provisions in Law 679 – 2001 and 1336 – 2009. We reject commercialization and illegal trafficking of cultural goods (Law 103-1991, 397 – 1997, 185 – 2008) and species of wild fauna and flora (Law 17 – 1981). We promote cultural diversity of Colombia. We reject discrimination and racism. Law 1482 -2011. (If you have any doubt or concern regarding our sustainability policy, please contact our sustainability leader to the email: info @ phoenixdmc).
