It all started with a cliché: sun, sea and sand. The founding partners of Barefoot loved all three, especially the less-crowded and further-flung beaches of Latin America, the hot wilds of Africa and the mystical, forgotten islands of Asia. The more we discussed business opportunities in tourism, the more we discovered what many eco-tourists already knew: a high price was being paid for the illusion of paradise.
Tourism development had often damaged the natural environment, placed a huge burden on local resources, created gated communities and themed resorts that borrowed from authentic local culture to create bite-sized pop experiences, swapped majestic vistas and verdant forests for concrete towers, promised opportunity and yet delivered only low-paying jobs or repatriated corporate profits, whilst creating a division between local communities and the once-welcomed guests. Finding that authentic experience and having a different vacation story to your neighbours, meant journeying further afield, creating new destinations for the more intrepid traveller.
We wanted to find a way to bring our ideas to life as an ethical, ecologically and socially responsible business; and so Barefoot Investments was born. Working as a creative, smart and fast-moving team, with an good idea or two and the support of thoughtful and interested investors we combined our passion for travel and eco-tourism, with our insight into emerging destinations worldwide and the management skills to bring our new venture to life.
As a company we are now focused on projects that work both as a whole and as a single venture. We are proud of the brands that we support or create to focus our efforts, and of the people we enable to lead those brands. We pride ourselves on being equitable and ethical, transparent and accountable. We are far from perfect, but our mission has always been to keep trying to do the best we are able, as soon as we are able.