This is the company’s third time winning this award, having previously won it in 2012 and 2013. They have also won South America’s Leading Green Tour Operator award 4 times between 2013-2016
This weekend Explorandes won the World Travel Awards - World's Leading Green Tour Operator Award at a ceremony considered “The Oscars of the Travel Industry” held in Lisbon, Portugal. The award recognizes Explorandes for its long-standing commitment and continuous innovations in running a sustainable tour operator in Peru. This commitment dates back since day one back in April 1975, when the company was the first to run commercial treks on the now famous Inca Trail to Machu Picchu. Over the years they have developed and offered many more trekking, mountaineering and rafting programs to foreign travelers and opened offices in Lima, Cusco, Huaraz and Puno as well as a couple of joint ventures with local entrepreneurs: Titikayak, located in Llachon on the Capachica Peninsula overlooking Lake Titicaca and Piuray Outdoor Center on the shores of Piuray lake near Chinchero en route from Cusco to the Sacred Valley.
“As pioneers in adventure travel in the region, there was always a respect for the environment and a recognition of local cultures and traditions engrained in the company’s DNA and reflected in our modus operandi. Bringing tourists from far away countries to remote communities and showing them around some of the most pristine landscapes in Peru continuously challenged us to watch our impact and tread lightly,” states Alfredo Ferreyros, Founder and Executive President at Explorandes. In 2001, the company took its first steps in formalizing this commitment and became the first travel company in the Americas to implement an Environmental Management System (EMS) certified under the ISO14001 standard. In 2013, the company evolved its EMS into a Sustainable Business Management System, adding systems and processes to measure and manage its socio-cultural and business impacts, in addition to its environmental footprint, becoming one of the first tour operators in Peru to be certified under the Rainforest Alliance’s Sustainability Standards for Tour Operators.
Martin Romero, General Manager and Partner at Explorandes notes, “We have long-standing partnerships with top-tier tour operators from around the globe and thanks to them we have been able to deepen our understanding of what is important to travelers in terms of quality, safety and sustainability as we have been held to the highest standards by our partners.” Explorandes recently re-launched its company’s mission, vision, values and sustainable tourism policy, which it hopes will provide inspiration and practical guidelines for its employees, suppliers, customers, government and non-government stakeholders and competitors to lead and manage sustainable tourism operations.
Peru won 3 other awards that evening including: World's Best Cultural Destination, World's Best Culinary Destination and World's Best Tourist Attraction (Machu Picchu).