Caravan Tours is a private , wholly Yemeni owned company, which is committed to develop forms of tourism which bring real benefits to both visitors and hosts. As a private company , Caravan Tours cannot set policy on how tourism in Yemen should develop but we are constantly seeking, through contacts with other travel agents and with national and regional government and through our example, to contribute to the national debate and to the framing of a code for responsible tourism practice. Caravan Tours firmly believes that tourism development should be in line with national and regional development plans and priorities, and that scarce resources should not be diverted to create a parallel infrastructure solely for the use of visitors. In our operations, we look to see how we can achieve “leakage”- how receipts from tourism can generate income and create jobs locally   Caravan Tours is conscious of the damaging environmental impact unplanned tourism development can have. In our trekking and expedition tours, we carry for example mineral water in jerry cans (and not in half-lit re- plastic-bottles) to avoid plastic rubbish. Caravan Tours wants to break down the barriers between visitor and hosts, liberating visitors from the “quarantine” they often find themselves in, and promote real meetings and interaction between visitors and host communities.