Independent tour operators & accommodation
providers are among the most important sectors in the entire industry.
In a globalised and extractive industry, SME operators are our moral
compass: the people on the ground who live and breathe their
destinations with genuine expertise and passion, creating livelihoods
for ordinary local people, and making the magic happen for free-thinking
and open-minded travellers.
And when this is all over, they represent our best hopes for
rebalancing the global tourism industry back to its more sustainable
grassroots.
But first they need to make it through the storm which is why
we, in our small way, are doing as much as we can to support our
partners and the wider community of independent/specialist operators:
- We have paused all billing for our active partners.
We’re a well-funded and lean operation so we won’t be going anywhere
anytime soon. For as long as this crisis lasts we’ll be passing all trip
requests to our partners free of charge.
- In addition, we’re currently waiving all sign-up fees
for new partners. We’ll create partner profiles, publish
itineraries/experiences, and pass on all trip requests free of charge.
Operators who would like to join our platform should contact us on info@horizonguides.com, please first read our membership criteria below.
- In the scheme of the disruption we’re a drop in the
ocean, but we’ll do whatever we can to help the community of independent
and specialist tour operators make it through. And when the dust
finally settles, we’ll be standing by to help with the recovery.
Free membership criteria
We’ll list, free of charge, tour operators that match the following criteria:
- Independent multi-day tour operators or specialist accommodation providers.
- Single destination or regional specialists, either based in destination or with operations there.
- An obvious emphasis on low-impact and
responsible/community tourism. (For example: We will not list operators
that offer direct-contact wildlife experiences. We are unlikely to list
operators that only use chain hotels.)
- A verifiable track record and commitment to quality. We’ll consider 3rd party reviews, trade associations, etc.
For more information please get in touch: info@horizonguides.com