We're happy to announce that after being pioneers among the Ethiopian tour operators for the partner level award we're also among the very first companies in Ethiopia certified by Travelife, confirming our excellence in sustainability and that we're officially recognized and in line with the criteria of the Global Sustainable Tourism Council (GSTC).
Clean-up initiative in Danakil Depression
Posted by Christian on Wed April 28, 2021 in Sustainability.
Many of our destinations facing more severe waste problems due to a lack of awareness of local service providers and careless travelers and tour companies that leave behind their non-composable waste. However, it could be so easy to reduce waste while traveling by training drivers and guides accordingly and making guests aware of the problem and offer them plastic-free alternatives. SimienEcoTours strives towards greener tours. Ever since it has been one of our principles with concrete measures and initiatives we support. Another great achievement these days is the support of the clean-up in Danakil Depression that we support.
On April 27, 2021, Nick Crane, owner of the Simien Lodge, showed his great commitment for a clean Ethiopia and handed over 1,200 USD to Afar Tourism for the clean up of Erta Ale and other places in the Danakil Depression.
The money was collected from the following environmentally concerned tour operators:
1 Simien Park Lodges PLC - Nick Crane
2 Lake Tana Tours - Elizabetta Gabbarini
3 Medir Tour - Anna Dias
4 Simien Eco Tours - Marco Degasper
5 Welcome Tours Ethiopia - Nik Pappato
6 Agape Tours - Daniel Longai Dieraert
7 Ava Tours - Pascal Leduc
8 Yared Tour and Travel - Getinet Seyoum
9 Global Nomad - Fred Giraud
10 Abyssinia Ballooning - Bram van Loosbroek
11 Tesfa Tours - Mark Chapman
12 Boundless Ethiopia Tour PLC - Hans van de Haar
Afar tourism have decided to ban the use of single use plastics in their tourism areas. It is hope that the idea will spread to other parts of Ethiopia as well.
For us as SimienEcoTours it is great to be part of this initiative as we see with sad eyes how some of our destinations end up with waste management problems not only because of tourism but also. Since 2020 we made it our policy to ban plastic bottles on our tours and thrive towards greener tours. But as usual fighting against windmills as a single tour operator is quite a challenge.
Therefore, we are happy to see that more and more tour operators get involved in environmentally friendlier ideas. In the end it is for the better of all.
Further Reading
SimienEcoTours gets Sustainability Certified
Fri March 3, 2023
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SimienEcoTours got the Evaneos Local Hero Award
Tue October 26, 2021
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We are proud to announce that our agency has been awarded the "Local Hero Award" by Evaneos, one of the major OTAs. This award highlights our commitment to creating Better Trips - for our travellers and for the world!
SimienEcoTours got awarded for Sustainability
Wed August 4, 2021
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Looking for a true sustainable travel experience to Ethiopia? SimienEcoTours is striving towards a responsible and more sustainable travel approach ever since our foundation in 2014 and recently got awarded with the Travelife Partner level standard. With small steps we walked on this new path for Ethiopian tourism. There has been not so much understanding about Corporate Social Responsibility in tourism including environment, biodiversity, human rights and labour relation when we started,...
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