Can a holiday be Fair Trade?

We think so. Here are four of GreenTraveller's favourite ethical holidays:

India
Join a walking tour to the foothills of the Himalayas just south of the Tibetan border. After a few days acclimatising to the altitude, you’ll spend seven days walking from village to village, staying in renovated three-bedroom guesthouses (<i>pictured left</i>), eating vegetarian food and being led by local guides through pine forests and mountain valleys. En route, you can also help out with the locals’ daily chores, such as tending the buffalo, harvesting fruit and preparing traditional dishes. The initiative aims to provide employment for the mountain villagers to help stem depopulation in the region. villageways.com, 01223 750049

South Africa
Whether you want to see Africa’s big five animals or just chill out on the coast, you can experience the best of South Africa by staying at progressive properties certified by the Fair Trade in Tourism South Africa scheme. It assesses South African travel businesses on whether they are committed to Fair Trade criteria such as decent wages and working conditions for their staff, promote gender equality and local culture, and limit their impact on the environment. Thirty properties have now made the grade, from a backpacker’s lodge on the beautiful Wild Coast to a five star game reserve in the wildlife-rich Kruger National Park. fairtourismsa.org.za

Tanzania
Enjoy awesome views of Mount Kilimanjaro from a coffee cooperative in northern Tanzania. Kahawa Shamba ("coffee farm" in Swahili) is a small-scale tourism enterprise run by the Chagga people in their village to supplement income as coffee farmers. It was set up with help from the Department for International Development, development charity Twin, the fair trade coffee company Cafédirect and the fair trade travel company Tribes Travel. You stay in basic traditional huts made of vines from the nearby forest and thatched with dried banana-leaf, and there are guided walks and horse-riding trips along the nearby river valley. tribes.co.uk, 01728 685971.
 
Peru
Visit the best cultural sites of Southern Peru on a two-week Traidcraft ‘Meet the People’ tour. You’ll visit Lima, Cusco, the Sacred Valley of the Incas and Machu Picchu while stopping off en route to visit Traidcraft’s main fair-trade coffee suppliers, stay with their families and experience life in the Andes, including a trip on a luxury Orient Express train to the shores of Lake Titicaca from where you’ll take a boat out to stay on Taquile Island. Traidcraft runs similar fairtrade holidays in India, Thailand and Cuba, and in 2009 will be offering trips to Vietnam, Ghana, Costa Rica and Nicaragua. traidcraft-tours.co.uk, 0191 2651110.


This article, by GreenTraveller's Richard Hammond, was first published in his 'Travel Update' column in New Consumer magazine, February 2008.

See also: Fair Play: Ten of the best fair trade holidays