DC Tours – Our Environmental, Sustainability and Responsible Tourism Aims

What tourist activity could be more environmentally friendly than a walking tour? We don’t use coaches or taxis, so there are no carbon emissions. We are entirely outdoors, so there’s no heat, power or water used. Even the batteries in our headsets are rechargeable!

But the day-to-day running of the company can still negatively impact the environment in a number of ways. We are committed to reducing these wherever possible.

Our environmental commitment

We are signed up to the Green Tourism Business Scheme and have achieved their Silver Award. Our commitment includes the following:

• We do not own any company vehicles.
• We communicate electronically wherever possible.
• All our promotional items are printed on recycled paper.
• We only use 100% recycled paper in our (home) office.
• All waste paper is recycled and we sort waste to recycle as much as possible.
• We only use energy companies and equipment with ‘green energy’ options.
• All our audio headsets are powered with rechargeable batteries.
• We use local suppliers wherever and whenever possible.
• We make sure the suppliers of our guides’ workwear have ethical policies in place.

Our commitment to the community

We are also dedicated to working with local communities to deliver our tours responsibly. We aim to make a positive contribution to the cultural heritage of Belfast:

• We’ve worked hard to ensure our tours are culturally sensitive. So we encourage respect between tourists and locals and allow our visitors to make more meaningful connections with our people.
• We also regularly work with local community, cross-community and cross-border groups to deliver tours and experiences which focus on building local understanding, pride and confidence.

As a company, we also given a lot of thought to the needs of all our guests. We work to mitigate the challenges of access that many disabled and less able people face when travelling. So our tours are designed to be accessible for all, regardless of disability.

In short, we operate and act as sustainably and as responsibly as possible, and we encourage others to do the same.

We also review our performance regularly and are committed to continuous improvement.

And we have a Responsible Visitor Charter which outlines some of the things you can do to minimise the environmental impact of your visit too.

Thank You!

DC Tours