Eco-conscious Tourism in Chile

Vacations in Chile are more than relaxing on the beach or hiking in the mountains. Travel sensitizes and creates encounters. It is the idea of individual awareness and intercultural exchange that pushes us to provide trips through Chile – despite the impact on nature.

Because let's not gloss over it: a trip to Chile generally comes at an ecological cost, given the long distances involved. To protect the enchanting nature of Chile, the idea of sustainability accompanies us in all our decisions.

• Since April 2018, Chile Central is member of the Fair Chile program. We forward 1% of the travel price directly to the ecological project. This can compensate the average impact of the provided domestic services in a period of about 4 years.
• In cooperation with the Chilean Ministry of Environment, the non-profit foundation Trekkingchile plants native new trees in Chile. It also invests in the purchase of large areas of land to protect them from private-sector use and to prepare them as publicly accessible nature reserves.
• Furthermore, Trekkingchile leads seminars in schools, promotes nature-based travel for people with disabilities and carries out other initiatives to protect the environment. With the contribution of our clients, we support the work of the foundation and help to ensure that the burdens on nature are counteracted.

• In addition, we subsidize our customers to offset the carbon footprint of their arrival and departure through our partner Atmosfair or an alternative provider. For a certified compensation of at least €200.00, we apply a €100.00 eco-bonus as a discount to the travel offer before booking confirmation. In this way, travelers and the tour operator share responsibility for the environmental impact of the trip.
• Our partners represent our values. Numerous providers who implement the travel services of our programs are certified by government authorities for their sustainably designed structures.
• Whether airport transfers, mountain lodges or city guides, we prefer to provide our travel services in collaboration with small, resident partners in order to profoundly promote local development and limit the logistical impact of service chains.
• We try to minimize air travel within Chile and arrange local transportation by land whenever possible.
• We regularly question the impact of our travel services and review the influence on the environment. We do not arrange tourist offers that, for example, endanger the regional wildlife.  
• We encourage travelers to stay longer, focusing on specific regions, instead of short, flight-intensive itineraries. Our motto is: rather travel once intensively and with full devotion into the distance, then frequently and fast-moving many destinations aim.  
• Moreover, we reduce the use of natural resources in our day-to-day business, for example in terms of transport, marketing and communication. We provide our travel documents to our customers exclusively digitally.

We cannot completely avoid the damage to the environment that a vacation in Chile brings. But we can limit the negative impact with a responsible attitude as well as compensate the ecological footprint as best as possible!

Further information:

https://www.trekkingchile.com/en/travelling/fair-chile/