Safe Travels
COVID-19 Statement
You, our customers, guides and partners are at the heart of what we do. Therefore, as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic and following the guidance of the government and the WHO, we have taken several actions to prioritise you.
We are reviewing and monitoring developments continuously. Our approach to providing cultural tours and activities will inevitably continue to evolve, as we gain more information. Your safety and well-being will always remain our top priority. We appreciate that unprecedented times like these require flexibility, and we are working hard to adapt quickly as the situation evolves.
In the past year, we have strengthened our processes, business infrastructure, and technical capacity to enable us to continue providing a first-class service to you through this tumultuous time. Our dedicated team are all working remotely and remain as keen as ever to serve and protect the wonderful Travel Curious community.
We are all in this together and as such we have reviewed our booking and cancellation policies to ensure that we are protecting, as far as possible, customers, guides, and partners alike.
With immediate effect, we will work towards allowing all customers to either postpone or rebook their planned tours and experiences with us. We will man the phones, the chat platform and emails to continue to provide uninterrupted service throughout.
In order to provide clarity to our guides, we will contact all customers 6 weeks ahead of travel to see if they are keeping their booking or whether they prefer to postpone to another date any tours that are going ahead.
We are working with our guides, reviewing all itineraries and attractions to ensure that are all the necessary precautions are taken into consideration to ensure the safety of our customers and guides alike. We have released on own #safetravels policy which you can see below and we adhere to the WTTC standards for tour operators.
Our commitment
For us at Travel Curious, the safety of your customers and our guides is of paramount importance. As a result, we developed the Travel Curious SafeTravel policy, marked with our emblem of safety. #safetravels #restart #staycurious
Travel with peace of mind
Recent events will likely change the way we travel and how we experience new places. As the world emerges from lockdown and you adapt to the ’new normal’ we at Travel Curious have been working with our guides to ensure our tours and experiences are compliant with local safety guidelines in addition to our own requirements.
Your safety is our priority
We create all our tour itineraries, vet and instruct all the guides that work with us, and review each tour, experience and associated attractions to ensure they meet our standards:
Private walking tours are a safer option
Our tours and experiences are typically undertaken by private parties and mostly involve walking outdoors. For these reasons, they are considered an inherently safer option for our customers and their families.
Hygiene
a. Travel Curious regularly updates themselves with any changes in the local hygiene standards and encourages customers to familiarise themselves with any requirements/guidelines prior to their travel;
b. Guides will comply with the local safety requirements and will inform the customers at the beginning of the tour of any issues they need to be aware of;
c. Irrespective of local guidelines, we encourage all our guides and customers to wear face coverings:
at all times during the tour;
should a customer/guide request it, or;
if a condition of access to an attraction requires it;
d. Guides will have hand sanitiser and will apply this frequently as and when required;
Note: Our advice is to use hand sanitisers rather than wearing gloves, as hand sanitisers have been shown to be more effective in preventing the spread of potential viruses and bacteria.
e. Wireless headsets may be a requirement for some attractions. Where this is the case, we will endeavour to inform the customers in advance of the tour.
f. All our tours are under review for their hygiene measures and policies of associated attractions.
Note: Where attractions do not meet the required hygiene standards and/or they do not have a hygiene policy, the visit to the attraction will not proceed and will be omitted from the tour. Customers will be advised accordingly.
Social Distancing
For as long as social distancing is a requirement, guides will maintain a physical distance as required by the local guidelines. Digital cashless transactions are encouraged where possible.
a. All our bookings will be displayed using e-coupons. No print outs are required.
Simply show the e-coupon to the guide.
b. All tickets required on the tour will be pre-purchased by Travel Curious to ensure that customers do not need to unnecessarily stand in queues.
Note: There may still be entry queues for pre-purchased ticket holders, which are beyond our ability to control.
c. We offer a cashless tipping platform. Post each tour, customers are asked via email to review the guide/tour and to ask them if they would like to tip their guide. 100% of the tips will be given to the guides.
Transportation
The majority of the tours do not require transportation however those that do, will be pre-booked by us with private transportation companies only.
a. Travel Curious will only work with transportation companies that meet the local hygiene guidelines.
b. Customers will be provided with a hand sanitiser to use on entering and exiting the vehicle.
Food & Beverage
Where possible, customers should carry their own water bottles and refrain from purchasing drinks from street vendors, unless necessary. Customers are reminded to always stay hydrated.
Getting used to the ‘new normal’
We are heartened to see communities taking cautious measures to re-open. As we move forwards, the safety and well-being of both our customers and guides remain one of our core priorities. We encourage you, our customers, to immerse yourself in the culture of the destination, while we do our utmost to make this a safe and enjoyable experience for you.
Our ‘new normal’ has seen us:
Create new ‘safety in travel’ policies for your protection and peace of mind. Please be sure to adhere to our advice;
Review our policies to ensure they are compliant with the revised local guidelines and safety standards where our tours are conducted;
Work with our guides to introduce flexible cancellation terms for you which will allow you to cancel tours up to 36hrs – 48hrs prior to the tour without any penalty.
Please note: Tours that have pre-purchased tickets for attractions, may have cancellation terms that vary from this policy and may not be refundable.
Our #safetravels shield
We are also working in line with the relevant safety guidelines introduced by the World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC) for the tours and attractions segment of the travel industry.