As a travel agency hailing Hokkaido, we at Hokkaido Treasure Island Travel Agency are responsible for creating a sustainable future for the global environment and society. To fulfill this responsibility, we work together with our employees, business partners, and customers to achieve the following seven goals based on the principle of “Leave no one behind,” which was adopted at the United Nations Summit in September 2015.

Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

(1) Comply with domestic and international laws and regulations as well as regional ordinances.
(2) Eradicate or ameliorate poverty, hunger, and discrimination.
(3) Eliminate forced labor, child labor, and sexual exploitation of children.
(4) Tackle to eliminate harassment and to create a comfortable working environment.
(5) Strive to conserve natural resources and energy and to reduce waste.
(6) Minimize the impact on cultural heritage, natural environment, and wildlife.
(7) Contribute to the local community and achieve the well-being of all the people involved.

“Shaping together the value of the Treasure Island Hokkaido!”

Likening Hokkaido to treasure island and using our unmatched originality and overwhelming creativity, we are rediscovering the goodness of the local communities by carefully developing “tourist regions” together with everyone in all the regions in Hokkaido. We will continue to actively develop new travel products (that is, proposals on how to spend your time) while cooperating with everyone also from this on.

1. Company’s internal initiatives

Working environment

・We comply with laws and regulations, and eliminate child labor, forced labor, and harassment as well as provide appropriate benefits, such as paid holiday and maternity/childcare leave.
・We take active measures to employ foreign nationals, foster and train female managers, and support balancing work and childcare to realize a discrimination-free working environment.
・We strive to create a pleasant working environment by introducing flexible hours and telecommuting as well as regularly measuring employee job satisfaction. 

Resources

・We strive to reduce our consumption of paper and energy by regularly measuring the amount of paper and energy consumed, and establishing rules for the use of air conditioning and paper, and turning off electrical devices when not in use.
・We regularly measure the amount of each type of waste generated withing the company and strive to design and implement waste reduction measures.
・We regularly measure the amount of CO2 emissions associated with the use of vehicles and strive to design and implement emission reduction measures.
・We will contribute to the reduction of CO2 emissions by encouraging our employees to use public transportation for commuting and to work by telecommuting.
・We will prioritize products made in Hokkaido and Japan in our material purchases, and when possible, we choose products that are environment and society-conscious, for example by following sustainable procurement principles and purchasing fairtrade products.
・We will strive to reduce the use of plastic bottles by encouraging the usage of reusable drinks bottles both within and outside the company.

Establishment of SDGs team (Sustainable Development Goals team)

・We set up a tourism SDGs promotion team with members from each of the company’s departments, and hold a regular weekly meeting chaired by the sustainability coordinator.
・At the regular meetings, the members report on the current situation of their responsibility areas and progress of the improvement measures, as well as strive to make the teams and the meetings to be effective by sharing information and exchanging their opinions.
・The members actively transmit information on the SDGs and the progress-related information and strive to raise awareness and share information within the company.

2. Initiatives regarding products and services

・We require all our business partners to comply with laws and regulations.
・We require all our business partners to eliminate child labor, forced labor, and harassment.
・We encourage our business partners to understand our efforts and cooperate to achieve a sustainable society.

Means of transportation

・We actively arrange the most sustainable means of transportation while taking into consideration appropriate fees, convenience, and comfort.
・When we can choose, we prioritize usage of low-emission vehicles, such as hybrid cars, fuel-efficient cars, and cars with low-emission certificates.
・While driving, we aim to refrain from idling as much as possible.
・Asking the kind understanding of our customers, we try to refrain from excessive use of the car air conditioning.

Lodging facilities

・We guide our customers to lodging facilities that do not adversely affect the natural or social environment or the lives of the locals.
・We give priority to lodging facilities that hold sustainability certificates or are actively engaged in sustainability activities while ensuring the wishes and comfort of our customers.
・Respecting the intellectual property rights of the region, we will actively propose accommodations that incorporate elements of local arts, architecture, and cultural heritage.
・We regularly ask the major lodging facilities about their actions to conserve resources, reduce waste, and contribute to the local community.

Tours and Activities

・We cooperate with the locals to develop travel products that respect the local communities, culture, natural environment, and wildlife.
・Whenever possible, preference will be given to tours and activities that are conducted in accordance with certified and controlled sustainability standards.
・We are accompanied by guides who have the necessary knowledge to ensure the safety of our customers and to minimize the impact on the culture and nature.
・For activities that involve animals, we offer only programs that protect animal welfare.
・For wildlife observation tours, we take care that contact with the animals and impacting the animals’ habitat is avoided.
・The consumption, collection, or capture of endangered species is prohibited.
・We prohibit the trade of souvenirs that violate cultural heritage, historical heritage, and other domestic and international laws and ordinances.

3. Initiatives regarding customers

・We avoid using exaggerating expressions in our promotional materials and proposals to our customers and provide fact-based accurate information.
・When selling activities including wildlife and natural phenomena, we inform the customers that, depending on the conditions, they may not be able to see the animals or natural phenomena.
・We manage the necessarily collected private information appropriately and protect the privacy of our customers.
・We make our utmost to ensure the safety of our customers throughout the entire travel and are have prepared guidelines for unexpected problems.
・We provide our customers with appropriate information on the code of conduct that respects the culture, society, nature, and animals of the destination.
・We encourage our customers themselves to participate in sustainability efforts through travel, for example by using local Hokkaido drinking water, and by recommending the usage of reusable drinks bottles.
・We measure after-trip satisfaction and respond sincerely to any complaints.

Our actions to create a sustainable future：Japanese message
Sustainability Action Plan：English message