Under 30's Israel & the Palestine vacation

Planet

As part of our responsible travel philosophy, we use public transport wherever possible. However, when this isn’t an option we do our best to ensure that the private vehicles that we travel in are suitable for our small group sizes. For instance, we would not use a 16-seater mini van if we only had five people on the trip with us. We also plan our travel routes so that we spend as little time as possible on the road, which helps to lower the impact of emissions on the local environment.

Given that Israel and Palestine are both very dry destinations, water is a precious commodity. To help our passengers to do their bit, our local tour leaders will always encourage them to take shorter showers. Reusing towels is also an easy way to preserve water, especially as we stay in the same hostel in Jerusalem for the first three nights of the trip making this a fairly effortless thing to do.

To reduce single use plastics during this trip, we give reusable cloth bags to all of our travelers. We also encourage our travelers to buy larger 5-10 litre bottles that they then use to refill their smaller ones.

People

We use a local operator that employs both Palestinian and Israeli tour leaders, who offer fair work practices in line with the local authorities. All employees have the opportunity to train further by making use of our online learning platform as well as annual face-to-face training sessions. Our local operator also supports local students by giving them the chance to join daily tours in order to broaden their experience.

Our philosophy is to act local and that means respecting the local traditions. It can be said that tourism encourages tolerance of cultures and this trip uses both a Palestinian and Israeli guides for the duration of the tour. This gives travelers the opportunity to talk to and mix with both Palestinians and Israelis, breaking down barriers and encouraging friendships between these two opposing cultures. By adopting this philosophy on our tours we are working towards a more friendly and inclusive community.