Somoloco Responsible Travel Policy 2024

Goal

We aim to bring the joy, flavor and affection of salsa (and other latin dance) and Colombian cultures to people from all over the world.

Clean Air / Reducing Carbon Emission

We take the following measures to keep Medellin’s air clean and reducing emissions
● Human powered transport (walking).
● Vegetarian and vegan food availability.
● Programming is limited to Medellin or closeby (ie no additional plane travel required)

Protecting Biodiversity

We take the following measures to protect the local biodiversity

● Choosing/screening accommodation with good environmental standards.
○ Pollution (solid, noise, air), plastic reduction
○ Restoring nature in and around their property.
● Providing customers with information about reducing their impacts on nature

Benefit Local Colombians

● Our accommodation is locally owned as are the restaurants we take our guests to
● Our entire team on the ground are locals, from guides to dancers.
● We providing income generating and employment opportunities for people who
are often excluded or marginalized – women, people of color, and people who are
below the poverty line. In fact everyone who works with us comes from low
socioeconomic backgrounds and we pay them 2x market rate.
● We provide meaningful work for local Colombians who otherwise would have limited options to dance professionally. Most people we work with
are between 20-25 years old. We pride ourselves on supporting our people make a living and gain skills that will last them their whole lives.
● We support for social projects with direct or indirect benefits to the host
community, particularly around using dance as a means to lift people out of poverty as well as raise their mental + emotional health.
● Our team is highly diverse, made up of 60% women, 95% people of color including management.
● We provide travelers with a welcome pack before they come on what to expect in
Medellin Colombia so they can respect the locale while also feeling part of it