Intrepid Introduces 'Carbon Offset Trips'

    BOULDER, CO, November 07, 2008 /24-7PressRelease/ -- Intrepid Travel partnered with world leading carbon offset provider, The CarbonNeutral Company, to offset 38 trips to help meet customer demands for travel that is less damaging to the environment.

Earlier this year Intrepid Travel conducted a survey of over 900 of its travellers from across the globe about their attitudes towards climate change and travel. Over 78 per cent of respondents said they would be willing to pay US$1 per day of travel to offset the carbon emissions from the ground travel component of a trip with Intrepid Travel. The average cost of this component of Intrepid Travel's new 'Carbon Offset Trips' is less than 50 cents per day per passenger. Moreover, 94 per cent of the respondents said they believe it is critically important or somewhat important for Intrepid Travel to have climate change as one of its commitments to social responsibility.

Intrepid Travel has calculated the most significant carbon emission sources from 38 trips across its product range including carbon emissions of the ground transport, accommodation and waste in an effort to get a thorough assessment of its greenhouse gas impacts and to reduce emissions where possible. Any remaining carbon emissions will be offset with carbon credits from energy efficiency and clean energy projects in India, China and Peru purchased from offset provider The CarbonNeutral Company.

Where possible, Intrepid Travel has made changes to its itineraries to replace decrease carbon emissions. It has also worked with suppliers such as hotel owners to undertake environmentally friendly initiatives such as placing water coolers in hotel lobbies so that travellers can refill their water bottles.

The 'Carbon Offset Trips' offered were selected from different regions and across each of Intrepid Travel's trip styles including:
- two active holidays
- one family adventure through Vietnam
- five comfort holidays

"We want to be part of the solution rather than the problem. We have always sought to be respectful of the people and places we travel to and have been committed to responsible travel since day one. Launching our new 'Carbon Offset Trips' is a natural extension of this philosophy," said CEO and Co-founder, Darrell Wade.

Sue Welland, Founder & Creative Director, The CarbonNeutral Company said, "Committing to carbon responsible travel in today's climate is essential to help reduce the effects of climate change. As an international provider of high quality carbon credits, Intrepid customers can travel and know that their CO2 emissions are guaranteed to be reduced to net zero though carefully selected climate friendly schemes which are additional, this means that these projects would not have happened without the carbon credits monies."

Intrepid Travel will use 2009 to monitor the effectiveness of its 'Carbon Offset Trips' with the view to including the cost of carbon offsetting into all of its trips in 2010. Offering these trips is the next step in Intrepid Travel's journey towards becoming a carbon neutral company in 2010. When it first announced its intention to become carbon neutral in 2006, Intrepid was among the first travel companies to do so. Since then, it has also assessed the carbon emissions of its head office operations in Melbourne, its retail stores across Australia as well as emissions created from its associated offshore companies such as those in Thailand, Peru, Kenya, UK and New Zealand to asses and work on also reducing its corporate emissions.

Among these initiatives, Intrepid Travel has tackled its biggest carbon emission source - flights with the introduction of 'Carbon Offset Flights' in 2006. Intrepid includes the cost of offsetting flights in every quote it provides to customers.

For more information on Intrepid Travel and Carbon Offset trips, please visit: http://www.intrepidtravel.com/USPR

About Intrepid Travel

With over 19 years of experience, Intrepid Travel is one of the world's leading small group adventure tour operators. Intrepid offers over 450 itineraries in more than 90 destinations worldwide. Intrepid trips are designed to go off the beaten track, meet the locals and travel in an unconventional way, joining locals on their transport, in their markets and even in their homes.

For USA Media inquiries, please contact Ashley Montblanc at LDPR Communications, 212-696-0660. For media inquiries outside of the USA, please contact Eliza Anderson, Global PR Manager, [email protected]

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