Through this digital report, we hope to give you a glimpse into our company’s efforts towards becoming a responsible company.
We are excited to share with you our digital report on our social and environmental performance.
Between the high start of Visit Nepal 2020 and then waiting for sound news in the media about travel restrictions after two lockdowns during the Covid-19 Pandemic, we were preparing for every possible scenario.
In these difficult times, our values were the guiding light: Community Empowerment , Environment Stewardship and Giving Back .
We went through the steps of reflection, realization and reconciliation in 2020 and slowly built back our business by 2021. Looking back in these past two tumultuous years, there’s only one word that sums it all: resilience.
Follow our journey as we look back to our efforts since 2019 and how we overcame the challenges of the Covid-19 pandemic to make the most of our resources.
Early 2020 was a hopeful time as the government had announced Visit Nepal Year 2020. We celebrated our gains from 2019 when the impact and sustainability department was set up at Royal Mountain Travel.
There was a 9% growth rate of our staff. We had set hefty goals to create more positive impact and expand our sustainability initiatives.
But the Covid-19 pandemic gave us a jolt. People all over the world lost or got separated from their loved ones. Many lost their income and jobs due to the government imposed lockdowns and economic uncertainties.
Amidst such uncertainties in Nepal, our team turned inwards to seek help.
While the offices closed due to the stringent lockdown restrictions from the government, we at Royal Mountain Travel worked on building solidarity among our team even when we felt disconnected from the physical office and the destinations.
We supported our sister company Community Homestay Newtwork's Project Koseli, to provide alternative sources of income for community based suppliers
We initiated Virtual Tours along with some local partners to engage our leaders and guides.
We gave Covid-19 Management training to the communities and staff.
Our Commitments
to the Planet
While our physical and office-based work moved online, we had minimal office waste. We continued our collaboration with maintenance and recycling partners Khalisisi and Sajilo Marmat Sewa. We prioritised the use of our electric vehicles.
We focused on communication through Zoom where we conducted daily team building and motivational activities. We brainstormed how to make our trips sustainable and made preparations for rebuilding our website. We followed the innovation of virtual tours so that we could continue supporting the leaders and guides.
Commitment
to our People
We ensured that our staff were supported despite the stagnancy in the tourism sector. Our staff remained gender equal. Women empowerment continues to be our goal.
Commitments
to our Community
Our communities remained resilient.
Our Recognitions
and Partnerships
We remained connected with our esteemed partners and stayed hopeful.
A 10-part Sustainability Series was produced for learning about sustainability in Nepal.
Workshops were held for staff engagement.
Project Koseli
which we supported initially, expanded from 4 to 8 communities between 2020 and 2021 with the help of Booking Booster Grant.
Similarly, the number of Koseli products expanded from 10 to 19. Project Koseli has just begun to make sales and there is more to do. At Royal Mountain Travel, we are committed to supporting them.
Yoga sessions, sustainability training and product development consulting opportunities were given to Guides and Leaders.
New website was launched. We introduced Impact Footprint to trip plans and descriptions as part of our commitment to sustainability.
We shared a 10-part Sustainability Series via YouTube with almost 54,000 views and 13,500 members subscribing to our YouTube channel. We hope that this series provided a much-needed contextual understanding of tourism and sustainability in Nepal and a call to action to fill in the gaps.
Our commitment within our operations remained intact. Post lockdown, store management was carried out. Staff also were engaged in Travelife training. We continued our partnership with recycling and maintenance partners. While we could not expand our electric fleet like we aimed for, we prioritised their use.With our partner Khalisisi, we have recycled 445 kgs of paper, 60 kgs of metal, 300 pieces of bottles and 20kgs of plastic since 2019. We continue to be responsible and reduce consumption.
Our Commitments
to the Planet
We introduced a Sustainability Performance measurement system for accomodation suppliers after assessing 37 hotels. Now our travel consultants have a better understanding of sustainable offerings for guests. We are also leading the way to help more suppliers perform better in their sustainability efforts.
Commitment to our Products
Our staff worked from home most of the beginning of 2020. However, by June with the lifting of the second nation-wide lockdown, all staff started coming to the workplace. It called for extra caution and Covid-19 management among our operations. We provided health and safety training as well as appointed Covid Liaison Officer to take lead during infection incidences.
Our resilience came from our community.
We have a diverse community within our business. For our office staff, our business became a second home where they could make a difference. With small steps, the staff remained calm and moved forward. We paid attention to everyone, from the community homestay hosts to our guides and drivers.
Constant communication was carried out to keep spirits high and continue developing our products and services. Morning meditations rejuvenated our staff and motivated them to take good care of themselves and stay positive. We also organized a Refresher hike for our staff . We ran workshops and training for our guides and tour leaders.
Commitment
to our People
Yoga for Leaders and Guides was conducted both as a skills training and as a rejuvenating experience to prepare for post pandemic travel.
Commitments
to our Community
We supported our sister company Community Homestay Network to stay at the forefront of community resilience.
We continued communication and restarted working with our esteemed partners.
We have stayed hopeful with the help of various recognitions and collaborations.
Our sister company Community Homestay Network (CHN) got the opportunity to present their vision of developing community-based tourism products In United World Tourism Organization (UNWTO). They were later awarded as winners for the global startup challenge for SDGs-8 (Decent Work and economic growth).
Community Homestay Network (CHN) also got an opportunity to participate in World Travel Market (WTM) London for Front runners global startup challenge in 2021. Their initiative to promote Nepal as a cultural and experiential travel destination was awarded the Front Runners Winner - Experience Revolution category.
Project Koseli
was awarded as one to watch in World Travel Market (WTM) held in London by World Responsible Tourism Award and was also awarded Dr. Andres Schild Memorial Mountain Prize 2021 by -ICIMOD for working with grassroots communities to build resilience amidst this pandemic.
Along with the awards, we were also able to emphasize the immense possibilities of experiencing Nepal beyond the traditional way by contributing a case study focusing on community-based initiation at Narchyang Community homestay on joint publication by FAO and World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) representing the Nepalese context.
Vaccination drives and efforts to rejuvenate the economy gave way to reconnecting with new travel groups. This came at the cusp of 2021 and was a much needed morale boost. Despite many trip cancellations caused by the uncertainties, we were able to serve a few guests as well as reconnect with our partners while providing our service.
Recognition from the national and international communities for our efforts and support to our sister companies gave us a morale boost.
Eve of Revival
On the hinge of the years 2021 and 2022, we are marveling at each new guest who is coming to Nepal with such inspiring determination. We are thrilled to serve them but are still calm and collected. These past years have taught us to stay so and to work on getting better.
Thank You
As we head into 2022, we are excited to carry forward this pursuit to become more sustainable and to push ourselves further as a responsible company.
We would like to thank all our partners and travelers for yet another rewarding year and for entrusting us with curating experiences. Hopefully we have helped you take a part of Nepal back with you.
For more information on Royal Mountain Travel, feel free to visit our website at https://royalmt.com.np/
For any questions and/or feedback, please email our Impact and Sustainability Department at [email protected]
Thank you to Outside, a digital agency studio based in Kathmandu, for helping us with the strategy and design of our impact report.