Questions You Should Ask Every Travel Company
Experience
1. How long have you been in the business and how many travelers do you take care of each year?
Operating since 1996, traveler numbers are confidential
2. Who will be our key contact person in your organization? How long have they been in the
travel industry and what is their background?
Matthew Yates, Sales Manager, Active Adventures, 7 years
3. Who are the principals of the company and what is their background? N/A
4. Can you provide past client references?
Yes, we have extensive past client reviews, which we publish on our website
Financial Strength
1. What assurances do you provide to protect the traveler’s investment?
a. Please supply business and banking references. Cofidential. N/A
b. Please provide a list of your company’s travel industry memberships and affiliations.
Department of Conservation, Adventure Travel Trade Association, Tourism Industry
Member, Qualmark, OutdoorsMark
c. Is your company a participant in a seller of travel/consumer protection program. N/A
Operations
1. How is the educational component delivered on your tours? Verbally by our experienced
guides
2. What is the typical caliber of your leaders? Please provide leader references. All our guides go
through extensive training – you can see information about each guide on our website,
including client testimonials
3. What type of educational materials do you provide travelers prior to departure? Extensive pretrip documents on our secure online booking system, including itinerary, trip notes, country
notes, gear list, training documents, FAQs
4. Does your company subcontract for services in the field? If so, what are the credentials of your
subcontractor(s)? Yes in some areas we do and I can go through these with you on the phone
5. What type of experience does your guides/field staff have? What type of certifications,
qualifications, training, etc. do they have? Extensive first aid training, food handling
certificates, passenger driving endorsements and our lead guides often have various guiding
qualifications
6. Do you provide in-house air ticketing services? No
7. Do you have a risk management plan? Yes
a. Do you have 24-hour on call operations staff? Yes
b. Does your field staff carry radios, phones, etc.? Yes, radios, phones, satellite phones in
some situations, emergency beacons in some situations
c. Do you provide 24-hour on call physician staffed medical assistance and evacuation
coverage for every trip participant? Our trips are supported by local emergency
response services
d. Do you have a formal medical policy concerning the screening of prospective trip
members? No
e. Do you have a policy concerning medical care delivered during a trip and the usage of
certain types of medical equipment (e.g., Gamov hyperbaric bags for trips going to
altitude)? What kinds of health education materials do you provide each traveler? We
ask that every traveler takes out a comprehensive medical insurance policy
8. Do you have a social and environmental business practices operating policy? Yes
9. What materials and guidelines do you provide for your clients, either prior to departure or
during the trip, to help them minimize the environmental and cultural impact of their visit? Our
guides manage this aspect during the trip. Pre-trip documents also refer to best practice
10. How do you monitor the operations of your in-country operators regarding their environmental
and cultural practices? Directly via our guides and operations staff. We also work closely with
local organisations (with permits/concessions etc)
11. Does your company encourage travelers to become personally involved in the
conservation/preservation of the areas they visit? If so how? Yes, through plenty of small scale
initiatives, like using reusable water bottles, carrying out all rubbish etc
12. What are the main obstacles that you find in minimizing the environmental impact of your
business? Apathy
13. What environmental issues do you currently face with your tours, or in the areas that you visit?
Various issues not specific to Active Adventures, but generic to the locations we visit
Marketing Support
Can you offer assistance in the development of marketing and advertising materials (copywriting,
design, artwork/photography, production and printing)? We can provide web-optimised photos and
itineraries
Insurance/Legal
1. Do you have a pro-forma letter of agreement or memorandum of understanding? We have a
client contract
2. What are your terms and conditions? What are your terms in the event of a Department of State
advisory/warning? See our contract
3. What are the upper limits of your liability insurance coverage? N/A
4. Can you add our organization as an additional insured to your policy? No
5. How detailed is your Limitation of Liability and Assumption of Risk statement? Can you add
our organization to this form? Please provide a copy.