Our approach to sustainability
Our operations, and the tours we sell, have social and environmental impacts. Rather than describe those in general terms, our sustainability policy sets out the specific actions we take and names the offices, brands and destinations each one applies to.
The policy is organised around the UN Sustainable Development Goals we have prioritised: five covering environmental responsibility (7, 12, 13, 14 and 15) and four covering social responsibility (3, 4, 5 and 8).
Compliance with the Travelife criteria described in the policy has been verified by an independent audit. The other figures we publish are not independently audited, and the policy says where each one comes from.
Partnering with local suppliers
At Travel Connect, we're committed to building trust with our suppliers, local communities and customers. Much of what a traveller experiences, such as the coach and the hotel, is delivered by the companies we book rather than by us, so the choice of supplier matters.
Before we start working together, our procurement team checks that a supplier is insured and holds the licences their services require. We also visit on inspection trips, because we like to see the service for ourselves.
We see a recognised sustainability certification as a good sign, but we don't require one. That would rule out many of the small, locally owned hotels and guesthouses we book, and keeping them in our itineraries is part of how travellers' money reaches the communities they visit. We're glad to support a local suppliers that is actively working to limit its environmental impact, certified or not.
Sustainable Certifications
Travel Connect, along with its brands Nordic Visitor, Iceland Travel, Terra Nova, Iceland Tours, Iceland Unlimited and Nine Worlds, hold Travelife Certified recognition.
We were the first company in Iceland to reach both stages of the programme: Travelife Partner in 2023 and Travelife Certified in 2024.
Travelife has a 3-stage approach, and Travel Connect is proud to announce that we’ve received their top recognition, Travelife Certified. It is awarded after an independent on-site audit against the Travelife Certified Standard, which verifies compliance with more than 200 mandatory criteria covering environmental management, climate action, biodiversity, working conditions, human rights, local communities, sustainable supply chain management and customer communication. We are recertified every two years.
Details of the programme, its recognition levels, the assessment process, the publicly available criteria and the validity of our current recognition are on the Travelife consumer website.
Responsible tourism
Travel Connect has signed Iceland’s Responsible Tourism statement (“Ábyrg ferðaþjónusta”), an initiative led by the Icelandic Tourism Cluster and the Icelandic Travel Industry Association (SAF) under the patronage of the President of Iceland. Signatories commit to four goals: protecting and respecting nature; ensuring guest safety and fostering respectful interactions; upholding and respecting employee rights; and having a positive impact on local communities.
Signing is a commitment to those goals rather than a certification, and it is not independently audited. What we actually do towards each of them is set out in our sustainability policy.
The initiative’s own aim is for Iceland to be a leader in sustainable tourism by 2030.
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