Our Sustainability Journey

Our Sustainability Journey

SloWays for sustainable tourism

The planet’s resources are not unlimited, our planet is increasingly crowded, and tourism is highly impacting our economic system.

At SloWays we are fully aware of the situation, and we know that every single action has an impact on the only planet that we have; for this reason, we are always seeking ways to make your ecological footprint as light as possible

·         First, we decided to offer walking and cycling trips: low-impact ways of travelling, which leave a light environmental footprint and contribute to your physical well-being.

•  Our trips – on Via Francigena especially - are always designed so that you can easily reach the starting point of the tour by public transport. In addition to being the most environmentally friendly mean of transport, the train always offers a good slice of local life, unexpected encounters, and a good opportunity to relax, read, look at the view outside: a real journey inside your journey! 

•  We always try and choose local, family-run accommodation: small hotels, agriturismo, bed and breakfasts with local character. We want you to understand the local values and traditions by talking with the locals, asking them questions, feeling their enthusiasm and hospitality.

•  We suggest that you always try the local dishes, favoring locally, preferably organically grown products. Buying your lunch in a small-town grocery shop or choosing a small family run restaurant for your dinner help the local economy and help you live your holiday like a local. 

•  We are committed to take part to initiatives that may help improve the way people travel, making cycling and walking easier and safer; for this reason, we took part to the crowdfunding project that allowed to fully signpost the official Via Francigena cycle route.

•  We developed a special APP that allows you to travel self-guided by following a GPS track on your smartphone or tablet. You can also navigate off-line by downloading the maps on your device. In this way you can also avoid printing your itinerary on paper, reducing your impact in terms of resource consumption and waste production.

•  In the trips where luggage transfer is included we always rely to local providers who are on those streets daily: in this way we avoid putting more cars on the road to carry only one or two bags per time. This minimize the impact on traffic and pollution.

•  We give you detailed instructions on what you should bring on your cycling or walking trip. A light, essential bag also means a minor weight, less energy spent for the transportation, less disposable items, less waste to be disposed of.

•  We are careful not to waste water: for this reason, we always suggest bringing a reusable water bottle instead of buying plastic bottles. We ask to the hotels not to wash towels every single day, if clients are staying more than one night and they do not require it specifically. 

If you want to read in detail how we actively commit, you can read our SUSTAINABILITY POLICY

If you want to read in detail our "2021 Report" 

If you want to read in detail our "2022 Report"

If you want to read in detail our "2023 Report"

For questions and comments regarding our sustainability policy, please contact the person in charge at info@sloways.eu

What we are doing at SloWays:

We joined the Travelife system and completed the reporting phase. It emerged that - due to the specific type of tourism we promote and our internal organization and philosophy - we are a company with already implemented sustainable good practices. This does not mean that we cannot do even better and we are working on an action plan that will allow us to improve even more. Having therefore obtained the Travelife Partner certification at the beginning of 2021.

On August 8, we officially obtained the highest certification, "Travelife Certified" - we have explained what this means in this article on our blog. 

Travelife declared: 

"The award is a recognition for the long-term efforts and frontrunner position of SloWays regarding sustainability and Corporate Social Responsibility. 
SloWays complies with more than 200 criteria, related to an operators’ office management, product range, international business partners and customer information. The Travelife standard is covering the ISO 26000 Corporate Social Responsibility themes, including environment, biodiversity, human rights and labour relations; and is formally Recognised as in full compliance with the UN supported Global Sustainable Tourism Criteria."

Defence for children - Do not look away!

We invite you to be vigilant with us and report suspicions of child abuse. For more information, please visit www.114.it Child protection is very important to us. Child sexual exploitation is a global problem. According to the International Labour Organisation, 4.8 million people are victims of sexual exploitation every year, of which one in four is a child (ILO, 2017). Women and girls are the most affected, but boys are also victims. In some countries the supply of boys is even higher, such as Morocco or Cambodia. But abuse also occurs in other countries, including Europe. So, be careful. Do you have a suspect? Report it on the website www.114.it