Conscious Travel
Travel by its very nature can be inherently hard on both the environment and the people of the country you are visiting. If you’ve reached this page, then being a conscious traveller is something that is important to you and you’ll be seriously considering where your tourist dollar goes.
What is conscious travel?
Conscious travel is the movement away from the traditional mass-market model of tourism that tends to take away from communities rather than making a positive contribution towards them.
Travelling consciously doesn’t just benefit the people and place you are visiting; it’s better for you too. As frequent travellers ourselves, we find that the most authentic, honest and rewarding travel experiences are those where you form a true connection with the locals and the land, and this is exactly what conscious travel provides.
Here at New Zealand Trails, conscious travel is at the centre of how we operate. It’s not something we’ve ever really had to put into words before, it’s just how we have always existed. Tiaki is a Maori word that means to care, conserve and protect. As New Zealanders, we are all Kaitiaki (guardians) of our land and environment. We have a responsibility to protect and preserve our home, and we encourage our guests to join us in this.
So, how can you travel consciously with New Zealand Trails?
Support local communities by travelling with a 100% New Zealand owned and operated company
When it comes to supporting local communities, the best way to do that is to travel with a local company. New Zealand Trails has and always will be a 100% New Zealand owned and operated company. We don’t have grand plans to run trips all over the world, New Zealand is our home, we only run trips here, and we love sharing our backyard with our guests.
We pride ourselves on working with other fantastic local operators and hiring incredibly passionate New Zealanders to guide and run our trips. When you sign up to a trip with New Zealand Trails your tourism dollar is going right back into our local communities.
There are many big international tour operators that run trips in New Zealand, some of whom you may have travelled with before. New Zealand Trails is a bit of a small fish in a big pond of these international brands. While these other companies might be great at what they do, they don’t know our country, our people, our culture and our trails like we locals do. But don’t think just because we’re not operating trips globally, that we’re novices at this. We’ve been running trips in New Zealand for over 20 years – longer than a lot of the global companies have been here!
I feel as though I am the luckiest person on the planet due to being able to experience New Zealand. It is a remarkable place, with remarkable people, I thoroughly loved it all. At first, I was going to try to put my own thing together, but as soon as I started to look into that it became pretty clear that that would not be the best option for my first visit. The intangible things like the local knowledge and where to find a good coffee, not to mention all the snacks on the bus. I just cannot say enough positive things about NZ Trails, especially for Becky for putting it all together, Blake for guiding us all over the South Island, and Brynee for making the trip fun. But seriously this was an absolute first-class experience. I would do another trip with you guys without question.
Jonathan Lane | USA | Kiwi Classic
Educate yourself about and respect local customs and culture
Conscious travel encourages you to embrace experiences and true connection with local people, culture and nature. An easy mistake that some travellers make is for their only understanding of a country to come from Google or a guidebook. When you travel with New Zealand Trails, you’ll have locals with you every step of the way.
Before you travel to New Zealand, we’ll give you lots of information about our culture and way of life so that you can avoid any potentially uncomfortable slip ups. Once you arrive, your Kiwi tour guide will be your go-to for everything you need to know about how things work down here. They’ve got an inherent understanding of our culture that can only come from being a New Zealander. They’ll teach you everything you need to know to be respectful of our customs, traditions and the different cultures here in Aotearoa.
Without a doubt this was the best organised travel experience of my life. Exciting on paper, but the reality delivered so much more. This experience will stay with me for a very long time, I hope forever, and that isn’t just down to the pure raw beauty of NZ, it’s also the way this trip was delivered. New Zealand Trails is sold as the real New Zealand with real New Zealanders and that was exactly what we got. I feel privileged to have felt such a strong connection to the culture, history and spirituality of this country and I thank our guide and New Zealand Trails for bringing that to this trip.
Ali Tooze | United Kingdom | Sweet North
Respect the environment and give back where you can
Nestled at the base of the Southern Alps is a leafy village called Arrowtown. When you arrive in Arrowtown and look out at this incredible landscape, what people often don't realise is that this is our home. It’s where we work and where we live. These are the trails we cycle and walk on and the rivers our dogs and kids paddle in. We are lucky to have this as our backyard and want future generations to have the same opportunity to enjoy this incredible area as we have had.
New Zealand Trails has a grassroots involvement with the Arrowtown Choppers a not-for-profit group who are working to reforest our backcountry. By travelling with New Zealand Trails, you are directly supporting and growing the Arrowtown Choppers reforestation program. Not only do we donate money and time, we also love to get our guests directly involved with our conservation efforts where we can. Along the Arrow River, New Zealand Trails is planting out an area which will one day be a mighty forest, a forest that all of our guests and guides will have helped us plant. If you are on a trip that travels through Arrowtown, you’ll have the opportunity to plant a seedling and leave a small legacy of your own here in New Zealand. If your trip doesn’t travel through Arrowtown then our team will plant a tree on your behalf during one of our regular planting days.
You can read more about our conservation story by clicking here if you like.
Our time spent in New Zealand was a refreshing adventure. To experience a country so rich in biodiversity, to see the respect and friendliness toward visitors and others, and to find a gem around every corner, made for a unique and memorable experience and a trip of a lifetime. With the help of New Zealand Trails and the knowledge and commitment of our guides, we were blessed with surprises and eye-opening grandeur every step of the way. The variety of experiences created a blend of appreciation for all travellers, and we were afforded the opportunity to see and do so much in a short time frame. It was so appreciated. Thank you.
Rebekah Pokrandt | USA, WI | Kiwi Classic
Avoid contributing to overtourism
Overtourism happens when too many visitors travel to the same place and negatively impact the environment and the local people, and it is such a big problem these days. We’ve all had one of these travel experiences, where the location that looked so picturesque on the postcard is overrun by tourists and the locals are somewhat hostile towards them.
Here at New Zealand Trails, we’re very conscious when we arrive at a destination that we don’t take over the area. While we are out on the trails, we’ll spread out and split up into smaller groups, and we’ll take you off-the-beaten path and away from those crowded tourist areas. We’ve found that travelling in smaller groups with an average of 10-12 guests allows us to tread softly on the environment.
We don’t prescribe to the “stack ‘em and pack ‘em” tourism model, we only run a limited number of departures each year and when we say you’re not just a number we mean it - you’ll know our names, and we’ll know yours (and your dog’s!).
I loved the people, especially the locals. The best thing was to be away from the crowds and the daily tourist push. Keep doing the trails where the big busses can’t reach!
Hugo Baumann | Canada | March 2024
If conscious travel is important to you and you’d like to chat more about what we’re up to down here at New Zealand Trails give Jodi a call!