Yes! After one year of hard-working, detailed and focussed work, we are proudly announcing our success in achieving the Travelife certificate. Since 2007, Travelife works to create a more sustainable environment in the tourism industry by setting sustainable benchmarks for its members. Not only did we manage to apply Travelifes’ detailed rules in a country that still needs improvement in sustainability, but we are also the first Vietnamese-owned tour operator achieving a sustainability certificate.

‘We are so proud to be recognised, this proves that our efforts in going responsible, going green… are on the right track’

Son – Footprint Travel’s CEO

‘Footprint is an inspiring group of creative people who take the lead in offering tours that are’meaningful.’’

Aline Van DerMeulen – Travelife Auditor

Aline from Travelife came to our office to audit our sustainable practices

Thanks to Travelifes guidelines, we got creative and started our ‘green office system’: a structured and easy-to-monitor system in which all office staff takes care of. When all of us worked together, we realised how simple it can actually be to do something great for your environment. And it is not only us, who profit from it!

We used our knowledge to share it with our suppliers and with our clients and you as a reader of course. We think that spreading your knowledge is the key to create a sustainable world for everyone, so why not start right now?!

Please find our Top 5 Green office/home tips for saving the environment!

#1: Put a filled water bottle in your toilet flush

Most toilet flushes use more water than actually needed. You can save money and water by simply putting a filled up 0.5l or 1l water bottle in the flush tank. Imagine how much water you can save within a month or year?!

#2: Go local

Our lunches are usually served by our neighbour and her amazing cooking skills. Why does it always have to be a pre-cooked menu from the supermarket?! You can simply check out the local street vendors or restaurants in your area and get it from them. If they are serving local food, its cheaper than imported ingredients anyway.

#3: Avoid plastic

Do you really need this plastic bag for your food, clothes or gadgets when buying it at the store?! Although many grocery stores in Europe charge you for bags, other stores like clothing or book stores do not. Unfortunately, in Vietnam, plastic bags are offered everywhere causing way too much plastic. To avoid this huge amount of plastic bags, make sure you always have a bag with you and ask yourself again if you really need it. You will see that it is not necessary to have so many bags.  In fact, Clean Up Australia says that only Australia uses 3.76 billion bags (or 20,700 tons(!) of plastic) every year. Add it up for the worlds population and the numbers will blow your mind. Why not start step by step and avoid your daily plastic bags.

Once you are alert and aware of it, you will automatically see many other ways to avoid plastic, such as bringing your own cutlery and/or cup instead of using plastic cups or buying bigger portions than smaller ones wrapped with much plastic.

#4: Use natural cleaning materials

We have found out that you can switch your chemical cleaning materials easily by natural materials. The magic cure is baking soda, vinegar and good smelling fruit/herb oil. Using this can even eliminate your use of plastic, even if you are only using it every once in a while. Every step counts.

Inhabitots, 2012

#5: Educate yourself and don’t be shy to spread your knowledge

There’s no better way to save the environment to spread the knowledge. A single person or company cannot prevent the global warming but if we work all together, we certainly can.

If you find a great way to save some water/paper/plastic or if you have some ideas how you can improve your community or help people in less developed areas, don’t be shy to share it. It can cause a chain reaction and all together, we can make the world a better place.

It is not only the environmental aspects which made us improve ourselves through Travelife, but also the social aspects. Although we already put most the social aspects into practice already, Travelife showed us the importance of constantly monitoring the processes such as checking on our suppliers and guides. And also, it inspired us to do more office activities, such as our weekly Yoga classes helping us to keep a fresh mind and you to receive the best service from us.

This is not enough for you? Stay updated about our sustainable practices on Facebook or Twitter, where we will keep you posted about responsible travel tips and news all about responsible travel.