Recently, the environment has become an important issue in global business. It seems everyone is jumping on the sustainability bandwagon. Even notoriously polluting enterprises, such as the oil and energy industries, are seeing the economic value of “going green”. More consumers are becoming aware of their purchasing power for environmentally-friendly products. This trend has been evident even in the tourism industry.
A study by the San Francisco Visitor’s Bureau found that travelers to San Francisco believe that tour companies should be responsible in regards to their environmental impact.
Furthermore, almost half of the San Francisco visitors interviewed said that they would be willing to pay as much as 10% more for products that are environmentally-conscious.
Naturally, the tourism industry has responded to this potential windfall. While some companies are sincere in their newfound environmentalism, it seems other companies are simply “green-washing” their appearance to take advantage of this potential increase in profits. Some companies even believe they can save the environment just by having their customers buy carbon-offsets.
Regardless of the true intentions of these companies, we at Incredible Adventures are excited about this change in the tourism industry, though we have one very important question:
What has taken everybody so long?
Incredible Adventures has been promoting sustainable tourism for over 20 years. Before the terms “eco-tourism” and “green business” were even coined, Incredible Adventures was following responsible business practices by keeping group sizes small and reducing our impact on the destinations we visit. Incredible Adventures was the first commercial tour company in San Francisco, and possibly the United States, to use Biodiesel fuel to power our fleet of vehicles.
Renewable biofuels are on average more expensive than traditional petroleum-based fuels. Regardless, we feel that the benefits for using cleaner-burning, locally produced, non-toxic fuel far outweigh the additional costs we pay to run our tours. A few years ago we purchased our own Biodiesel fueling station (Dogpatch Biofuels) to pursue our goal of sustainable tourism and to provide an alternative fuel source for like-minded members of our community. In 2012 we were named an official San Francisco Green Business!
Our biofuel is made in part from recycled vegetable oil collected right here in San Francisco from restaurants and drop-off areas for the public. The fuel is sourced, processed, and distributed all within about 250 miles! The trucks that pick up the grease to be recycled are also running on this local biofuel; you can bet those farmers would be proud.
In addition to using alternative fuel in our vehicles, we also try to run a paperless office. All inter-office correspondence is done either electronically or with recycled paper collected from local businesses.
Remarkably, in our 14 years of business we have purchased only 7 reams of paper! When we cannot avoid using paper we are still conscious. Our marketing material (posters, flyers and brochures) are made with post-consumer recycled paper and soy-based inks. Yes, this proves to be more expensive than using non-recycled paper and oil-based inks, but once again we feel the benefits outweigh the costs.
The owners, guides and staff at Incredible Adventures love the outdoors. We all live in California because we feel it is one of the best places in the country to live. As such we are committed to protecting the natural areas that we visit on our tours so they will be popular destinations well into the future!
All of our fuel comes from Dogpatch Biofuels here in San Francisco!
