Internet Privacy Policy

This web site is owned and operated by Hands on Journeys Pty. Ltd. and will be referred to as “We”, “our” and “us” in this Internet Privacy Policy. By using this site, you agree to the Internet Privacy Policy of this web site (“the web site”), as set out on this web site page. The Internet Privacy Policy relates to the collection and use of personal information you may supply to us through your conduct on the web site.

We may modify or remove portions of this Internet Privacy Policy at any time. This Internet Privacy Policy is in addition to any other terms and conditions applicable to the web site. We do not make any representations about third party web sites that may be linked to the web site.
We recognise the importance of protecting the privacy of information collected about visitors to our web site, applicants for our programs and travellers who actually attend a program and any information that is capable of identifying those individual (“personal information”). This Internet Privacy Policy governs the manner in which your personal information, obtained through the web site, via an application or submitted as a necessary part of attending a program, will be dealt with. This Internet Privacy Policy should be reviewed periodically so that you are updated on any changes.

Personal Information

  1. Personal information about visitors to our site is collected only when knowingly and voluntarily submitted. For example, we may need to collect such information to provide you with further services or to answer or forward any requests or enquiries. It is our intention that this policy will protect your personal information from being dealt with in any way that is inconsistent with applicable privacy laws in Australia.

Use of Information

  1. Personal information that visitors submit to our site is used only for the purpose for which it is submitted or for such other secondary purposes that are related to the primary purpose, unless we disclose other uses in this Internet Privacy Policy or at the time of collection. Copies of correspondence sent from the web site, that may contain personal information, are stored as archives for record-keeping and back-up purposes only.

Collecting information at time of application for our tours

  1. As part of applying to travel with us, we collect personal information about you in order to assess your application and for you to take full advantage of our services. To do this it may be necessary for you to provide additional information to us as set out on the Application page on our website.

Collecting information necessary to co-ordinate your tour

  1. Hands on Journeys collects personal information only to the extent necessary to deliver the services, products, or information you, or an agent or other passenger booking on your behalf, request.Hands on Journeys, either directly or through our agency and booking partners collects, holds, uses and discloses, only as necessary the following personal information from customers and others in the course of offering services or providing services to you: full name, age, home address, phone number, e-mail address, passport and travel medical information, where required, insurance details, nationality, residency, nutrition preferences, tour evaluations, travel & accommodation preferences, comments you provide us, tour destination information, credit card and/or other payment information, etc. The collection of this information is done to allow us to provide services to you as requested.

Disclosure

  1. Apart from where you have consented or disclosure is necessary to achieve the purpose for which it was submitted, personal information may be disclosed in special situations where believe in good faith that the law requires disclosure.
  2. Hands on Journeys uses this personal information to provide the services and/or products you have requested, or to provide you with information about those services. This includes using personal information to: register you to receive newsletters, answer your request for further information about our tours, make a booking or booking(s), provide you with information about the Company and/or our services, and to receive and implement feedback on those services. Furthermore, the personal information allows us to:
    • Understand your needs as a customer and determine eligibility for our products and services.
    • Inform you about our products and services, or those of our partners that we believe may be of interest to you.
    • Provide ongoing service and support, including resolution of any issues with the services or products you request from Hands on Journeys.
    • To ensure the safety and security of our travellers and products.
    • Carry out internal accounting and administration of our business.
    • Comply with laws, regulations, immigrations requirements, and the like.
  1. Hands on Journeys may also use your personal information to book products and services for you or on your behalf from our third party suppliers and service providers, or other service providers or merchants for whom we act as agent from time to time. This collection of personal information can be both for our internal purposes, for example, to process your booking, and occasionally on behalf of the parties for whom we act as agent, for their internal purposes in providing the services or products you have requested. Please be aware that the consent you provide to the collection and use of personal information by Hands on Journeys, applies equally to the parties whose products and services we sell or book on your behalf. For example, if you purchase a flight from us, you will be deemed to have consented to your personal information being provided to the airline to enable your flight to be booked.

What are the consequences of failing to provide Personal Information?

  1. If you do not provide the Personal Information that we request, we may not be able to deliver the services you have requested, which may mean you won’t be able to participate in our tours or subscribe to our newsletter. If you have paid a deposit and later refuse to provide necessary Personal Information to Hands on Journeys which Hands on Journeys (or our partners and suppliers) require to deliver the service for which the deposit was paid (for example, for a flight which requires passport information), you may not be entitled to a refund for that service. Please contact us if you have any questions about providing or not providing Personal Information when booking or otherwise dealing with Hands on Journeys. Personal information is not collected unless provided to us. This means you can visit and browse our website, or place a call to our 24/7 contact number, without having to provide any personal information to Hands on Journeys. How do we collect this information and obtain your consent? We collect information from customers during the booking (or option) process, or during the inquiry process where required, via our sales channels, such as our website booking form, our 24/7 sales contact centre (via e-mail or telephone), through on-line evaluations submitted by you, using brochure or other similar request forms, and/or through our travel agency partners and other individuals who make or update bookings on your behalf, or otherwise interact with us on your behalf, including during the inquiry process (whether or not the inquiry proceeds to a booking).

Security

  1. The security and integrity of your Personal Information is important to us. All personal information is stored in secure databases at secure addresses to prevent unauthorized access. Passwords, encryption devices and firewalls protect these databases. Please note however that no data transmission over the Internet can be guaranteed to be 100% secure. While we take all steps to ensure the safety of your data, we cannot ensure the security of information you transmit to us over the Internet.
  2. Access to your personal and private information is limited to: authorized employees, of Hands on Journeys, and any of the third-party suppliers who require your information to provide the travel or other services you have requested (such as the airlines, transportation services, hotels, activity providers, and tour guides who deliver the services you purchase through Hands on Journeys or that we arrange on your behalf). We keep our employees and our third party suppliers and other partners informed about our policies and procedures and require strict compliance with this Policy in order to ensure your information remains protected. Unauthorized access and/or disclosure of client information are strictly prohibited.

Collecting Information from Users

  1. IP AddressesOur web servers gather your IP address to assist with the diagnosis of problems or support issues with our services. Again, information is gathered in aggregate only and cannot be traced to an individual user.
  2. Cookies and AppletsWe use cookies to provide you with a better experience. These cookies allow us to increase your security by storing your session ID and are a way of monitoring single user access.
    This aggregate, non-personal information is collated and provided to us to assist in analysing the usage of the site.

Access to Information

  1. We will endeavour to take all reasonable steps to keep secure any information which we hold about you, and to keep this information accurate and up to date. If, at any time, you discover that information held about you is incorrect, you may contact us to have the information corrected.
  2. In addition, our employees and the contractors who provide services related to our information systems are obliged to respect the confidentiality of any personal information held by us.
  3. Hands on Journeys retains traveller’s personal information for as long as is reasonably required, with consideration to the purpose for which it was collected or a related or ancillary purpose, and to our legal and regulatory obligations. Hands on Journeys deletes or otherwise destroys passenger personal information after a reasonable period of time. On occasion, you may have to provide your personal information to us again where it has been so deleted.

Links to other sites

  1. We provide links to Web sites outside of our web sites, as well as to third party Web sites. These linked sites are not under our control, and we cannot accept responsibility for the conduct of companies linked to our website. Before disclosing your personal information on any other website, we advise you to examine the terms and conditions of using that Web site and its privacy statement.

Problems or questions

  1. If we become aware of any ongoing concerns or problems with our web sites, we will take these issues seriously and work to address these concerns. If you have any further queries relating to our Privacy Policy, or you have a problem or complaint, please contact us.
  2. For more information about privacy issues in Australia and protecting your privacy, visit the Australian Federal Privacy Commissioner’s web site; http://www.privacy.gov.au/.