Active Albania Sustainability Policy
Active Albania is a tour operator in Albania offering cultural and outdoor travel experiences.
Our goal is to provide travellers with authentic cultural and nature based experiences while also preserving and protecting natural and human resources for future generations.
Our mission is to provide travellers with meaningfuls experience through close links with local suppliers, while promoting sustainability through education and preservation of cultural and natural resources.
Sustainability Management & Legal Compliance
Active Albania is committed to sustainability management by:
- Having a designated employee responsible for sustainability coordination
- Having a communicated sustainability mission statement
- Having an accessible and written sustainability policy that reduces negative impacts and includes employee health and safety
- Conducting a baseline assessment of sustainable practices
- Having a sustainability action plan with clear goals, measures, and responsibilities
- Having procedures to monitor and evaluate the sustainability policy and objectives
- Ensuring all staff are aware of and committed to the sustainability policy
- Complying with all national laws and regulations.
Social Policy & Human Rights
Active Albania is committed to sustainable internal management by having a clear and communicated social policy that includes:
- Employee freedom of employment and notice for contract termination
- Sick leave and annual leave allowance
- Health and safety policy compliant with national laws
- Trained staff and first aid sets available at all locations
- Compliance with minimum employment age laws
- Employee training on health and safety including fire and disaster preparedness
- Prohibiting discrimination based on gender, race, age, disability, ethnicity, religion, or sexual orientation
- Providing equal access to resources and opportunities for personal development through training and education.
Active Albania Health and Safety Policy
At Active Albania, the well-being and safety of our travelers are paramount. We are committed to maintaining a safe and secure environment for all our activities, ensuring that every journey with us is not only memorable but also conducted with the highest regard for health and safety standards. Our Health and Safety Policy encompasses the following key elements:
Employee Training and Preparedness:
All our staff members undergo comprehensive training on health and safety protocols, including emergency response procedures.
First aid kits are available at all our locations, and staff members are well-versed in providing initial assistance.
Compliance with National Laws:
We adhere strictly to all national laws and regulations related to health and safety, ensuring full compliance at all times.
Minimum Employment Age and Non-Discrimination:
We comply with minimum employment age laws, ensuring a safe and suitable working environment for all our employees.
Our commitment to non-discrimination extends to gender, race, age, disability, ethnicity, religion, or sexual orientation.
Emergency Contacts:
Emergency contact information for all destinations in which we operate is provided to travelers before and upon arrival.
A permanently reachable telephone number, manned by a live person, is available at all times for emergency situations.
Client Communication:
Travelers are informed about potential health and safety risks, prevalent diseases, and necessary vaccinations.
Dos and don’ts for specific excursions and activities are clearly communicated to minimize adverse impacts.
Safe Transport:
When applicable, information on sustainable transport options, including public transport, is provided to clients.
Monitoring and Continuous Improvement:
We regularly monitor and evaluate our health and safety policies and procedures to identify areas for improvement.
Client feedback is actively sought and used to enhance our safety protocols and overall service quality.
COVID-19 Protocols:
In response to the ongoing global situation, we have implemented specific COVID-19 protocols to safeguard the health of our travelers and staff.
Environment & Community Relations
Active Albania is committed to environmental protection and community relations by:
- Reducing disposable and consumer goods use
- Purchasing in bulk to reduce packaging
- Implementing paper-saving modes in printing and copying
- Reducing brochure wastage and promoting online options
- Using energy-efficient equipment
- Complying with national waste disposal laws
- Reducing plastic bottle usage
- Implementing waste reduction methods in printing and copying
- Reducing transport impacts through tele-work and tele/video meetings
- Providing staff training on internal environmental practices
- Contributing to the preservation of local historically, culturally, and spiritually significant sites.
Active Albania Impact Reduction Goals and Implementation Timeline
Active Albania is steadfast in its commitment to minimizing its environmental impact and fostering sustainable practices. Our impact reduction goals are outlined below, accompanied by a timeline for implementation:
1. Single-Use Plastic Elimination:
Goal: Achieve a 50% reduction in single-use plastic across all operations.
Timeline: Implement reusable alternatives and encourage partner accommodations to eliminate single-use plastics within the next 12 months.
2. Paper Reduction and Digital Promotion:
Goal: Achieve a 70% reduction in paper usage through digital communication and promotion.
Timeline: Transition to 100% online promotion within the next 6 months.
3. Waste Management Improvement:
Goal: Implement waste reduction methods to achieve a 40% reduction in overall waste.
Timeline: Collaborate with local waste management initiatives and educate staff within the next 12 months.
4. Plastic Bottle Reduction:
Goal: Achieve a 30% reduction in plastic bottle usage.
Timeline: Encourage the use of refillable bottles and partner with accommodations to reduce bottled water consumption within the next 9 months.
5. Carbon Emission Reduction in Transportation:
Goal: Implement measures to achieve a 15% reduction in carbon emissions from transportation services.
Timeline: Introduce sustainable transport options and promote public transport within the next 24 months.
6. Sustainable Certification for Partner Accommodations:
Goal: Motivate 70% of partner accommodations to attain sustainability certifications.
Timeline: Collaborate with accommodations, provide support, and monitor progress within the next 36 months.
7. Educational Programs for Employees:
Goal: Provide sustainability training to all staff members.
Timeline: Implement a comprehensive training program within the next 6 months.
8. Preservation of Cultural and Natural Sites:
Goal: Contribute to the preservation of three culturally & naturally significant sites within the next 24 months.
Timeline: Collaborate with local preservation initiatives and promote responsible tourism practices.
Accommodations
Active Albania aims to have a fully sustainable tourism supply chain, starting with partner accommodations. We do this by:
- Supporting sustainability initiatives with other tour operators and stakeholders
- Selecting accommodations that meet sustainability and quality standards, including sustainability contracts, water and energy saving programs, waste management, energy reduction systems, child protection policies, CSR activities, and employee health and safety training
- Motivating partner accommodations to become sustainably certified
- Preferring locally-owned and managed accommodations
- Selecting accommodations that employ local communities
- Requesting evidence of sustainable practices from partner accommodations.
At Active Albania, we prioritize the involvement of local communities in our tourism business by employing them in key roles such as tour leaders, local representatives, guides, porters, drivers, cooks, and other local staff. We aim to provide a fair and safe working environment and comply with international, national, and local laws and regulations as well as industry minimum standards. Our employees receive regular training and are informed of our sustainability policy. We also offer a sustainable travel module for local tour guides and hosts that covers responsible tourism aspects. Our tour leaders, representatives, and guides educate travellers on local sustainability, social norms, and human rights.
Regarding customer communication and protection, customer satisfaction and privacy are our top priority. Before booking, we provide a company guideline for travellers, comply with relevant standards in marketing and advertising, and ensure clear and accurate product and price information. During holidays, we provide information about local surroundings, sustainability, and emergency contact information. After holidays, we measure traveler satisfaction and include sustainability in our research.
If you need any information or clarification about our policy, please do not hesitate to contact us.
Why choose us
Active Albania offers niche expertise.
We focus our strengths to do a dynamic job for a very distinct group of clients and needs. Active Albania engages a small high ended staff of senior-level consultants and draws tailor made solution. The result? A highly quick-moving, more coherent approach to giving you the services you need, when you need them.
Decades of collective experience.
Our associates and subject matter experts have decades of experience in strengthening local municipalities and tourism small businesses. They’ve served in a wide range of positions, from public to private sector.
Personal service from senior-level consultants.
You appreciate it when deadlines are met, phone calls are returned and your challenges are given in-depth, out-of-the-box thinking. While a large firm may assign your business to junior-level people, we’re small enough to offer very personal service from senior-level consultants.
Trainee Testimonial
Our experience related to the program: Training in Hospitality and Tour Leading and Adventure Elevate Europe
The lecturers at the seminars were fantastic, experienced people with a lot of knowledge and experience. We are very pleased with the way they explained the topic to us. They provided many examples and illustrations from various situations around the world. Practical examples were of great help to us, because we had an overview of good practice and bad practice, and in that way we easily and quickly understood where we make mistakes in our business. After very instructive lessons, we had enough time to talk about a given topic in which we talked about the specific problems we face and experienced lecturers had a detailed explanation for all our mistakes and doubts. We have learned the most about how to function after the appearance of the COVID 19. We learned what kind of treatment tourists expect after the new situation related to the Corona virus, how we should conduct marketing of our tours, how we should protect the participants of the tour and make them feel comfortable and safe.
All of the above mentioned helped a lot in our further work, so we immediately stood out on the market due to the acquired skills. We have adapted the text in which we promote our tours to the current epidemiological situation and managed to convince tourists that they are completely safe when they use the services of our agency. In the moments when we conduct tours, we practice the "New normal", so our tourists are amazed by the professionalism and care we take about them and their health. We mastered the “New normal” during the seminars “Training in Hospitality and Tour Leading and Adventure Elevate Europe”.
Due to our new way of working, and the acquaintances we gained thanks to these seminars in which we actively participated together as well as the skills acquired at the seminars, we gained partners from surrounding countries and we are currently in the process of designing joint tours that will unite the whole region (cross border tours).
We are very happy to have been a part of the Embrace Balkans Adventure project, and we hope that there will be more good and useful projects like this.
Consultancy
Trainee Testimonial
My experience as part of the project “Embrace Balkans Adventure”
Having the chance to be part of Rafting course, it has been a life-changing experience, not just about the learnings related directly to the rafting but as an overall experience.
I had the chance to learn more about adventure tourism from two amazing instructors coming from a country where adventure tourism is a way of living. I learnt skills that are being absolutely helpful in my current endeavours in the company that I co-own, and in the kayaking club where I act as the president. I already organized a tour in Vjosa river there where I learnt a lot about the amazing activity of rafting, and together with some of the local guys we had a blast, and my clients were absolutely amazed.
All this experience has been an inspiration and motivation to jump on some new challenges to introduce new adventure tours and activities in my country Kosovo, such as introducing new disciplines of kayaking that fits to the rivers and lakes of our country, bike-rafting in the Lumbardhi river of Prizren and so on.
Tailor-made training
Training of 142 tourism professionals and 16 SMEs from WB to respond to COVID-19 challenges and to improve business performance.
Recent Tourism Interventions
2 Advise the University of Sports in Tirana to develop the training curricula and program for the certification of tourist rafting & hiking guides from the Ministry of Tourism.
3 Training of 142 tourism professionals and 16 SMEs from WB to respond to COVID-19 challenges and to improve business performance.
4 Developing and implementing a tourism Bootcamp for established tourism businesses to explore and develop new business ideas.
5 Creation of 3 digital tourism campaigns (2022) “ ”; Albania: Unparalleled, Exceptional and Authentic (2020) “ Stay Safe Now and Visit Albanians Later ”; (2019) “ Be Taken by Albania ”
6 Support “ River Collective ” and “ EcoAlbania ” NGOs for the protection of natural ecosystems
7 Development of the first Virtual Tourism Show in Albania