Social commitment
An obligation to people
DER Touristik offers fair working conditions and also promotes this among its partners in the destination countries. Opportunities for people on location and the improvement of their living conditions through working in tourism are the cornerstones of responsible conduct.
The companies grouped under DER Touristik are also engaged in a wide variety of social projects. The fight against the abuse and exploitation of children is a subject that especially matters to DER Touristik.
As part of safeguarding children, employees in all DER Touristik hotels & resorts (Iti, Calimera, COOEE and PrimaSol) are trained by ECPAT-certified DER Touristik child protection officers. The training format that has been developed based on the 'train the trainer' principle ensures that each individual hotel employee is aware of the hotel's child protection guidelines and knows how to act in order to guarantee the protection of children and young persons. The format is tailored to each destination since each destination brings with it a different mentality, another culture and its own problems in relation to questions of child protection.
DER Touristik Foundation e.V.
DER Touristik funds projects via the non-profit association DER Touristik Foundation e.V for the promotion of education of children and young persons, the retention of the ecological habitat and species diversity as well as sustainable development aid. By committing ourselves in this way, we want to support the living standards of the local population and open up the value creation that tourism brings for as many people in the destination regions as possible. In doing so we are contributing to greater stability, helping to tackle poverty and creating opportunities for the future. We are especially dedicated here to the transfer of knowledge among children and young people as well as making the local population aware of the environment, culture and social responsibility.
Since the association was founded, we have been able to establish a training site by building schools around the world for over 5,500 children and thereby increasing their chances of entering the world of work. As of this year, we are also placing special focus on improving the status of education among young girls and women in southern Africa as well as on the topic of environmental education in order to make the local population aware about the retention of the valuable animal world and wider ecosphere.
All projects are implemented on location by the DER Touristik Foundation and in cooperation with other non-profit associations, foundations and aid organisations. This means the donations can be utilised for the intended purposes and sustainably for non-profit projects with the goal of supporting people to help themselves.
DER Touristik Foundation e.V was awarded the international World Tourism Award in 2016.
DER Touristik Hotels & Resorts collects donations at various events, such as at the recent Global Partner Meeting in Cologne in 2017, and advertises for support at its hotel partners. In addition, the leased hotel Iti Asterias Beach Resort successfully launched a pilot project in which the hotel donates 1 EUR for each uncleaned room, to the extent that the guest supports this and has given their approval. We are currently looking at further measurements for implementation, in particular in our own leased and management hotels.