Encounters Travel

Story

Founded over two decades ago, Encounters Travel is built on a simple but powerful belief: travel creates genuine human connections—with local cultures, fellow travellers, and the places you visit. Starting in the Middle East and Asia, Encounters Travel has grown into a company that operates across more than 40 countries on multiple continents while remaining proudly small, personal, and relationship-driven.

Mission 

Encounters Travel's mission is to deliver immersive, responsibly operated adventures that are accessible, authentic, and memorable. You benefit from long-term relationships with local partners and guides, whose growth and success remain an integral part of every journey. The same ethos extends to travel agent partners and customers, with every interaction built on trust and a shared love of discovery.

Vision

Encounters Travel envisions a world where travel enriches both the traveller and the destination, where tourism benefits local communities, preserves cultures, and fosters mutual understanding. Through every journey, you help support this vision. Encounters Travel believes that adventure and responsibility are not opposites—they are inseparable.

Encounters Travel demonstrates a deep commitment to responsible and sustainable tourism. Before you visit any new destination, Encounters Travel conducts thorough research into the environmental and socio-cultural landscape to ensure a positive impact on the places and communities included in each journey.

You travel with local operators and organisations that meet high environmental and social standards, helping maximise tourism's benefits for the communities you visit. Whenever possible, Encounters Travel chooses land transportation, including trains and buses, instead of internal flights to help reduce carbon emissions.

To address plastic waste on the road, Encounters Travel partners with Water-to-Go, whose advanced filtration bottles remove more than 99.9% of water impurities. This allows you to stay hydrated sustainably while reducing reliance on single-use plastic bottles.

Throughout every tour, Encounters Travel helps you develop a deeper awareness of the environments and cultures you encounter, fostering respect and appreciation that extend well beyond the journey itself.