Member Spotlight – FIELDS TRIPS
FIELDS TRIPS was launched in 2014 by Kelly Fields in Southwestern Ontario, and caters tours to mature adults who enjoy a slightly more relaxed and less crowded feel to their escorted vacations. They recently recently achieved a Gold certification with GreenStep – continue reading to learn more about their sustainability journey:
Tell us a bit about your business. What makes you different?
As a tour operator our tours are always themed – which is the very nature of why people like to travel as a group. Since taking the Sustainable Tourism 2030 Pledge we’ve added a further layer to include more Planet Friendly visits so we can all feel better about the positive impact our travels are making on the destination.
Why is sustainability important to you/your business?
As a home-office tour operator with only a few employees, we knew our carbon footprint was quite low – but as a provider of tours, our tours are exactly the opposite. This is our opportunity to change the narrative from tourists having a negative impact on a destination to travelers being educated onboard our tours and actively participating to reduce the impact.
Why did you join GreenStep Sustainable Tourism?
It was easy! The pandemic allowed us to press re-start on our operations and know that we could change and implement a more sustainable plan with very little push back from our travelers. Having attended the IMPACT conference in 2023 the strongest message, was DO MORE GOOD and less bad. This was definitely a message we could confidently convey.
What sustainability related projects, policies or initiatives do you most want travelers to know about?
We measure the carbon footprint of each tour (by land within North America) and purchase carbon credits to offset in a more responsible manner. We recognize there are other more robust carbon offsets – but wanted our travelers to actually see and know what we are talking about. We’ve purchased carbon credits for The Niagara Escarpment Forest Carbon Project, to help ensure the path can be set for generations to come.
What are some goals and/or actions you plan to take in the future to further increase the sustainability of your business?
We continually revisit our assessment across the scopes of sustainability to see where we can incorporate additional actions. Aligning ourselves with key providers i.e. hotels, attractions, venues etc. with verified sustainable initiatives has become our primary goal. Being the first motorcoach tour operator in Ontario to be Sustainable Tourism Certified should entice other operators to jump onboard and be the trailblazers for the industry.
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