Quarterly Sustainability Report Q1 2016

With our commitment to sustainability, Footprint has been working hard in order to operate our business in an environmentally and socially manner. Our achievement of Travelife Certified on January 2016 has shown our commitment to sustainable travel. Travelife is an international and independent certification process that works to create a more sustainable environment in the tourism industry by setting sustainable benchmarks for its members. After becoming the first Vietnamese-owned tour operator achieving a sustainability certificate, we continue communicate our sustainability actions though quarterly report. The report presents company’s internal and external activities regarding responsible travel.  

Monitoring and Evaluation

Green Office Checklist & Staff Communication

For every week one of our personnel is in charge of the green office checklist and this is carried out in a rotation. The green office checklist consists of criteria of how the company can save on electricity and water. Moreover, there are daily practices such as printing on both sides, reusing one sided printed paper and classifying trash. Footprint also encourage our personnel to go by bus or use biofuel for the motorbike.

Most of the time all of our personnel would turn of the lights when not in use, there are still some occasions left where they every now and then forget. This is not that bad, because another personnel will turn it off instead. The achievement on saving water is very well as there are no leaking faucets and all of the drinking water is finished. Regarding classifying trash, this is done perfectly as there are four bins for different kind of rubbish.

Concerning staff communication, English is spoken as much as possible in the office. Occasionally, it is switched over to Vietnamese, because this makes it faster to understand one thing easily. To check the personnel’s English language, they have to do online tests to assess their skills and see how they could improve. So far, they have done two, a comparison has been made and the results are shown in a column chart.

There was a positive progress with 20% increase of “excellent” performance, while there wasn’t any poor score in the test.

Inspection

Two staff members went on a 2 days and 1-night cruise to Halong Bay and Bai Tu Long. They went to inspect the cruise, tour guide, destination and transport vehicle in order to assess their performances as well as sustainable practices of the suppliers Footprint is working together with. Next to this, one staff member went to Pu Luong to inspect on the destination and also to see the progress of how the Eco Lodge is so far. 

Carbon Emmision Trip Log

Within this section the carbon emission of the transport vehicles and accommodation is measured to see how much CO2 is set off during a trip. This amount of CO2 from our activities will be offset in our Recycle Event.

Training and Education

German market

In February the company had a German market meeting to gain some insights which would be helpful once in touch with the German clients/business partners. The sales and operation department received some training on this in order to have better operation and customer service.

Marketing department will continuously search for potential partner contacts. Footprint’s website will be translated into German for more accessibility. Additionally, interesting contents about hiking, culinary products and responsible travel will be posted. Small meaningful gifts are handed out to customers. Furthermore, information about tours and destination will be updated.

Sales department will search for a German speaking guide, make instructions for being a tour guide and find him/her via word of mouth, social media or join events. They are also looking for a German sales representative and interviews will be carried out to find the most suitable person. About the products, classic and adventurous programs with unique itinerary will be created.

Excursion and Activities

Responsible Travel Club (RTC) Social Drinks

Footprint attended RTC’s first social drinks for this year. The event was organized effectively with discussions about the latest tourism news. Remarkably, on how the industry could take advantage for spreading the country’s image to the world as ‘Kong: Skull Island’ is being filmed in Vietnam.

The second social gathering took place later the last month in which RTC members, experts and friends discussed about the new marketing trend – trade show as well as their precious experiences. This workshop was extremely useful for marketing department to adapt their strategy effectively.

Cycling event

RTC organized a cycling event which the company took place in. The event was about discovering new destinations and authentic products that are not affected by mass scale tourism and promoting cross cultural experience and understanding. The cycling route took them to lesser known places. One of the visited villages, was Dao Thuc village where water puppet show has been preserved and developed for hundred years. Besides, Co Loa village provided authentic local food which is hardly to find in Hanoi nowadays.

Footprint will continuously work towards responsible travel as this will result in customer satisfaction, business efficiency and staff motivation. Consequently, this has a positive effect on our competitive advantage. We are committed to all responsible management and persistent in the business practices.