Our Impact

We live in an era when even something beautiful and healthy as traveling can transorm into something unpleasant. There is a problem which we risk being affected by but also we risk causing, every time we travel: Overtourism. This phenonemon is new and the definition is still not accepted, but generally it is defined as: “the situation when too many people visit a place on holiday, so that the place is spoiled and life is made difficult for the people who live there” (Cambridge)

Even though this dynamic is new, it is already making headlines every year, because of protests from local people whose lives are disrupted. Major institutions as the European Parliament, the World Economic Forum or the United Nations World Tourism Organisation discuss it. Universities and research institutes are analyzing it, providing numbers and statistics about the travel sector. 

Travelling however isn’t something fundamentally wrong: it’s the way we travel today that sometimes is not the most mindful or sustainable. It’s also how the tourism industry is managed: resource-consuming, people exploitation, commodification of cities and daily lives of locals. Something must be done, and it must be done in both ways: by making more sustainable choices as travelers and by providing more sustainable options from the industry.

According to the 2018 Report “Tourism and Sustainable Development Goals” by the United Nation Development Programme and the UNWTO, the tourism industry is actively engaged in SDG 8 on ‘Decent Work and Economic Growth’, SDG 12 on ‘Responsible Consumption and Production’ and SDG 14 on ‘Life below Water’. But not only:

“Given the multitude of links it has with other sectors and industries along its vast value chain, it can in fact accelerate progress towards all 17 SDGs. It can help build a new culture of sustainability and peace.” (Report, 2018)

Tours That Make Sense works in this way, it is a platform providing the possibility to travel in a more mindful way. We offer authentic experiences that also create social impact by supporting local communities and offering awesome alternatives to overcrowded places. Our clear goal is to establish a healthy link between the traveler and local communities and transform tourism in a force of good, rather than a cause of distress.

How we do it? We developed a circular economic model where each tour the traveller books directly support a local community or a social project. Communities in return help creating unforgettable experiences, truly local. The platform is a marketplace for social impact: it connects not only the travel to agencies providing tours, but a direct and unique link to those social actors providing change. Tourism becomes regenerative and not consuming.