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HK WINS RESPONSIBLE TOURISM AWARD
16 January 2008
Representatives from Himalayan Kingdoms were delighted to be presented with the AITO (Association of Independent Tour Operators) 2007 Responsible Tourism award yesterday.
The prestigious award, presented at the annual AITO media day, recognises our ongoing efforts to ensure that Responsible Tourism remains at the very core of everything we do as a tour operator.
Amongst other activities Himalayan Kingdoms supports Northpoint school, Kathmandu and has recently developed a modular English course for trekking staff in Nepal. Have a look at our Responsible Tourism page for more on our various projects and activities, or
 Download a summary of our Responsible Tourism initiatives
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ENGLISH COURSE UP AND RUNNING
16 January 2008
The first group of 30 Nepali trekking staff are well underway on their 45-day intensive English course. The course was developed by Himalayan Kingdoms and focuses on vocabulary related to the Himalayan environment.
The English lessons have been created to offer keen trekking staff the opportunity to improve their English, and therefore hopefully their chances of future career progression.
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TICOS DONATIONS
12 November 2007
Staff at HK have flown to all corners of the world this year to plan or lead treks. Our destinations have included: Oman, Argentina, USA, Jordan and Bhutan. To offset part of the CO2 emmissions of our flights this year we have made a donation to TICOS as have several of our clients. In turn, this scheme funds carbon reduction projects around the world.
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HELP FOR HELP!
12 November 2007
The Himalayan Education Lifeline Programme (HELP) aims to enable young people from poor communities in the Himalayas to improve their employment opportunities through education and in so doing enhance not only their own standard of living, but also that of their extended families and of the wider communities they come from. This year, HK was delighted to be able to donate £500 to HELP towards the cost of teacher training. Visit
www.help-education.org
www.help-education.org to find out more about the valuable work of this charity.
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CLIENT DONATIONS IN 2007
12 November 2007
Our generous clients have very kindly donated over £2,000 towards the various charities that HK supports. The majority of the money was raised from clients at our pre-trek meets which went towards Northpoint School in Kathmandu. In addition, donations were given for the Nepali Children's Trust, Global Action Network, Kinoe and the International Porters' Protection Group. Many thanks to all our clients for supporting these extremely worthwhile charitable organisations.
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HIMALAYAN KINGDOMS JOINS TICOS SCHEME
15 June 2007
Himalyan Kingdoms has joined the Tourism Industry Carbon Offset Service (TICOS). This is an industry wide scheme aimed at reducing and offsetting the effects of carbon produced by air travel. TICOS uses revenue raised by the scheme to fund projects around the world where there is a real additional and measurable carbon saving as well as wider social and environmental benefits. HK will be able choose which projects it would like its clients' donations allocated too and will look to support those in the regions we visit. For more details about TICOS go to www.ticos.co.uk
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AITO AWARD FOR NORTHPOINT SCHOOL PROJECT
06 July 2006
We are delighted that the Association of Independent Tour Operators (AITO) has nominated Himalayan Kingdoms' Northpoint School Project for an award of £1,000. The project has been nominated because it is considered to be people-focused and educational-based and is helping to improve the social and economic well-being of the local people. The money will be used by the school to help with running costs and to purchase a computer.
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NORTHPOINT SCHOOL FUNDRAISING
09 February 2006
Northpoint School in Kathmandu remains our main Responsible Tourism project for 2008. So far we have raised around £3,600 for the school from a range of fundraising activities and the many generous donations from our clients at pre-trek meets and from post-trek contributions.
Our regular monthly donations to Northpoint have helped save the school from closure by covering the essential running costs. Funds have also helped to provide new sports equipment, educational games, a new computer and a new school uniform.
For more information on this school, please visit the following: www.shivacharity.co.uk/northpoint.htm or to make a donation, please send a cheque made payable to SHIVA charity, and post to Himalayan Kingdoms Ltd, Old Crown House, 18 Market Street, Wotton-under-Edge, GL12 7AE.
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THREE STAR RATING
22 September 2003
Himalayan Kingdoms is delighted to announce that it has once again been granted a 3 star rating for Responsible Tourism by AITO (Association of Independent Tour Operators). We have achieved this status, the highest grade awarded by AITO, by undertaking an environmental review, establishing a comprehensive Responsible Tourism Policy and engaging in many responsible tourism initiatives and projects.
Himalayan Kingdoms is committed to responsible tourism, through its policies and practices which permeate all aspects of its business. The company's policies aim to ensure that Himalayan Kingdoms and its clients act in a way which is socially, environmentally and culturally sound. We feel strongly that all our holidays should benefit the local communities, protect the
environment by minimising pollution, and respect local traditions, religion and heritage. We tread lightly - low volume, low impact trekking/touring is the best way of preserving the beautiful and fragile places we visit.
We work with organisations such as Tourism Concern, International Porter Protection Group (IPPG), Climate Care, AITO and various charities, to help achieve our responsible tourism goals.
For a comprehensive list of all the responsible tourism projects we are involved with, please contact Niki Morgan on 01453 844400.
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