Sustainability policy

Our aim is to reduce waste in all our operations by following the 3 Rs of waste management: reduce, reuse, and recycle.

• Travel Connect reached a major milestone in the reduction of paper waste by implementing new processes. These include electronic accounting, electronic signatures, new procedures when creating travel documents and minimising printing as much as possible. To reduce the amount of paper we print for our clients, we have been printing itineraries double-sided and removing plastic from these packages.
• The majority of the furniture for our offices, excluding office equipment, has been purchased from second-hand furniture stores.
• We recycle paper, plastic, bottles, cans and aluminum at all of our offices.
• At all offices, we purchase environmentally friendly cleaning products.
• We offer employees reusable water glasses and coffee cups to reduce waste.
• For office supplies, we support local businesses as much as possible. For example, our lunches are from local caterers and our printing services are provided by local businesses that operate in a sustainable manner.

• All the electricity and central heating used at our offices in Iceland is derived from renewable energy sources. In fact, most of the energy used in Iceland comes from renewable energy sources as follows: around 70% of electricity production comes from hydropower plants and 30% from geothermal energy, while 90% of central heating comes from geothermal energy and around 10% is produced from electricity.
• Our office in Edinburgh purchases energy from SSE Energy Solutions which offers 100% sustainable energy derived from UK wind farms.
• Our office in Stockholm uses energy derived from renewable energy sources: 50% from wind power and 50% from hydropower.

• Travel Connect understands the importance of work-life balance. For this, we created a policy which aims to increase the well-being and health of employees. Some successful examples include offering flexible working hours and gradually shortening the working days to 7 hours.
• Our employees are the most valuable resource for Travel Connect and its brands. We put great emphasis on creating a welcoming, warm and equal atmosphere as well as a physically and emotionally safe environment for all.
• Employees’ attitudes towards the company, their job and work environment are regularly surveyed. The results are always very positive, showing that our efforts to create a good working environment continue to be successful.
• We treat all stakeholders with respect, whether they are partners, customers or local residents of our destinations. This is another reason why we like to ensure that our suppliers operate in a socially responsible way. We also aim to decrease the negative impact of travel while emphasising the positive impact that tourism can have on local communities.
  

• Travel Connect is passionate about and dedicated to employee well-being, training and development. We worked strategically on our HR policy and educational plan to develop a skilled, ambitious and positive group of employees who are ready for anything. The results are clear: we have high job satisfaction, high employee engagement and highly skilled staff. This means improved efficiency and increased return on investment.
• Employees’ attitudes towards the company, their job and work environment are regularly surveyed. The results are always very positive, showing that our efforts to create a good working environment continue to be successful.

• Travel Connect’s equality policy is based on laws and regulations and equal rights for all. Our goal is for everyone to have equal opportunities and to be seen as a desirable place to work.
• We provide an inclusive working environment where employees can balance their work and personal life. Opportunities are also created for all employees to develop and grow. This means that employees are appreciated as individuals, regardless of their gender (and other protected characteristics). All assessments are based solely on relevant experience, skills, education, and the employee’s ability to accomplish their tasks.
• Our intention is to ensure equal status and equal rights for all genders. We accomplish this by basing decisions regarding remuneration, recruitment, working conditions, assignment of tasks, education and professional development on neutral and professional practices that are not affected by the gender of the employee in question.
• To achieve our goals, we regularly measure progress in equality issues. This may include salary analysis, gender ratios and measuring employees’ attitudes towards gender equality at Travel Connect.
  
• We are pleased to have received the Equal Pay Certification for companies operating in Iceland.
  Read more about it on our page Equal Pay Policy – Travel Connect
• Travel Connect stands firmly against all forms of exploitation and harassment, including forced labor, child labor, human trafficking, and commercial and sexual exploitation. We are committed to protecting the dignity, safety, and human rights of all individuals, with particular attention to the well-being of children and adolescents. We expect all employees, partners, and stakeholders to uphold these values and oppose any form of exploitative practices in their interactions and business conduct.
• Travel Connect has been awarded the Jafnvægisvogin (Equality Scale) in 2024 and 2025 for its commitment to gender balance in leadership. While Iceland leads globally in gender equality, corporate leadership remains an area for improvement. The Jafnvægisvogin initiative, led by the Association of Businesswomen in Iceland, recognises companies making measurable progress toward gender balance in management and leadership roles, aiming for a 40:60 gender ratio by 2027. Travel Connect has already achieved this goal, with four women and five men on our Executive Team. We believe balanced leadership fosters stronger performance, diverse perspectives, and more inclusive decision-making. And with the initiative’s slogan “Jafnrétti er ákvörðun” (“equality is a decision”) in mind, we remain committed to building a more inclusive future.

Tourism plays a fundamental role in many of our destinations’ economies and can impact their social and natural environments. This places even greater demands on Travel Connect to ensure a sustainable approach in all our operations.

• Travel Connect only selects local suppliers that are fully insured, licensed and who uphold high standards of comfort and safety for our clients.
• We continue to adopt responsible practices by fighting back against tourism leakage. This means that we buy from local suppliers and recommend local businesses, such as accommodation and restaurants. By doing this the revenue generated by tourists stays in the local communities.
• The way we market tours includes taking steps to actively reduce the negative impact of tourism on the local and natural environment. This is integral to our business.
• We are constantly developing products and processes to decrease the impact of travel on local environments and residents. We do this while highlighting the positive impact that tourism can have. Examples include encouraging visitors to shop locally and contribute to the regional economy.
  
• Listening to local communities regarding environmental matters and the impact of tourists on their daily life is extremely important. This way we can react by educating our visitors on how best to preserve the local culture and natural environment. In turn, this helps support and improve the residents’ quality of life.
• Travel Connect ensures that no marketing and promotional material contains misleading information and that we advertise only what we can deliver. Our staff are well trained on their specialist destinations and they offer only what we can deliver to our clients with ease.