POLICY & COMPLIANCE
A case study - Ghana
Ashanti African Tours operate throughout West Africa. All of their trips are ethical, sustainable, and put the environment and local communities at the heart of everything they offer.
But despite their aims to have a positive impact there was no cohesive Responsible Tourism Policy in place to reflect all the good work that they do.
Objectives
1. Bring together the Responsible Tourism activities that Ashanti already do to create a succinct policy with examples for publication on their website.
2. Review Ashanti's current health and safety policy, provide example checklists and policy guidelines relevant for the UK market and have a policy ready to publish.
3. Advise on B2B Terms and Conditions (i.e. for when working with tour operators) to be in line with expectations and law in the UK.
Ashanti African Tours used The Adventure Connection to improve their documentation to make them stronger for when the travel industry bounces back after Covid-19 issues are in the past.
Strategy and approach
1. Responsible Tourism Policy
We gathered all the good work that Ashanti African Tours do and then created a policy which draws on the criteria set out by the Global Sustainable Tourism Council (GSTC) and recognises many of the principles within the United Nations World Tourism Organisation’s (UNWTO) Global Code of Ethics for Tourism.
2. Health & Safety Policy
We critiqued the current Health and Safety policy and then, by using our industry knowledge, aligned it with the requirements of UK Tour Operators.
3. Advice on Terms & Conditions
We assessed the current T&Cs and made improvements in line with UK market expectations. We provided additional advice on certain nuances of the industry niches (groups/FITs/schools/charity) to further prepare Ashanti African Tours for future meaningful partnerships.
Execution
The execution of this project can be broken down into three project areas as follows:
1. Responsible Tourism policy
Summarised and collated all of the responsible tourism initiatives that Ashanti African Tours had already, in order to then create a succinct policy with examples (for publication on their website and across other mediums, such as guest documentation, sales presentations etc).
The results
The documentation development and improvement was well received internally and externally. The Responsible Tourism policy now in place, showcases how Ashanti African Tours operates low-impact, ethical tours which create authentic, cultural connections, which not only enhances the traveller experience, but also creates economic opportunity and social development, whilst preserving local cultures for future generations.
DMC Best Practice Toolkit
As part of the launch of The Adventure Connection’s DMC Best Practice Toolkit, Safety, Compliance and Quality was covered as a topic, which Ashanti African Tours were able to access and use effectively to update further documentation.
We also provided guidelines on how to assess risk and gave examples of safety and quality checklists, which also helped coach and further develop Ashanti African Tours policies. Having worked with school tour operators they were aware of the detailed risk assessments that are often requested.
What our client said:
"The Adventure Connection team have been superb throughout the pandemic, working with us to improve our operations.
A special thanks to Hannah, who has always been on hand to help in so many ways and always with a smile,"
Mark Williams, Managing Director. Ashanti African Tours.