Positive Policy

At Red Dot, we are committed to fostering inclusion, diversity, and equality in the trips we design across Sri Lanka.

Inclusion is about ensuring that everyone feels welcome and safe in their environment. Accessibility is a key part of this—it’s about removing barriers, whether physical, digital, informational, or attitudinal, to create travel experiences that are more inclusive for all.

A Red Dot trip is made up of many different elements: boutique hotels, immersive experiences, guided adventures, and seamless transfers by vehicle or train. We work with a diverse network of experience providers and hoteliers across Sri Lanka and are actively seeking ways to collaborate with them to improve accessibility and inclusivity. But we’d be lying if we said we or Sri Lanka is perfect in this regard—there’s still a long way to go and a lot to learn.

While we are not accessibility or inclusion experts, we are dedicated to learning, adapting, and improving. Here’s what we want you to know:

• We are always learning. Every trip we design for a disabled traveller teaches us something new, and we are grateful for that. Each experience helps us refine our approach and do better next time.
• We are here to listen. Tell us about your likes, dislikes, barriers, and needs—the more details you share, the better we can design a fulfilling trip that works for you.
• We have no preconceptions. Every enquiry is a blank slate. If you want to push boundaries, we’re with you. If you need honest advice about accessibility and logistics, we’ll do our best to provide clear, reliable information.

We won’t claim to have all the answers, but what we can promise is this: we care. We are a team of warm, open-minded individuals who want everyone to feel welcome. So, please don’t hesitate to reach out—whatever your questions, we’ll do everything we can to help.

Red Dot is a team of friendly, well-travelled and passionate people, that feel strongly about the potential tourism has as a force for good. We know we’re not perfect and at no point do we want to overstate what we are achieving, but we are learning every day to improve the way we operate our business so that we can do more and leave our destinations in a better place.

Here are some of the things we are currently doing to support local people in our destinations:

At Red Dot, we operate a little differently from many other tour operators. While we have a small team in the UK, the heart of our business and 90% of our staff are in Colombo, Sri Lanka, with our partners based in Delhi, India. This means that when you book with us, you’re not supporting a large, sometimes private equity-funded tour operator in the West—you’re directly contributing to a business rooted in South Asia, creating local jobs and amazing opportunities.

Our trip designers, both in the UK and Sri Lanka, are all women. We are deeply passionate about women’s employment and believe in travel as a force for positive change and empowerment. We plan to do more in this area.

Wherever possible, we prioritise small, locally owned hotels over large international chains. This ensures that more of the money spent on travel goes back to local communities, supporting local jobs and businesses. Of course, we know that some travellers may want to indulge in hotels with extensive facilities, but in nearly all cases, our itineraries include Sri Lankan or Indian-owned stays, preferably owner-run, boutique properties at varying price points, not just high end. We also try to encourage accommodation offerings that further support local villages and communities through their own initiatives, charities and foundations. These hotels have positive an conscious travel at the heart of what they do, and through our Positive Travel Collection, you can support this.

We encourage travellers to immerse themselves in genuine, locally led experiences, hosted by passionate specialists across Sri Lanka and India. Whether it’s a guided nature walk, a family cookery lesson, a meal in a local home, or meeting cinnamon planters and toddy tappers, these experiences don’t just make a trip—they also help distribute tourism income more fairly, ensuring more people benefit from travel.

Every time someone travels with us, we donate to the Tea Leaf Trust—an incredible charity that supports nearly 500 students each year, helping them build skills and education in Sri Lanka’s tea-growing regions, where opportunities are often limited.

We are very proud members of The Conscious Travel Foundation, which helps educate travel industry professionals on better ways to operate their business to better help ecosystems, communities and wildlife. We are all on a journey to do better and TCTF enables us to do that by connecting us to forwarding thinking professionals across the world.

At Red Dot, we are committed to ethical and responsible tourism. We do not take our clients to schools with pupils under the age of 18 simply for observation or to benefit the client. Any visit will only be considered if there is already a personal connection between the client and the school, or if it is part of a cultural or educational exchange where the school derives greater benefit than the client.

Additionally, we do not arrange visits to orphanages, as we believe these experiences do not support the well-being of the children involved in a meaningful way.

As wildlife encounters are among the most sought-after holiday experiences, the principles and guidelines outlined in this document primarily focus on wild animals, whether in their natural habitat or in captivity, rather than domestic animals.

Some tourist attractions involving animals are inherently unacceptable, as they fail to meet even the most basic welfare standards. Wildlife entertainment is particularly concerning, as it involves close tourist interaction with wild animals or performances for human amusement. Beyond being demeaning, the suffering begins the moment these animals are taken from the wild or bred in captivity, condemning them to a lifetime of exploitation.

At Red Dot, we are committed to responsible tourism and the protection of animals. As wildlife encounters become increasingly popular among travellers, we recognise the urgent need for ethical and sustainable practices. Unfortunately, some animal-related activities, such as elephant rides and bathing, photo opportunities with tigers, or dolphin performances can cause significant suffering due to cruel treatment and inhumane conditions.

We believe that all animals should be respected for their intrinsic value, and that the best way to experience them is in the wild. When animals are under human care, whether domesticated or wild, they must be provided with a ‘good life’ - one that ensures both physical and mental well-being. Their environment should prioritise positive experiences, allow them to make choices, and enable them to express a wide range of natural behaviours.

Red Dot only partners with suppliers who uphold the highest possible welfare standards in line with the Five Domains of Animal Welfare:

Nutrition - Access to sufficient, balanced, varied, and clean food and water.
Environment - Comfortable conditions in terms of temperature, a large space, air quality, noise, and predictability.
Health - Good overall health, with no disease, injury, or impairment.
Behaviour - Opportunities for natural behaviours such as exploring, foraging, bonding, playing, and retreating.
Mental State - A positive emotional state, promoting pleasure, comfort, and vitality while minimising fear, frustration, hunger, pain, or boredom.

We also acknowledge that wild animals’ needs can never be fully met in captivity. Any facility that houses wild animals must not only provide the best possible welfare conditions but also contribute to phasing out exploitative practices and reducing the commercial use of wildlife. This is of paramount importance to us.

At Red Dot, we do not sell or promote venues or activities that involve:

• Close interaction with wild animals, including but not limited to elephant rides and bathing, swimming with dolphins, or walking with lions.
• Wild animal performances, such as dolphin shows, circuses, or orangutan boxing.
• Photo opportunities with wild animals, including tiger selfies, dolphin kisses, or pictures with sloths, primates, or big cats.
• Animal fighting, racing, or cultural events that cause suffering or death, such as bullfighting, crocodile wrestling, dog fighting, rodeos, elephant polo, or horse racing.
• Facilities where wild animals are bred or kept for commercial products, such as crocodile farms, civet coffee farms, bear bile farms, or turtle farms.
• Trophy hunting, canned hunting, or sport fishing.

When aligned with our ethical guidelines, Red Dot offers the following responsible wildlife experiences:

• Wildlife watching in natural habitats, where animals can be observed from a suitable distance without disruption. This is by far our preferred option.
• Genuine sanctuaries, rehabilitation centres, and rescue facilities that uphold the highest standards of animal care (e.g., those certified by the Global Federation of Animal Sanctuaries (GFAS) or following World Animal Protection’s elephant-friendly venue guidelines).
• Accredited zoos and aquariums that meet ethical standards, such as those recognised by the World Association of Zoos and Aquariums (WAZA) and national accreditation bodies. These facilities must not hold cetaceans in captivity, allow direct contact between visitors and wild animals, or use animals in performances.

Wildlife is not entertainment. We believe that responsible tourism should protect, rather than exploit, the animals we encounter. By working only with ethical partners and advocating for higher welfare standards, we strive to create travel experiences that are both enriching and ethical—for animals, travellers, and the communities we support.

Our aim is to eventually only offer wildlife viewing in completely natural habitats and we are working towards that where possible.

At Red Dot, we’re a team of well-travelled, passionate individuals who believe in the power of tourism as a force for good. We know we’re not perfect, and we never want to overstate our impact, but we’re learning every day continuously improving the way we operate so that we can do more and leave our destinations in a better place.

Here’s how we’re working to support the environment in the places we love:

We encourage our travellers to venture beyond the well-trodden path, exploring lesser-known regions to help distribute the benefits of tourism more evenly. We’re also strong advocates of travelling outside peak seasons, which not only offers a more authentic and peaceful experience but also helps reduce pressure on popular destinations.

We’ve handpicked a small collection of exceptional hotels across our destinations that are going above and beyond when it comes to supporting people and the planet. Choosing one of these hotels in your itinerary means you’re directly supporting businesses that prioritise sustainability and positive impact.

We provide refillable water bottles for every trip or glass bottles, and all our suppliers are committed to significantly reducing single-use plastics. Small changes like this make a big difference in protecting natural ecosystems.

We’re proud members of The Conscious Travel Foundation (TCTF)—a global network that connects forward-thinking travel professionals and educates the industry on better ways to support ecosystems, communities, and wildlife. We’re all on a journey to do better, and TCTF helps us take meaningful steps in the right direction.