Our route to positive impact travel in Latin America
Latin Routes have embarked on a journey towards positive impact travel. Since our inception, responsibility and sustainability have been core values, and we believe that, as your tour operator, it is our responsibility to ensure tourism is a force for good. What we offer should make a genuine difference, both to the destinations we visit and the people who call them home.
In 2024, we developed a sustainable tourism strategy to help us better understand our impacts and identify opportunities where we could create positive change. This roadmap is designed for the long term, ensuring that positive impact is embedded across everything we do.
Our journey began by participating in the LATA Strategic Sustainability Training. Building on this, we created a sustainability strategy that aligns with our company values and sets the foundation for our future progress.
Where we can make an impact
At Latin Routes, we are dedicated to ensuring that every journey we create has a positive impact on both the environment and the communities we visit. We strive to protect the culture, heritage, and natural landscapes of the regions where we operate, while also contributing towards a more prosperous future.
To guide our efforts, we have identified five key areas of impact shaped by the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. These global goals highlight where meaningful change can be achieved and provide a framework for how we can make a difference through responsible travel.
Prosperous Communities
Support locally owned businesses
We are committed to working with locally owned hotels, restaurants, and service providers, ensuring that the benefits of tourism remain within the communities we visit. By supporting local businesses, we help to create jobs, strengthen economies, and foster long-term resilience.Promote community tourism
We actively encourage experiences that allow travellers to connect with communities in an authentic and respectful way. By promoting community-led tourism, we provide opportunities for visitors to learn directly from local people, while ensuring tourism revenues contribute to the wellbeing of the community.Raise awareness of local products
We highlight and celebrate locally produced goods, from handicrafts to culinary specialities. Encouraging our travellers to discover and purchase local products not only supports artisans and producers, but also helps preserve cultural traditions for future generations.
Educational Experiences
Educate our team, partners, and clients through training and collaboration
We believe that meaningful change starts with knowledge. By providing training and fostering collaboration, we empower our team, partners, and clients to make informed decisions that prioritise sustainability. Together, we can build a shared commitment to responsible travel.Create awareness of positive impact through marketing, immersive experiences, and environmental awareness
We use our communications and traveller experiences as platforms to inspire. From our marketing materials to the journeys we design, we highlight the value of positive impact, encouraging travellers to engage with sustainability in ways that are memorable and meaningful.Promote social and environmental impacts of tourism
Tourism has the power to shape both people and places. We strive to maximise the benefits for communities and minimise any negative effects on the environment. By showcasing the social and environmental impacts of tourism, we aim to foster a deeper understanding of how travel can be a force for good.
Thriving People
Support decent employment in the UK and with our suppliers
We are committed to fair and decent employment practices, both within our own team and across our supply chain. By championing good working conditions and opportunities for growth, we help ensure that tourism supports livelihoods responsibly and sustainably.Ensure experiences preserve local culture and heritage
Our journeys are designed to celebrate, not compromise, the traditions of the places we visit. By working closely with partners and communities, we ensure that our experiences respect and preserve local culture and heritage for generations to come.Collaborate with DMCs to support rural tourism
We partner with destination management companies (DMCs) that share our values, creating opportunities to bring visitors to rural areas. By supporting rural tourism, we help spread the benefits of travel more widely and contribute to the sustainable development of lesser-visited regions.Empower women, youth, and diverse backgrounds in the supply chain
We believe that tourism should open doors for everyone. By empowering women, young people, and individuals from diverse backgrounds within our supply chain, we help create more inclusive opportunities and foster a stronger, fairer industry.
Conscious Consumption
Minimise impact on natural resources
We are committed to reducing the strain tourism places on natural resources. Through careful planning and collaboration with our partners, we aim to ensure our operations and experiences respect the landscapes, wildlife, and ecosystems that make Latin America so special.Monitor and reduce food and plastic waste
We recognise the role tourism can play in reducing waste. By working with our partners to monitor and cut down on food and single-use plastic waste, we can help protect the environment and encourage more sustainable practices across the supply chain.Consider and understand our carbon impact
We acknowledge that travel contributes to carbon emissions, and we are committed to understanding and addressing our impact. By measuring our carbon footprint and exploring opportunities for reduction, we aim to play our part in supporting a lower-carbon future.Identify the burden of tourism on destinations
Tourism brings both opportunities and challenges. We strive to recognise and understand the pressures that tourism can place on destinations, so that we can work with communities and partners to find solutions that safeguard their wellbeing and long-term sustainability.
Conserving Nature & Biodiversity
Protect biodiversity, natural habitats, and waterways
We are committed to safeguarding the natural world by ensuring our journeys respect and protect biodiversity, habitats, and waterways. By doing so, we help preserve the extraordinary environments that make Latin America unique.Support suppliers focused on conservation and regeneration
We prioritise working with suppliers who share our values and are dedicated to conservation and regeneration. By supporting these partners, we encourage sustainable practices that benefit both nature and local communities.Finance conservation projects with partners
We believe in giving back to the destinations we operate in. By financing conservation projects alongside our partners, we help protect ecosystems and contribute to the long-term resilience of fragile environments.Provide education and training for guides, staff, and clients
We recognise the importance of knowledge in shaping behaviour. By offering education and training to guides, staff, and clients, we ensure that everyone involved in our journeys has the tools to travel responsibly and positively influence others.Monitor and reduce environmental impact
We are committed to continually assessing our environmental footprint and identifying opportunities to reduce it. From operations to traveller experiences, we aim to make responsible choices that minimise harm and promote sustainability.
Latin Routes is an award-winning UK tour operator specialising in unforgettable holidays to Latin America. Our dedicated team of knowledgeable travel specialists are here to help you plan the trip of a lifetime, creating your very own Truly Individual Holiday. Choosing the right specialist is the key to turning your dream journey into reality, and here’s why we believe our holidays are among the very best in the industry.
The journey so far...
We work closely with a network of inspiring partners across Latin America, and collaboration is a vital part of our journey. By understanding where our partners are on their own sustainability pathways, and learning from their expertise, we can ensure our itineraries feature accommodation and experiences that create a positive impact.
Through these collaborations, we have uncovered remarkable stories, from women’s empowerment initiatives in Peru, to community-led tourism in Ecuador, to a wealth of conservation projects across the region. We are proud to feature accommodation that reduces environmental impact through renewable energy, embraces farm-to-fork dining, and implements many other innovative practices.
This commitment has led to the creation of our Conscious Routes Collection, a curated selection of experiences designed to inspire travellers while supporting positive change.
At Latin Routes, we also recognise that the travel industry has a responsibility to address carbon emissions. We are committed to playing our part and have taken the first steps towards carbon reduction. As part of this, we monitor the carbon emissions from our clients’ international flights and include carbon balancing through our partnership with the World Land Trust.
Our efforts are embedded throughout our business and partnerships. Our team have participated in Impact Intros to deepen their understanding of our vision, we continue to engage with our in-country partners, and we have introduced sustainability training for our agency partners.
