About Active Adventures

Our sustainability pledge
'To be a tourism industry leader in corporate social responsibility. In our world that means operating adventure travel trips (here in New Zealand and around the world) which tread lightly on the planet and give back to local communities.'

Sustainability is at the heart of everything we do at Active Adventures. We understand that the only way for us to continue doing what we love - showing you our favourite parts of the world in all of our favourite ways - is to carefully consider how we're impacting the environment. With that in mind we've made a commitment to always operate sustainably, and as a team we've come up with some pretty lofty goals to help us achieve the vision outlined above, and to ensure we're always focused. ....less

New Zealand Pioneers in Adventure Travel
Active Adventures is New Zealand’s most globally diverse adventure travel company. In typical New Zealand fashion, we applied our pioneering spirit back in the 90’s and began offering incredible, fully guided, outdoor adventures in New Zealand to just a small number of guests. Fast forward 25 years and New Zealand is still absolutely at the heart of everything we do, but we now also offer our unique style of Kiwi adventuring across the globe to thousands of guests every year. We grew to meet our guests’ desire for diverse adventures, and many travel with us over and over again.

Always Inspiring, Life-Changing
Active Adventures’ true essence is best captured in our purpose, which is to inspire our guests and lead them to enjoy life-changing experiences. That means something different to everyone we meet, which in turn inspires us to personalise our adventures and make them individually special.

Our ‘DNA’ Means the World to Us
We live and breathe our DNA in everything we do, and that’s what keeps our guests coming back again and again. We care deeply, we always tell it like it is, we go hard to achieve excellence and we love life and adventuring. Our guests feel and experience all of these at every touch-point with our team, before, during and after adventuring with us. Our DNA is who we are. ....less

New Zealand -

New Zealand is where it all started for us, and so it’s where we have implemented many of our initiatives in reducing our impact on the environment, and increasing our contribution to local communities and charities. At HQ in Queenstown we have a Sustainability Team which meets every month to develop our thinking on all things sustainability, discuss accreditation applications, and find ways to make our carbon footprint smaller. As a company we’ve taken the ‘Tiaki promise’, to encourage our guests to care for New Zealand the way we do.

Nepal -
Active Hearts Foundation is based in Nepal and was started by Active Adventures guide Dan 'DK' Keys. What began as a small token of appreciation to the Nepalese people for their kindness, welcoming, and generosity, grew into something much more quantifiable after the devastating earthquake of 2015.

Immediately following the earthquake all resources were channelled into relief efforts and rebuilding in the rural communities, and today, Dan and his team of volunteers have built numerous libraries for schools in rural regions of the Himalayas, built a clean water supply high in the Himalayan foothills, and provided emergency healthcare to rural communities!

Dan and the team have plans to continue in the same vein, and we’re delighted to be able to support this fantastic cause, and give something back to the communities which make our Himalayas adventures so special. ....less

And empowering others when we can't.

Conservation Initiative - Kea Database
Aside from environmental sustainability, we also contribute to conservation projects close to our hearts, and for the last couple of years that has been the Kea Database, and close affiliates, the Kea Conservation Trust.The Kea Conservation Trust has three main mission statements describing what they do and how they do it:

1. A concerted kea banding programme, to build up the number of banded birds in the greater Arthur’s Pass area (for monitoring and educational purposes).

2. Development of kea advocacy/educational material for new information display boards, a pamphlet fact sheet, as well as a website and mobile phone app so that visitors can learn more about kea in general, and about the specific birds that visit the Arthur’s Pass area.

3. Establishing a system to capture kea, monitoring information from the public and incorporation into the national Kea Database. Initially, this will be via a form visitors can fill out and drop in a collection box or postback, then ultimately it will be through an app.

Our guides have been out in the field with the organisations, catching and banding kea, an incredibly unique breed of bird, and the world’s only alpine parrot. Kea numbers are declining rapidly due to interaction with humans (when they’re fed by humans they hang around near roads and get hurt, and they forget how to forage food for themselves) and the KCT and Kea Database are banding birds, logging sightings, and encouraging the public to behave in the best ways possible to protect the birds.

These birds are far too fascinating for us to standby as they go extinct - Sir David Attenborough speculated that they have similar intelligence levels to a 5-year-old human! ....less

Company/Tour Images ....less

Active Adventures Associations Accreditations
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Our sustainability missions

1. We will implement reducing initiatives in all the destinations that we operate, by 2025.

2. We will achieve Travelife accreditation (world-recognised), by 2021.

3. We will increase our social and environmental financial commitment by 33% for 2019/20, and then cumulatively by 10% (or more) year on year, towards $65,000 by 2025.

4. We will seek out and support a social sustainability cause in each of the core destinations we operate in by 2025. ....less

Sustainability is at the heart of everything we do at Active Adventures. We understand that the only way for us to continue doing what we love - showing you our favourite parts of the world in all of our favourite ways - is to carefully consider how we're impacting the environment.

With that in mind, we've made a commitment to always operate sustainably, and as a team, we've come up with some pretty lofty goals to help us achieve the vision outlined above and to ensure we're always focused.

1. We will implement reducing initiatives in all the destinations that we operate, by 2025.

2. We will achieve Travelife accreditation (world-recognised), by 2021.

3. We will increase our social and environmental financial commitment by 33% for 2019/20, and then cumulatively by 10% (or more) year-on-year, towards $65,000 by 2025.

4. We will seek out and support a social sustainability cause in each of the core destinations we operate in by 2025. ....less

Here’s just a few of the things our Sustainability Team in New Zealand has spearheaded in recent years - for the full list check out our Sustainability Vision, Mission, and Goals document at the link above:

Investigating waste, power, and water usage at all of our premises, and implemented processes to measure and reduce.
Achieved a Qualmark Gold award for the business. Replacing office lighting with efficient LEDs.
Recycling scheme for glass, plastic, paper and aluminium in offices and on our buses.
All staff and guides have their own ‘keep cups’ for coffee.
All office staff have a reusable plastic ‘tupperware’ lunch container.
We work with our suppliers (of activities and accommodation) to reduce their carbon footprints - or find new suppliers who will engage with us on this.
We print our highest quality collateral on FSC (Forest Stwardship Council) paper, and use recycled paper for printing day-to-day in-house.
We promote e-brochures over printed brochures.
Our guides use reusable boxes/bags for food shopping, and reusable containers for guests’ lunches.
Green waste from HQ and trips on the road is composted and used to feed our veggies!
Our guides are trained in best practises for sustainability, so they can pass this on to our guests.
We are proud of our sustainability initiatives in New Zealand, and we intend for them to pave the way for improvements across all of our destinations. ....less

In order to protect the well-being of the group, Active Adventures now requires all guests over the age of 12 (i.e. 13 years and above) travelling on trips departing from December 1, 2021, to be fully vaccinated, no matter the destination.

What does 'fully vaccinated' means?
You must have received 2 doses of vaccines authorised or recognised by the World Health Organization (WHO), Centers for Disease Control (CDC), European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC), no later than 14 days before the first day of your trip.

What proof will be required?
This must be your official vaccination card or electronic copy.? We should be able to see your name as well as proof your vaccination(s) were administered no later than 14 days prior to the first day of your trip.?

What if I can't be vaccinated for medical reasons?
We will need to see a negative COVID-19 test result (official paper or official electronic) showing the test was carried out within 72 hours of the first day of your trip.

What if I'm travelling with kids 12 or under?
They will need to show a negative test result done within 72 hours before the first day of your trip.

Please visit our website for our full COVID-19 protocol. ....less

Active Adventures Awards ....less