Environment Policy

As everything in this universe has its pros and cons, tourism also has some. There are many vulnerable regions in which any type of human interaction can cause ill effects on the mountains, rivers, glaciers, forest, and its ecosystem. But, that doesn’t mean there is no solution to this problem. The effects can be minimized and the ecosystem can be managed along with all the tourism activities and adventure activities like trekking/hiking, mountaineering, skiing, paragliding, rock climbing, etc.

At Happy Go Trips, we always try to protect the mother nature and maintain the ecological balance in all the regions in which we operate – be it the Himalayas, desert, lesser explored regions of Northeast India, coastal regions, forest, Heritage sites, and monuments or any place in India. We take all the necessary measures and instruct the same to all our employees. We also make our customers (travelers) aware of all the guidelines and policies through several mediums so that no stone could be left unturned in saving the environment and nature.

In order to fulfill our commitment towards conserving nature and minimizing the effects due to human interaction, we have made a strict environment policy that we follow on the highest priority. 

1. Balanced tourism and Avoid overcrowding

We believe that in the era of Social Media, a majority of people get motivated by the posts and photos of places to visit. As per our research, around 70% of the people make travel plans of the places which are trending and while the rest of the people want to explore something new that is lesser explored or unexplored. As a result, some particular places (be it any city or a hill station or a trek) get overcrowded. With overcrowding, problems such as traffic jams, vehicular pollution, waste, etc. start arising.

So to tackle this, we bring the concept of “Balanced Tourism” in which we try to spread tourists/travelers equally in all the places so that no place gets overcrowded. We all know and are aware that India has a plethora of places to visit, take it any region. Some places remain crowded throughout the year and a few remains almost untouched. To follow the same, we would be taking the following steps-

1. We promote offbeat places that are lesser-known to people, via social media, emails, blogs, and videos. Places which are open to tourism and have a great potential to entertain tourists.
2. We restrict the number of bookings for a particular place/tour/trek if that place is getting overcrowded during a particular time or event in a year.
3. Though our major focus is on independent tours which can be customized as per the traveler needs, we also organize Group Tours/Fixed Group Departures in which we don’t take more than 15 people in a group. Sounds bad in terms of revenue? But, we always think of a long term instead of short 🙂

2. Managing Waste Efficiently

One of the most important things that is required to conserve the ecosystem. There are 3 types of waste that get generated while on a tour or a trek.

1. Bio-Degradable Waste- Such waste doesn’t cause any harmful effects on nature and ecosystem and it can easily be decomposed. We try to bring down the waste to a place where it can be processed or we try to reuse.
2. Toilet Waste- Managing the toilet waste is tricky and is needed on treks. On low altitude regions, we dig deep (up to 3 feet) pits, bury the waste, and cover the same with the soil. While on high altitude regions where there is no earth and one can find only boulders, glaciers, moraine, etc., we collect the waste in disposable bags and bring down to lower altitude and dig it in the earth or bring down to any town or village where sewer is available.
3. Plastic Waste- We try to use things which are reusable and recyclable and things which are not, we bring them back to the nearest towns/cities and dispose in the dustbins.

3. Keeping the water bodies clean

We take the precautions mentioned below to keep the water bodies (river or lake) clean and litter-free.

1. We pitch our living and toilet tents a bit away from the water bodies.
2. No use of soaps, detergents, or chemicals in the water bodies.

4. Cleaning Campaigns

There are several trekking trails that get polluted after any long weekend or a particular season. We organize cleaning campaigns in the Himalayas and in lesser explored regions from time to time in which we form a group, go on a trek and collect all the waste from the trail while descending and dispose it in the dustbin after getting down. There is no criteria to join these cleaning campaigns. Once you are connected with us, we will keep you posted about the same, or one can also get updated through our social media channels.

We always look for suggestions and other efficient ways to save the environment. In case you have any ideas or suggestions in mind, write to us at contact@happygotrips.com.