Responsible Tourism Winner

In 2009 Naturally Morocco was awarded the Trophy for Responsible Tourism (International Category, Economic and Social Development theme) from the Moroccan Tourism Office for our work in fundraising and supporting community projects in High Atlas villages near Taroudant.

Responsible tourism aims to promote sustainable development by encouraging individuals, businesses and organizations to take responsibility for their actions on the environment, local people and the economy.

Naturally Morocco has been a pioneer in responsible tourism in Morocco since the company's formation in 1996 and its establishment of a guest house offering ethical holidays in Taroudant.

We are fortunate that the King of Morocco, who received a World Peace award in 2009 for his strong commitment to sustainable development, has invested so much in this in recent years; amongst many other initiatives, this is currently illustrated by a massive investment in the rail network.

Responsible tourism on your holiday

Our holidays aim to be enjoyable and interesting for you, whilst supporting the local people and their culture and the environment by:

• Providing more enjoyable experiences for you through meaningful connections with local people and a greater understanding of local, cultural and environmental issues;
• Minimising negative environmental, social and cultural impacts with a special emphasis on conserving natural resources;
• Generating greater economic benefits for local people by actively supporting the local economy and society through local purchasing and by supporting the development of new businesses, whilst involving local people in decisions; and
• Making positive contributions to the conservation of natural and cultural heritage and to the maintenance of their diversity.

The above goals are met by our interaction with clients, our suppliers and local communities in Morocco: we actively seek to promote Moroccan suppliers who are more environmentally conscious and identify those whose contributions are outstanding on our web site. We regularly support them by supplying ideas and contacts and answering queries.

We employ local people and treat them well, having helped many of our collaborators develop their skills, including language, to provide a friendly and professional service to our clients.

We provide pre-visit information to clients, ensuring that they are well briefed to respect Moroccan etiquette; we offer opportunities to learn to speak key words in the local language, for them to support sustainable local business initiatives, to conserve wildlife and resources, especially water and wood and, in our holiday follow up e-mail, we provide links to worthy charities in case clients may wish to donate. For more details of our work please consult Our Responsible Tourism Credentials.