Gokyo Treks & Expedition is a responsible tourism entrepreneur based in Kathmandu Nepal. The agency is an eco-friendly tour operator with an objective to improve, protect and preserve the environment. We are members of various eco-friendly tourism societies in Nepal and outsiders that promote responsible tourism and sustainable tourism.
Sustainable tourism is a concept to covers the complete tourism experience, including concern for economic, social, and environmental issues as well as attention to improving tourists’ experiences and addressing the demands of host communities. As responsible tourism entrepreneurs, we create better places for people to live in and better places for people to visit.
1. Social/Cultural Impact
Gokyo Treks and Expedition Agency firmly believes in balancing commercial success within the eco-tourism sector while preserving the natural and cultural heritage of Nepal through sustainable tourism practices. This philosophy is actively promoted and implemented whenever possible. Additionally, the agency operates a non-governmental, non-profit organization, CDFN, committed to providing essential health and education services to underserved communities in remote regions of Nepal.
2. Environmental/Ecological Impact/ Waste Management.
We conducts all treks with a strong commitment to minimizing disruptions to local lifestyles while actively promoting environmental stewardship. Clients are encouraged to limit waste and dispose of it responsibly, and we support hotels transitioning from plastic bottles to refill stations.
For instance, we recommend carrying a reusable metal water bottle with purification tablets to reduce reliance on single-use plastics. Our dedicated team provides safe and eco-friendly trekking experiences, with all staff trained in sustainability practices through ACAP, TAAN, NTB, and IPPG courses to minimize environmental impact.
Here are some environmental-friendly practices that engage the agency to assure that we do our part to keep our environmental impact to a minimum:-
- We exclusively use refillable bottles and strongly encourage our clients to adopt the same practice, reducing reliance on single-use plastic bottles.
- Whenever possible, we opt for low-impact transportation methods, such as walking, cycling, and public transit, to minimize our environmental footprint.
- To reduce waste on trekking routes, we avoid the use of unnecessary paper products.
- Our team consists of experienced local guides who possess in-depth knowledge of the region, ensuring a richer experience for our clients.
- We prioritize purchasing locally sourced organic foods and produce, supporting local communities and reducing dependence on imported goods.
- Adhering to a “leave no trace” principle, we leave only footprints on the trail and ensure we carry out all waste we bring in.
3. Economic impact
We emphasize the intensive use of locally available products and maximize the economic benefits for local communities. In addition to this, we support rural development projects by contributing 10% of our profits generated each business year, which enables us to raise directly the living standards of orphan kids for their health and education in Nepal. On camping trips to wilderness areas, we buy food from local villagers and only use local tea houses and lodges.
4. Creative Practices
Our company is usually been striving to assist develop regions of Nepal. Attempt to hold the manner with the aid of using creating a non-stop attempt in coming across thrilling new locations in the country. Furthermore, we initiate cleaning campaigns inside the close by villages that contain a whole lot of nearby participation. This concept is to elevate hygiene and environmental consciousness inside the villages. Such campaigns additionally train the villagers to hold their villages and the environment neat and clean.
5. Animal Welfare
As a responsible tour Operator Company commits to ensuring that the welfare of animals is preserved. For example, we never use the Elephant back safari (Elephant riding safari) in Nepal as they do treat elephants not nicely. So we don’t use animals for safari tours for our customers.
6. Local Guides and drivers
Gokyo Treks Agency hires local guides and drivers to create employment possibilities and supply them with an alternative to earning a truthful salary thru tourism. We provide education and records on social and environmental policies.
7. Nature Conservation
Nature and the natural world are key elements of our tours. But simply the stress of sheer numbers of site visitors can do critical harm to the natural sites. We offer records to our customers as a way to revel in the herbal surroundings even as defensive it for others to revel in inside the future.
8. Code of Conduct in opposition to Child Sex Tourism
We comprehend that the sexual exploitation of kids is a worldwide problem. In all our sports and operations we actively disagree with all forms of sexual exploitation of kids all around the world.
9. Dress code
We usually tell our customers to follow the dress code in every specific place. In the primary briefing the excursion manual will point out the overall rule to use dress and on specific occasions or visits, the excursion manual will advocate to customers the way to wear clothes.
We follow trekking Principles: The 5 Guidelines outlined by IPPG (International Porter Protection Group)
- Hiking gears for porter (windproof jacket and pants, a fleece jacket, long pants, suitable shoes (sneakers), socks, a hat, gloves, and sunglasses. The clothes are depending upon the weather season and the elevation you go to. Porters are often staying at the lodges but the Trekking Agencies Association of Nepal (TAAN) also build porter shelter in the mountains and serve food, water, and accommodation.
- Every porter will have proper insurance (Life insurance plus medical insurance).
- Porters will not pay off because of illness/injury without the leader assessing their condition carefully. No confusion, the sick porter will get some day’s salary. Continue hikes in higher elevations result in death obviously. We never send sick/injured porters to return alone, but with someone who speaks their local language and understands their problem, along with a letter describing their complaint. We provide sufficient funds for treatment and rescue.
- Each of our agency porters will carry a maximum of 24 kilos [lodge trek] or 30 kilos [camping trek]. Sometimes weight limits are depending upon the higher elevation you go and weather conditions.
Tipping
Gokyo Treks and Expedition Agency encourages visitors to provide fair and reasonable tips to local guides, cleaners, cooks, and drivers as a gesture of appreciation for their services. While tipping is entirely voluntary, it plays a significant role in supporting the local community.
Our recommendations for tipping vary based on factors such as the type of work and currency. To ensure clarity, we brief our clients on the cultural significance of tipping, emphasizing its importance to the crew, which may differ greatly from their own cultural perspective.