our responsibility

ecotourism and sustainable development

Tui Tai Expeditions is operated with complete commitment to Fiji Ecotourism, fostering partnership and development with indigenous groups. Local villages share in the economic benefits provided by our operation. Tui Tai has fully funded new schools, purchased medical supplies and sponsored community development projects. By joining the fiji adventure cruise, you are making a contribution to raise the standard of living in the more remote islands of Fiji.

Tui Tai considers the Environment to be our partner ­ and we are dedicated to its protection. The clear blue waters we sail through are important to our hearts, our Nation, our fellow citizens, our children, crew, passengers, and business. In order to turn our commitment into action, we conduct regular environmental impact assessments.

We consider how we store, mix, filter, and dispose of oils, what fuels we purchase, what paints we use, and how we dispose of everything ­even water ­ every detail is studied with the environment in mind. Tui Tai is proud to be one of the few Luxury Adventure services on earth that meets International Oil Pollution Prevention (IOPP) standards, and the environment will continue to have its say in all our business decisions.

instead of activities, we facilitate activism

Our guests have assisted on Humanitarian trips that brought doctors to remote islanders who hadn’t ever been treated by a doctor. Guests went along on the eight-island Humanitarian tour by Jazmin Grace Grimaldi, daughter of Monaco’s Prince Albert. That 2006 tour led to a new water collection system and storage tanks for a tiny village called Yanuca, classroom chairs and tables for a school in Rabi where students had been sitting on the floor, and 18,000 doses of pre-natal vitamins provided to a hospital that had none.

Other guests joined rock star Alanis Morissette on a humanitarian trip to islands damaged by a rare cyclone. Morissette’s trip brought emergency supplies such as food and drinking water; and also wheelchairs. The 2007 trip uplifted spirits by delivering Christmas toys for the kids, guitars and musical instruments for everyone.

Many people who have enjoyed success in business come to ask how they can give something back to the world. Tui Tai is grateful to be able to facilitate the experience of direct giving, while also helping people seeing the world’s most beautiful places, and most beautiful faces.

tui tai charitable fund

Because Tui Tai regularly visits remote islands not frequented by any other ships, the company recognized that it could offer important assistance and contributions to the well-being of villagers living far from population centers. The Tui Tai Charitable Fund was established because our passengers wanted to make contributions to assist people they’d seen during their visits.

voluntourism projects

volontourism and humanitarian work happen EVERY WEEK on Tui Tai. Examples include: distributing supplies, completing assessments (education, infrastructure, environment, medical), painting schools and building school furniture, teaching and more. If you have a particular trade or skill, we can customize a project that you can do.

the biggest questions

The world doesn’t need another luxury yacht— it does need more compassion and contribution.

What if the two could go together?

We all ask ourselves questions in life. Tui Tai’s owners recall the early questions in their (ad)venture:

Can we establish a new service, a new market, and a new approach to Luxury-Adventure?

When the answer was Yes, like all of life’s answers, another question came:

Can we get our service to the top of its field… in Fiji, and the world?

After the good fortune to meet so many goals, after all the great reviews in the best magazines, after the awards and glowing mentions in the world media, the owners of Tui Tai heard new questions in their hearts:

With the resources of this business, can we now make significant contributions to others?

Can we now assist others who ask similar questions in life, who are in a position to contribute, who want to give in ways that make a lasting and favorable difference to people in need, and even to the world?

This question led the owners to reconsider how they operate Luxury-Adventure trips. Instead of just tourism, we now facilitate Contributionism. Tui Tai guests can now personally participate in special education projects, giving their energy and life-experience to teach people in remote villages. Past guests have spent part of their holiday building a new library for a village that gets exactly one boat pulling into its tiny cove (The Tui Tai).

Our guests gave some of their time and energy to building a clinic on an island that didn’t previously have even basic medical supplies. Guests spend time teaching English at island schools, give out education awards to high-achieving students (and help the students who didn’t so well on their tests), train new mothers on aspects of health well-known in the West, and much-needed in a developing nation like Fiji.

Instead of just walking through a village as a curious tourist, a Tui Tai Guest can get involved, establish relationships, provide important services, deliver supplies, teach about resource management, and share new resources. The Tui Tai is now seen by islanders as bringing assistance, support, encouragement, and new friends ­ not just tourists.

Villagers welcome Tui Tai guests in ways tourists on conventional Fiji vacations could not reasonably expect: With love, gratitude, entertainment, music, positive anticipation, and deep friendship. Contributionism trumps tourism

How do you measure happiness? What is your Return on Life (ROL)?

“Any good investor looks at return on investment, which is generally just dollars. Return On Life is (the pursuit of) experiences… that really last. You have one life, one chance to do things. And as you get older and look back, what are the things you’re gonna remember that were like, ‘Boy, that was a great decision, I’m really glad I did that.‘”
Tige Young, Founder and CEO of Tui Tai Expeditions
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Read the full article on Forbes.com about Tige Young and Return on Life