We believe in socially responsible tourism
As a company investing back into our country is a pivotal part of the business model and is something that we strive to incorporate in every experience we offer, whether that’s in the form of creating employment opportunities, promoting entrepreneurship or donating to a charity that we have partnered with.
Experiences such as dinner with a local family offers them an extra income, and provides our guests an authentic experience of a traditional home cooked meal as well as an insight on what dinner time looks like in a Pakistani household.
A proportion of the transaction fee goes towards the learning and development of the refugees with whom we work to create our Meet the Artisan. This is one of the sustainability projects enabling them to become self-sufficient and investing in the long term rather than momentary
Lets Own Our Environment
Looking after the environment is something that we must all take ownership of, this is of particular importance to us because whilst we wish to promote tourism to Pakistan and particular in the rural areas, we also want to ensure that we maintain the cleanliness and beauty it has to offer so that generations of the future can also enjoy these habitats and most importantly the local community are not negatively impacted by the tourism we bring in.
One of the initiatives we have is to advise our customers to take bags with them so they can carry their rubbish back with them, where bins are not readily available. We will be investing in Tote Bags in the near future, which will gift to all customers when they start their tour, so that they can carry their rubbish back to the hotel or wherever they can safely dispose of.
There is a shortage of water globally, however, this is even greater in the developing part of the world, particularly in Pakistan, we advise all our customer to be considerate when having showers, particularly in the Northern Parts of Pakistan.
Our partnering companies with whom we do the trekking tours are very passionate about preserving the environment therefore the trekking routes that we use are ones that are not causing excessive damage to the natural habitat.
Conservation of natural resources is important
There is a shortage of water globally, however, this is even greater in the developing part of the world, particularly in Pakistan, we advise all our customer to be considerate when having showers, particularly in the Northern Parts of Pakistan.
Investment is the key for long term tourism in Pakistan
As a company investing back into our country is a pivotal part of the business model and is something that we strive to incorporate in every experience we offer, whether that’s in the form of creating employment opportunities, promoting entrepreneurship or donating to a charity that we have partnered with.
We believe in Social Enterprise based Tourism
A key part of our company’s philosophy is to ensure that the locals benefit from the tourism we bring in. As a result, we advise and recommend our customers to permit us to build in our socially responsible experiences within their itinerary e.g. Making a tandoori nan, playing street cricket with the local children or food tours which are carried out with local cafes and home chefs. All we request is that our customers tip them, recommending them to tip a minimum of Rs.5000 or if they are in a large group of 12 Rs.1000 each. We want to encourage entrepreneurism amongst the community rather than just donating.
We believe that Tourism for a country is only successful if it benefits the local community. Where permissible and with the agreement of our customers,we use Air BnB, using the homes of local residence to give our customers a more authentic feel and to ensure the local community benefit from the tourism we bring in.
Our Food Tours developed with Chefling Tales have been done with local cafes, restaurants & home chefs to provide them with an additional source of income and a really history lesson to our customers, educating them about the roots of the ingredients used and the dish made, beyond just eating these.
Our Artisan Tour in Swat has been developed as an experience with the Swat Valley Guild, in which we deliver workshops to our clients in conjunction with the refugees in Swat, who prior to the terrorism used to have a thriving trade in handicraft and embroidery. The experience we have developed enables our customers to learn about the organic dying, embroidery and weaving processes. During the 4 – 6 day workshop, they make their own scarf, which they are able to take back with them as a souvenir. £60 of every package goes towards the Learning and Development of these ladies to ensure they are trained at an international level so that they can become suppliers to a global market. We are in conversation with London School of Fashion, to see if this could become part of an accredited unit for their students. The rational being that these students could be tomorrows couture designers, if they are exposed to the unique work of this region now than tomorrow they could commission this very community with work, hence reviving their trade again. If you belong to an organisation who work in the creative textiles, fashion or furniture industry, please do get in touch so we can explore how we could work together on this.
Giving back is important
Wherever possible and where our knowledge is suited, we provide free consultancy to some of the tourism ministers, in order to help influence the direction of tourism in Pakistan, ensuring that the accommodation built is in keeping with the natural environment, using local material to recycle natural materials and use local labour force to create employment.
We are also advising them on their tourism strategy to ensure there are enough bins to keep the areas tidy & to ensure a system is in place for rubbish collection and its correct disposal. Advising them to focus on responsible tourism promotion to ensure we focus on quality of tourists over quantity so that the natural habitat is preserved.
We are in the process of becoming an ambassadors of Pakistan Alliance for Girls’ Education (PAGE), a charity focused on providing education to school going girls who are unable to do so.The capacity in which we plan to work with them is along the lines of employment.
Xperience Pakistan has a core focus to educate the overseas audience about Pakistan and its history but particularly 3rd & 4th generation overseas Pakistani’s, one of the ways to do this is to educate them of its history. We are exploring ways on how we can provide some training to these girls so that they can help create content for our YouTube channel, which would entail these girls teaching Pakistan studies to overseas children.
All revenue earned from the channels would go back to the girls involved, thus providing them with a source of income. This idea is in its infancy and will probably take 6 months for us to understand fully, how this would work and what other employment opportunities we could offer so that they can pursue their education. Whilst we could donate, one of the principals of our company is to drive entrepreneurship among the local community so that they can sustain themselves in the long run.
Hope not out
Shahid Afridi Foundation was founded in March 2014 by Shahid Afridi, by a Pakistani Cricketer, popularly known as “Boom Boom” worldwide. SAF is a non-profit organization registered in Pakistan, which was coined with the aim to improve the conditions of the most destitute communities of our society.
SAF is a global organization with their presence in North America, Europe, Middle East, Africa and Asia Pacific.
Their ethos is to support the most under served communities in Pakistan as well as globally. Working in the remote areas and post-conflict communities, SAF helps vulnerable families meet their basic needs and provide access to better services in areas of Health, Education and Water along with promoting Global Peace & Goodwill message via sports diplomacy initiatives.
As they have grown SAF has worked hard to ensure that they consider all aspects of rural community development, support for female education and empowerment in all components of everything they do.
Combined with their local skills and knowledge with other organizations and government to promote and improve the health and livelihoods of the rural communities, they work in partnership with local communities to provide employment opportunities across all of their projects. SAF has been successful in building hospitals, developing schools network and initiating water projects across Pakistan.
They are committed to serving the people of Pakistan in order to transform the lives of the despaired communities through our humanitarian aid and provide hope for a better future because together we are #HopeNotOut for humanity.
We donate £25 from every transaction we make, to the Shahid Afridi Foundation and also have a link on our home page enabling you to learn more about the work charity does and enabling you to donate should you wish to. I have their logo across all marketing material to raise awareness of them and what they do.