Tenzin Woaber: “We are fully committed to responsible tourism in Tibet. We have the privilege to host guests in Tibet, and understand that we have a responsibility in protecting and contributing back to nature and our local people and economy.
Economically and environmentally responsible
We are a local Tibetan travel agency in Lhasa. Our agency is 100% staffed with local Tibetan tourism professionals. We only hire local Tibetan guides and other tour crew. We use services mostly from local businesses and do our best to support the local Tibetan families in the areas you are visiting. We use 20% of our net profit to support environmental conservation projects with local governments and individuals.
We are all born in Tibet. We know how important the Tibetan environment is for the eco-system of the entire world. We love the mountains, glaciers, and rivers. We will do our best to reduce the environmental impact from your tours in Tibet by:
No plastic bottles on the tour
We will provide your drinking water in a big container, and each and every traveler is request to bring their own reusable water bottle. In this way, we can reduce hundreds of water bottles each tour. And we can reuse the big containers.
We plan a tree for every three tours
Every spring we plant trees. We plant one tree for every three tours we organize in Tibet. Tibet’s weather is very harsh for a young sapling to grow without help. So we buy the trees and ask local farmers to adopt the trees. We Tibetan feel that planting a tree holistic practice, that benefits all. So far we have been very successful in planting trees, even though we have only operated a small number of tours. We hope that in future we will work together closely with local government to plan trees with their help.
Smaller group size
We believe that mass tourism as an adverse impact on the environment. Traveling in small groups has less impact in a natural area than traveling with 60 to 70 people together. So all our tours are less than 12 people on road trips and even less for trekking tours.
Trekking tours and environmental care in the wilderness of Tibet
During your trekking in Tibet, you will be walking across a very fragile ecosystem. We do take extra care in our trekking tours to preventing negative environmental impact.
How we take care of our environment during trekking tours:
- We nothing leave nothing behind.
We make sure we take all our rubbish and leave nothing behind. - We protect the grassland
A little destruction on Tibet’s fragile environment is irreversible. So, on trekking tours we will not dig drainage surrounding your tent, rather we will provide trekkers with a better tent with bathtub style floors to prevent rainwater getting into your tent. - Collecting the garbage along the way.
We have a saying in Tibet, if you can’t help, don’t harm. Here is our helping part. We always bring extra yaks to carry the garbage that our yak men collect while waiting for the clients at the campsite. Yak man walks faster than all and they have a free time at the camp. While the cook prepares meals and drinks, we pay yaks men an incentives to collect the rubbish around the camp.
Socially responsible
We always identify our business as a social enterprise. We dedicate 20% of our annual net profit to social and environmental projects. Every winter we will buy a huge amount of winter cloth from the market for small children to donate to schools. In this way, we are providing warm winter cloth for children and encouraging them to go to school.
Any purchase related to business, we do in local businesses. We also encourage travelers to purchase the products directly from the local producer, which is why we always train guides to take the visitor to the local handicraft centers and producers if they are interested in buying souvenirs.
Whenever there is someone in need of medical help, our company staff members will gather money for treatment. The management doubles the amount collected by the staff. And all our staff are very generous!
We always inform our clients about local customs, beliefs, and ethics, so they know how to be respectful and enjoy their home visits, monastery visits and culture programs.”