Porters rights and working conditions

Tourism Concern's "Suggested guidelines for UK tour operators on porters' rights and working conditions."

We hope tour operators will use these suggested guidelines as a basis for incorporating policies on porters' rights and working conditions into their companies' wider responsible/sustainable tourism policies. Not all of the points will be relevant and/or applicable to all operators, and the local social and economic context of individual destinations will also have to be considered. We hope that operators will decide individually what policies to adopt, and how best to implement them.

1. Relationship between UK tour operator and destination country ground agent.

UK tour operators should make specific, written requirements regarding porters' working conditions within the contracts or agreements they make with their local ground agents, so that UK operators are fully aware of, and accept appropriate responsibility for, the porters' issues outlined below. Thorough and transparent systems of communication between UK operators and ground agents should be established and monitored (see point 10 for suggested guidelines on implementation). Multiple subcontracting, which can dilute knowledge and responsibility, should be avoided.

2. Relationship with head porters/ sirdars/guides

Where head porters/guides take responsibility for porters, thorough and transparent systems of communication should be established and monitored, in order to avoid abuses of power (see point 10 for suggested guidelines on implementation). Consider making head porters/ guides permanent employees with written contracts to ensure that company policy on the porters' issues outlined below is followed. Head porters/guides should be authorized to use specific funds to pay for porters to be evacuated and treated in case of sickness or accident without their own remuneration being affected, together with clear guidelines on their application.

3. Communication with porters' groups

4. Terms of employment and special provisions

Porters should be hired through formal contracts, setting out the terms of employment as well as the rights and responsibilities of porters on a short-term (trek-by-trek/seasonal) or longer-term basis. This can take the form of a written contract, using appropriate terminology or a verbal contract presented by the employer to all porters jointly, so that the porters collectively witness and approve the content of their contract. Contracts should include insurance policies covering sickness, accident/disability and/or out-of-season unemployment benefits. A minimum age for porters (suggestion of 16 years) should be set (omit if point on loads for younger workers included in section 8 is addressed).

5. Wages

Porters should be paid a stable and fair basic wage. This figure should be based on research into the local economic situation and average wages in the country, as well as consultation with porters groups and local non-governmental organisations (NG0s), taking the particularities of each trek into consideration. Provision should be made for porters' food and accommodation so that they do not have to provide for this out of their wages.

6. Training

7. Equipment

Equipment appropriate to each stage of each particular trek should be provided to porters, including, for example; sleeping tents, protective clothing, carrying equipment and kerosene for their own use.

8. Loads

A maximum load should be set and porters should not be asked to carry more than this under normal circumstances. If porters are permitted to carry above this weight on request, this should still not exceed a specified load and porters must be remunerated accordingly. The amount of trekkers' luggage and equipment that porters are expected to carry should take the weight of porters' own personal loads into account. Where younger workers are employed as porters, the maximum weight of their loads should be adjusted accordingly.

9. Client awareness and behaviour

10. Monitoring


For more information, email info@tourismconcern.org.uk or telephone 020 7753 3330

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