Environmental Policy

Sustainability at Iceland Travel

As the country’s largest and oldest tour operator, we believe it is vital to respect Icelandic nature and keep our country a vibrant and exciting destination. We are fully committed to sustainable tourism and continued improvement in our operations.

Certified Commitment to the Environment

Iceland Travel proudly meets the comprehensive assessment criteria of Vakinn’s Gold-Class environmental standards. Vakinn is the quality and environmental certification for Icelandic tourism.
Through Travel Connect, we are also a member of Travelife, an internationally recognized training, management, and certification programme for sustainability in tourism. Travelife is recognized by the Global Sustainable Tourism Council.
We are currently at the second stage, Travelife Partner. Travel Connect and its brands are the first in Iceland to have achieved this certification. Now, we are working towards the third and final level, Travelife Certified, hoping to reach it in summer 2023.
These accolades confirm that when you book with Iceland Travel, you ensure to work with a company that takes environmental matters and the protection of nature seriously.

Iceland Travel’s Responsibility

The growth of tourism throughout the world inevitably impacts upon the fragile environments that guests are there to see and experience.
Many of our tours, by definition, travel through a variety of different environments. The goal of our environmental policy is to try to minimize our impact and, where possible, act in such a way that benefits the local communities and environments.
We understand the impacts that our operations may have and pro-actively seek to ensure our operations are as locally sustainable as possible. We are fully committed to following Iceland’s environmental laws.

To meet our environmental sustainability goals, we have implemented an environmental management system as follows:

Making a carbon-offsetting contribution for each passenger on our tours in collaboration with Kolviður – the Icelandic Carbon Fund.
Reducing waste in our operations.
Subsidizing public transport and healthy lifestyles for our employees.
Limiting our environmental impact and implementing responsible tourism practices in our Iceland operations.
Choosing environmentally friendly tour suppliers and services.
Raising awareness regarding environmental issues among our guests, staff and guides.
Aiming to adhere to these principles and continuously improve on our environmental management system.

As well as our environmental impact, we also take our social responsibility very seriously, whether that be within the company or as part of our local communities.

Here is how we aim to be more socially responsible as a company:

Playing an active part in promoting cultural diversity as well as a variety of jobs in local communities.
Working to strenghten the economy of urban as well as remote areas.
Treating all stakeholders with respect, whether they are partners, customers or local residents of our destinations.
Growing as a company through a culture of continuous improvement with a focus on work-life balance.
Providing an inclusive work environment where employees can balance their work and personal life.

Sustainability at Travel Connect

You can read the Travel Connect Sustainability Policy, which we adhere to, on the Travel Connect website. There you’ll also find a summary of our future goals as we continue to work on becoming more sustainable.

For questions or comments about our Sustainability Policy, please contact Travel Connect’s sustainability coordinator, Kristín Halldórsdóttir, at kristin[at]travelconnect.com.