Sunrise Expeditions
We offer our customers a wide range of programs and have a professional team experienced in the field of tourism ready to guide you on the trip of a lifetime. Our gear is top quality and constantly updated in order to provide a pleasant experience on your trip. Our mission is to provide excellent service to our foreign visitors helping them to interact with local people and introducing them to both the cultural and natural beauties of Peru while having a fun and unforgettable trip.
Responsible Peruvian tour operator
 

Sunrise Expeditions is a responsible travel agency. We respect and make donations to local people and the environment. Responsible travel is more adventurous than “mass tourism” as it requires interaction with local people and the oppportunity to stay in small locally owned hotels and taste some of the delicious local cuisine.

Sunrise Expeditions fully supports the principles of responsible travel and sustainable tourism and has been working hard to show that it is possible to provide an excellent quality of service being culturally sensitive. We look after our trekking staff and help to conserve the environment. In our opinion the only way to improve trekking standards and reduce the impact of tourism on the environment is to provide education and quality service. Our company is working towards conservation of the environment and looks after the well-being of the people who work for us and the communities that we visit as part of our treks.
   

Our Mision.-
Our goal is to show you a great time when you visit Peru, but this must not be at the expense of our national treasures, our environment and our people. As a professional travel agency we have a duty to act responsibly and to encourage and promote responsible tourism. Sunrise Expeditions has many economic, environmental, and social responsibilities which we have included below in our Responsible Tourism Policy paragraph. Our Goal is to become Peru’s most responsible tour operator. However, visitors must also accept their role in helping us to achieve this goal. Only if tourist and travel companies work together can we ensure that tourism can really benefit local communities, provide income, positive cultural exchange and a financial incentive to protect the natural environment.

 

Responsible Tourism Policy.-
Our most important responsibility is to ensure that the financial benefits of tourism are passed down throughout the entire company, including the office staff, guides, trekking staff (porters, cooks, horsemen, etc) and the rural communities in which we work.

1. Sunrise Expeditions is a local company with offices in Cusco. The owner Mauro Pedraza is from Cusco and all our staff are Peruvian. Most of them come from the highlands of Cusco.

2. Our porters have been carefully selected from different communities of the highlands of Cusco. We employ about 60 permanent porters. They are from Lares, Amparaes, Yanahuara, Calca, Cattca, Tinki, Huarocondo, Willoc and Patacancha. Most of them  have to travel and walk about 7 hours to arrive to Ollantaytambo to start work.

3. Sunrise Expeditions pays National taxes (know as IGV) which is currently 19%. In 2006 we paid over US$78,000 in IGV and our net profit was US$15,000. 10% of our profit was distributed to our porters’ benefit.
This is probably the highest tax paid by any tour company in Cusco. We pay such high taxes because we are a local tour operator. If you buy a trek outside of Peru by foreign travel companies these companies do not pay Peruvian taxes. This means that if you buy a trek or tour with a tour company outside of Peru you are not contributing towards the Peruvian economy in the form of sales taxes. Of course, by buying a trek outside of Peru you will still be helping the economy by providing work for local people.  Sunrise Expeditions pays sales taxes on 100% of our Inca Trail services. We have to pay taxes for every client, on average US$45 per person. This is a big contribution towards the economy. Many companies are exempt from paying sales taxes, and some of those that are not exempt spend a lot of time and energy trying to avoid paying their taxes.

4. All fresh produce and food is bought in local markets and small stores. The following camping equipment is made in Cusco: dinning tents, kitchen tents, porters’ backpacks, duffle bags, porters’ t- shirts, caps, jackets, etc. Our tents and sleeping bags are manufactured by Mountain Gear and Coop Canadian Equipment.

5. We contribute directly to many community projects in the highlands of Cusco, including the construction of a Church in a nearby mountain community.

Enviromental Responsibility.-
1. On our Treks all rubbish and waste material are carried out and disposed of in suitable facilities in the main towns and cities. We never bury waste along the route of the trail. The waste is divided into organic (green bags) and inorganic (black bags).
2. When campsites do not have proper toilets we take a portable toilet and toilet tents. We use special biodegradable toilet bags which are carried out (Inca Trail).
 
3. We give all of our clients biodegradable soap (made locally) to wash with and we wash the dishes with biodegradable detergent.

4. Only clean burning fuel (butane gas) is used for cooking. Campfires are not permitted on the Inca Trail.

5. When our clients come to our office to pay their trek balance we provide them with a written trek briefing. This briefing includes information about The Inca Trail and Machupicchu Sanctuary regulations which aims to protect the environment within the protected areas of the Machupicchu Sanctuary.

6. We reduce paper waste in our offices by not producing any form of paper brochures. All communications are by email and by the use of computer technology.

7. We have an ongoing staff training to ensure high standards of environmental care and responsible behavior. At the end of every trek our customers are asked to fill out a trek report which allows us to monitor and highlight any areas of our service that can be improved upon.

Social Responsibility.-
1. We employ local people and pay them a fair wage helping to put money into the local economy. All trekking staff are paid punctually at the end of each trek. Office staff is paid monthly and receive free health insurance for them and their families... .

 

Sunrise Expeditions. tour operator is located in Cusco over 3,400 meters above sea level. The owners are Peruvian guide who understand the real problems and needs that are present in our country. Our porters mainly come from the highlands of Cusco. We are very interested in helping the development of our brothers that live in the same country. Unfortunately there are some foreign tour operators that talk the same theme but in reality what they say is not true. They say they pay their porters well and make social projection while their porters only wear few clothes. They are sometimes unprepared for the climate. This isn’t fair, it is an insult. We are Peruvians and local operators from Cusco. We are motivated to provide good treatment to porters and help their families and their communities.At first we visit different communities of our porters like: Lares, Amparaes, Patacancha, Willoc, Calca, Yanahuara, Anta, Huarocondo, Cattca, T'inki, etc.

We realize that they need work. They say “we will do anything”.

Sunrise Expeditions. tour operator is committed to organizing projects within the Andean communities in Cusco-Peru.

We know that tourism activity is very important in our country and especially in Cusco. It contributes to Peru’s economy and provides employment for many people. Unfortunately their communities aren’t sharing in any of the financial gains. Since the initiation of our activities in tourism as a travel agency specializing in trekking. Starting Christmas 2001 we wanted to do something for the children of our porters. We traveled to Cattca-Ausangate and  had a Christmas party giving gifts to the children (300). We had a party with hot chocolate and pannetone and we shared a special day. We were glad to see the happy faces of the children. After this time we promised to do this activity every year in different communities. We can say that we were the first ones doing this kind of activities without any financial interest.

In Christmas 2002 we traveled to Arequipa to one of the orphanages (200 children) in Cerro Colorado and we had the same party for the children giving gifts, pannetone and hot chocolate.

In Christmas 2003 we traveled to Amparaes where most of our porters come from. In this time we traveled in our own van carrying with gifts, pannetone, and hot chocolate and so on.

In Christmas 2004 we were in Lares doing the same activity for 300 children.

In Christmas 2005 we celebrated Christmas with three communities in different places one of which was Chaquepay Community, Huarocondo with 300 children.

Another community was Yanahuara in the Sacred Valley of the Incas for 200 children (another group of our porters are from here). The last party for the children was in Ollantaytambo. We gave gifts to over 800 children, and pannetone and hot chocolate. We are very proud promoting these kinds of activities.Christmas 2006 we had parties in three communities. The three communities were Ollantaytambo (for 1000 children), Huarocondo (400 children) and Lares (Pumapunku 300 children).
  
We want to give special thanks to Joakim Bendezu from Sweden. He started to visit and help with materials and money for the primary school of Patacancha since 2004.

We have ambitious projects for the different communities of our porters such as giving educational materials for their children. We know that education it is very important and we want to start with this, we know that it is very expensive to send their children to school because they need materials and clothing. Often instead of sending their children to school they prefer to send them to work. 

Projects to help the Porters Communities.
Sunrise Expeditions team has decided to help our porters by donating a large percentage of our profits directly into helping the community.Definitely our most ambitious projects in the future will be the construction of schools. The communities that will benefit from this are Lares, Amparaes, Patacancha, Willoc and Cattca. Sunrise Expeditions is committed to building a school every year and is currently involved in a project to build a primary school near Lares, Cusco.If you are part a group who would like to sponsor a project such as this or even an individual, let us know. There are many communities in the need of help. 2007 is directed at some of the porter’s communities in the mountains of Lares and Amparaes. 

School Construction.
In 2007 we want to build a school Chaquepay Community, Huarocondo. There are 20 porters from this town and they urgently need it. Unfortunately their school was destroyed by erosion over time.

In Chaquepay Community there are 300 adults and 400 children. People from this community are mainly shepherds looking after sheep. Sunrise Expeditions will donate US$ 3000. This money will be used to build a much needed school and the local community will provide the general manpower providing them with more work.

Donations of School Materials.
The porters’ children need educational materials such as pens, crayons, paper, etc. We also want to provide school supplies. Funding for schools in the villages is extremely poor especially for primary school teachers’ wages are minimal and many lack resources and enthusiasm. This project is aimed at helping the conditions in some of the schools by providing luxury items such as pencils, crayons, and paper.

Christmas Present Distribution.
Sunrise Expeditions are leader doing these activities. Every year we give presents on Christmas Day in different communities. It is part our tradition to distribute gifts for the children in the highlands of Cusco. 

Porters' Annual Christmas party and Football Championship.
The sport of football is very important to Peruvians. We organize tournament between our porters, office staff and guides. We reward the winners with T-shirts, balloons and caps.

 

 

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Cusco Community

 

Responsible Tourism

 

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Community Projects

 

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Support to Children's Orphanage.

We want to thank to Marjorie Aubin and Galberth Aubin (fromCanada) for their visit and for the gifts that they have given to our Children at “Antonio de Lorena” Orphanage Cusco, on January 2008. Our Children are very thankful with them!.

 
 
Av. El Sol Nr.948 Centro Comercial Cusco Sol Plaza Second Floor - Office Nr. 219 Telfax: +51 84 236466
E-mail: reservas@sunriseperu.com

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