Corporate Responsibility

Our Vision

We are convinced that social development and shaping the future do not depend solely on increasing material prosperity, but rather on qualitative change and improvement of economic and living conditions.

The entrepreneurial actions of mascontour are therefore oriented towards values and the common good and follow the guiding principle of sustainable development, which aims to record and take into account economic, ecological, social and cultural interrelationships.

In practice, mascontour stands for an integrated consulting approach that is designed to ensure not only economic success and value creation but also the protection and sustainable use of natural resources, consideration of local social and cultural conditions and resilient destination and business development.

For us, resilience and sustainability are not an idealistic claim, but the maxim of our daily work, which we want to live up to inside and outside our company.

Our Guiding Principles and Values

Against the backdrop of shared global responsibility, mascontour defines development as improving the situation of people according to their own criteria, goals and needs.

We want to promote developments, but not prescribe them. For us, the promotion and improvement of personal development opportunities take centre stage. For mascontour, a cooperative and participative approach to our projects is both a normative requirement and an instrument for the sustainability-oriented implementation of our projects.

This philosophy is not only an advisory goal, but also commits us within our own company.

mascontour only accepts projects for which the necessary professional and personal skills and experience can be provided.

We are constantly improving and expanding our know-how and adapting it to new requirements in order to offer our clients competent and high-quality consulting services in all business areas. For this purpose, mascontour bundles experience, competences and instruments from different disciplines in an interdisciplinary approach.

We always endeavour to submit soundly calculated, well thought-out and realistically scheduled service offers and meet the resulting obligations.

mascontour always aims to act independently, to provide objective advice and to take responsibility for our own actions. Should it become apparent in the course of our project work that a project that is useful for certain purposes or social groups influences or harms other important goals or groups in an unacceptable way, mascontour warns of these dangers and advocates the development of alternatives.

In extreme cases, we reserve the right to discontinue project work if the intended development processes are fundamentally at odds with our professional and ethical convictions.

Due to the international orientation of mascontour’s consulting activities, we work with a large number of actors from different national and cultural backgrounds who all have different and very specific values and norms.

These exert a significant influence on the way our clients and partners think and act on the ground and require a responsible and tolerant approach.

mascontour considers it a self-evident fact to meet other values, norms, points of view and ways of life without bias, to treat them with respect and to deal with them constructively.

mascontour wants to maintain mutually fair and transparent long-term business and contractual relationships with its clients, partners and employees.

When recommending and procuring goods or services from third parties, we give priority to quality criteria and environmentally and socially responsible service provision over short-term price advantages.

We aim to ensure that products and services offered directly or indirectly by mascontour provide lasting benefits for our clients.

Our Commitment

As a company, we not only bear responsibility for our own actions, but also have a responsibility to society as a whole, which we want to and must face up to. For only if all social forces cooperate in solving the complex economic, social and ecological problems of our time can promising and long-term solutions be found.

mascontour travels climate-consciously. Whenever possible, we prefer to travel by train, bus or local transport and use environmentally friendly accommodation on private and business trips. In addition, all business trips (transport and accommodation) are 100 % compensated annually via atmosfair, i.e. we voluntarily pay a compensation amount for the climate-relevant emissions we cause.

Our offset contribution is used directly for an atmosfair climate protection project that aims to introduce energy-efficient stoves in developing countries (e.g. in Rwanda). The use of these stoves reduces the amount of wood needed for cooking by up to 80 %, which has a positive effect on the protection and preservation of forests, among other things. You can watch a video on these stoves on YouTube.

Our compensation report is available here as a downloadable PDF file. Our certificate can be viewed here.

We are committed to energy and resource conservation not only on our business trips, but also at the company site. This is done through the following measures, among others:

  • use of environmentally friendly utilities for electricity and gas as well as appropriate equipment (e.g. switchable power strips, energy-efficient printers).
  • use of environmentally friendly and, if possible, recyclable office materials
  • use of organic and fair trade products for catering at internal meetings and prioritising them at client events as well
  • use of bicycles or public transport for inner-city journeys

mascontour is always keen to ensure fair working conditions for its team members and network partners. This is done through the following measures, among others:

  • transparent fee calculation
  • gender-neutral, experience-based fee rates
  • fexible and child-friendly design of the cooperation
  • investment in further training
  • comprehensive feedback mechanisms

In addition to our consulting work, we are also involved in the promotion of sustainable tourism on a voluntary basis. For example, Matthias Beyer is an active member of the sustainability committee at the German Travel Association (DRV). He also served on the Sustainability and Social Responsibility (SSR) Committee of the Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) for several years.

For many years, mascontour has supported various initiatives that promote sustainable tourism both nationally and internationally. Among other things, we are a supporting member and actively advocate for the goals and concerns of the organisation ECPAT Deutschland e.V., which works worldwide to protect children against sexual exploitation. We also support the Global Sustainable Tourism Council (GSTC) andGATE e.V.

Children’s rights are human rights. Children are particularly vulnerable and need protection. That is why we maintain a clear zero-tolerance policy when it comes to disregarding children’s rights. As an internationally active company, we see it as our duty to make an active contribution to the protection of children and to integrate our partners and customers into this process. mascontour is a member of ECPAT Deutschland e.V. and the child protection initiative “The Code”.

In March 2020, we signed the Code of Conduct for the Protection of Children from Sexual Exploitation in the Travel and Tourism Industry (The Code), committing to inclusive child protection measures in our business.

You can also participate – by NOT LOOKING AWAY: Use the international reporting platform dontlookaway.report where you can also access the German reporting platform nicht-wegsehen.net. Here, suspicious cases can be forwarded directly to ECPAT Deutschland e.V. or the Federal Criminal Police Office.

Background information on trafficking and sexual exploitation of children in tourism on the website of ECPAT Deutschland e.V.: ecpat.de

You can download our child protection policy hier

Together with numerous other tourism organisations and companies, we have signed a climate emergency declaration for tourism climate emergency declaration for tourism and are among the first signatories of the Glasgow Declaration on Climate Action in Tourism to highlight the urgency for consistent climate protection in the tourism sector.

By signing, we agree to also take action ourselves and fulfil the following five commitments:

  • develop a climate action plan within 12 months of signature
  • align climate action plans with the five pillars of the Declaration (Measure, Decarbonise, Regenerate, Collaborate, Finance) to accelerate and coordinate climate action in tourism;
  • regular, public reporting on our activities and progress
  • dissemination of information on activities related to “Tourism Declares” / Glasgow Declaration to our clients and networks
  • cooperative work with other members of “Tourism Declares” and signatories of the Glasgow Declaration

Download mascontour Climate Emergency Plan

Download mascontour Climate Action Plan

“The Glasgow Declaration is a catalyst for the urgency of accelerating climate action in tourism and ensuring effective action and commitment to halve tourism emissions over the next decade and achieve net zero emissions as soon as possible before 2050.”

mascontour is proud to be one of the first signatories of the Glasgow Declaration. As signatories of the Glasgow Declaration, we commit to

  • support the global ambition to halve emissions by 2030 and achieve Net Zero as soon as possible before 2050;
  • submit climate action plans (or update existing plans) and begin implementing them within 12 months of signing the Declaration;
  • align climate action plans with the five pillars of the Declaration (Measure, Decarbonise, Regenerate, Collaborate, Finance) to accelerate and coordinate climate action in tourism;
  • report publicly on an annual basis on the progress made towards achieving the intermediate and long-term goals and on the measures taken;
  • work cooperatively together, sharing best practices and solutions and disseminating information to encourage more organisations to sign and to support each other to achieve the goals as soon as possible.

mascontour Is Certified

We are continuously working on the qualitative improvement of our service standards and work processes within the framework of the certification programme ServiceQualität Deutschland.

We are the first consultancy globally to commit to protecting children from commercial and sexual exploitation in tourism through THE CODE.

We are the first tourism company to be awarded the sustainability certificate of the German Institute for Quality Standards and Testing (DIQ).