The Blue Yonder Associates is a select group of hospitality service providers in the tourism industry, who work together to promote and practice Responsible Tourism based on economic, social and environmental policies which aim to reduce the negative and maximize the positive impacts of tourism.

We have developed a holistic and transparent evaluation framework that ensures these policies are tried and tested, not only by the property owners themselves but also in partnership with the international travel community. We strive to make sure that our presence within the industry results in a positive contribution to the environment we live in, making the earth a better place to live and visit. We believe that any enterprises operating within the travel and tourism industry should conduct their businesses in a responsible way that ensures that their intervention maximizes the positive and minimizes the negative impacts.

Background: The Blue Yonder was set up three years ago as a travel company to help and support the Nila Foundation, which aims to regenerate a dying river called Bharatapuzha (River Nila) in the Southern state of Kerala. Initiated with sound policies of Corporate Social Responsibility, The Blue Yonder provides holiday experiences based on People, Culture and Wilderness. Our outdoor activities, ranging from boat cruises, bamboo rafting, spice tours and cultural trails are operated by local people thereby offering them an alternative and supplementary source of income.

The concept of The Blue Yonder Associates was initiated following discussions with our guests. Amongst the hundreds of comments we have received since we started operating in Kerala, many expressed that whilst they were happy to be part of Responsible Tourism initiatives associated with The Blue Yonder, they were also keen to ensure that they could continue to make a positive impact on destinations they travelled to in the future. The majority of guests were also interested in finding out more about the policies of businesses within the travel industry.

Whilst many properties in Kerala may have inadvertently not promoted or shared their responsible tourism practices within the industry or amongst their guests, it is evident that in fact many do follow responsible tourism policies.

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For example, some of our guests wanted to know if the solid waste from the property they stayed in was processed responsibly or if their holidaying in one particular location had improved, or had a detrimental effect on the lives of local people. They much preferred to leave the place, and probably to return again, knowing they had played a role in making positive changes to the environment and locality they had visited.

With the growing number of travellers around the world preferring to travel responsibly, we saw this as an opportunity to make Kerala a better place to live and visit. Kerala is growing in popularity as a tourist destination at a rate of more than 11% annually and is now one of the fastest growing destinations in the world. Whilst striving to ensure that we remain as one of the top ten destinations in the world, we believe that if adequate steps are not taken at this juncture to promote the concepts of Responsible Tourism collectively, we might lose the edge as an attractive travel destination.

It was at this point that The Blue Yonder decided to develop an evaluation framework for property owners and guests, so that both could positively influence the economic, environmental and social factors of a destination. Our holistic evaluation system prompts property owners to declare and evaluate their own internal policies, which are then evaluated by their guests.

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