We promote the inclusion of women as leaders and experts in our various travel destinations and throughout our tourism operation, always seeking gender balance in our employment practices. We actively want to increase the number of employment opportunities for women in the travel industry, and we firmly believe that this will help us progress as a global community and a more inclusive society.

It is no secret that problems surrounding gender persist in Peru, where thousands of women struggle each day simply because of their gender. To improve this situation, we know we all must contribute. We are proud of our initiatives that seek to lay the foundations of a new and fairer society, and our company is on a mission to double the number of women leaders and travel experts in our entire tourism operation.

With this initiative, we also seek to reduce the gender pay gap, so that we can have more open conversations and set goals to address any issues. Starting in 2020, we began to have equal gender representation among our company spokespersons, to ensure that we better reflect the diversity of our society. We also continuously strive to empower every woman in our Andean communities in Cusco, with the aim of improving their job opportunities and quality of life. We know it will be constant and hard work, but we are endlessly motivated to walk along this particular path towards a more just society.

Our objectives:
Increase employee and market sentiment regarding diversity and inclusion across all of our brands.

Diversity:
Means that those of all backgrounds, life experiences, preferences and beliefs are recognized and respected as individuals and valued for the different perspectives they bring.

Inclusion:
Means that all are given equal opportunity to contribute to business success and be their true selves, regardless of background.

Goals:
Ensure that the Valencia teams, partners and travellers are equally represented within the LGBTQ +, Indigenous and People of Color communities and we as as company will not work with companies that don’t support LGBT+, BLM, BAME, human rights, womens rights, workers benefits.

At Valencia Travel, we plan to comply with the following guidelines that we will implement in our operation. We have made a commitment to long-term sustainable solutions that protect our environment and minimize harmful CO2 emissions.

Goals:

1. Eliminate single-use plastics from our offices and trips throughout by 2022.
   How?

   • Continue looking for opportunities, identifying best practices, and addressing plastic pollution in the destinations we visit.

2. Reduce printed brochures by 50% by 2025
   How?

   • Work with our travel partners to reduce printed brochures by 50% and take advantage of electronic brochures.
   • Move to providing travel documents in a fully electronic way.

3. Implement sustainable offices
   How?

   • Considerable energy reduction.
   • Correct use of raw material.
   • Implementation of furniture and equipment with sustainable characteristics.
   • Reduce CO2 emissions in a good proportion.

Our goal is to be one of the companies that does the most to help the planet and our society. We have objectives to meet in the short term and we are very enthusiastic about taking the first steps:

1. Obtain B corp certification.
2. Linking each trip with a local conservation project that it directly supports.
3. Work with local partners to publish a transparent local economic impact score for each trip.

Our tourism programs seek to create new jobs and support local development through cultural preservation and the development of alternative local tourist routes that ensure that investment from travellers truly benefits everyone.

As tour operators we help encourage people to stay longer at sites and contribute resources to local economies, emphasizing quality over quantity, fundamental principles in our new sustainable travel programs.

We employ local guides and community leaders so that we can learn about each culture and way of life directly from those who live it. In particular, we can learn from rural indigenous communities about their relationship to the land and how they have practiced sustainable agriculture for centuries.

We promote purchasing from local suppliers and ethically-sourced fair trade goods. This helps guarantee that farmers and workers receive fair and competitive wages and safe working conditions, prevents forced or abusive child labor practices, and promotes environmentally sustainable farming methods.

We seek work with 100% local companies, our platform model ensures that the profits from our operation go to the local economy. This is incredibly important for conservation as it creates viable local economic alternatives in rural areas, and increases the inherent value of conserving natural landscapes.

Goals:

1. Increase the use of local and organic food products in our supply chain by 2022.

• Create a baseline in 2021 of suppliers that provide local and organic food on our trips and set a realistic goal to increase these suppliers.
• To be considered local or organic, our vendors must source at least 25% of their menu, either locally (any food obtained within 30-50 miles of where it is prepared) or organic (any product or meat obtained without the use of of pesticides or GMOs of sustainable origin).

There were once 30,000 kilometers of Inca roads and trails that connected Peru, Argentina, Bolivia, Ecuador Colombia and Chile. Cusco was the capital of the Inca Empire and the point where the roads converged, demonstrating the capital’s supremacy as the “navel of the world.” These roads connected people for centuries, and made it possible for the empire to grow.

At Valencia Travel, we follow in this same spirit of building metaphorical roads that can connect people, while at the same time discovering new paths to explore and follow. We follow the principle that made it possible to connect and unify people many centuries ago. It is very important to us as a company that these Andean interconnections are not lost. Rather, that they spread to the furthest reaches of our global community of travellers.

Goals:

Achieve a 20% increase in itineraries visiting developing destinations for specialty brands by 2025.

• Introducing travellers to developing destinations and supporting greater distribution of tourism revenue within the destination to combat over-tourism.
• Promote new regions we have not been to before.
• Show destinations that do not show symptoms of over tourism.
• Boost secondary cities or regions that support a greater diffusion of tourism.

We want everyone to be able to enjoy Peru and the many tours that we offer. That’s why, whenever possible, we include facilities for people with physical disabilities and limited financial resources, with the aim of integrating vulnerable groups and people with disabilities into our travel experiences.

We want everyone to be a part of our journey regardless of their condition in the world -- that's our philosophy. We understand that more than a third of the world's population is directly affected by some sort of disability. For this reason, we challenge ourselves to always provide accessibility for people with disabilities in our travel packages.

Similarly, in Peru there are thousands of people who, despite living in a megadiverse territory with many natural wonders, do not have access to them. It is incredibly sad that some people cannot experience their own land, of which they are a part. We want everyone to be a part of our experience, especially our Andean brothers and sisters. We want to provide them with extraordinary experiences that can change their lives for the better. It is time for everyone to get to know each other and become part of a global community.

How?

• Include equipment for people with physical disabilities and limited financial resources
• Integrate vulnerable groups and people with disabilities in our travel experiences. (Free trips to people from our communities or with disabilities)
• Provide extraordinary experiences to our communities so they can improve their lives.