Your Privacy is important to us

 

You trust us by using touress services and we value that trust. That means we’re committed to protecting and safeguarding any personal data you give us. We act in our customers’ best interest and we are transparent about the processing of your personal data.

If you’ve used us before, you know that touress offers online holiday-related services through our own websites and mobile apps, as well as other online platforms such as social media. We’d like to point out that all the information you are about to read, generally applies to not one, not two, but all of these platforms. This privacy policy applies to any kind of customer information we collect through all of the above platforms or by any other means connected to these platforms, including emails.

If you disagree with this Privacy Policy, you should discontinue using our services, and if you agree with our Privacy Policy, then you’re all set to book your next holidays through us. 

Terms we use in this Privacy Policy

Tour means the various different tour packages and services that can be ordered, acquired, purchased, bought, paid, rented, provided, reserved, combined, or consummated by you from touress.

Tour Service means the online purchase, order, (facilitated) payment or reservation service as offered or enabled by touress in respect of various products and services as from time to time made available by touress on our platform.

Tour Booking means the order, purchase, payment, booking or reservation of a Tour Package.

What kind of personal data does touress collect?

We can’t help you book the holiday without information, so when you use our services there are certain things we ask for. This is typically routine information – your name, preferred contact details, the names of the people travelling with you and your payment information. You might also decide to submit additional information related to your upcoming Tour.

In addition to this, we also collect information from the computer, phone, tablet or other device you use to access our services. This includes the IP address, the browser you’re using and your language settings. There are also situations in which we receive information about you from others or when we automatically collect other information.

This is the general overview but if you’d like to know more about the information we collect, we go into more detail below.

Why does touress collect and use your personal data?

The main reason we ask you for personal details is to help you organise your online Tour Reservations and ensure you get the best service possible.

We also use your personal data to contact you about the latest deals, special offers and other products or services we think you might be interested in. There are other uses, too. If you’d like to find out what they are, read on for a more detailed explanation.

How does touress share your data with third parties?

There are different parties integrated into touress’ holiday services, in various ways and for various reasons. The primary reason we share your data is to supply touress’ tour operators and travel partners with the relevant information to complete your Tour Reservation.

We also involve other parties to provide you with the Tour services. This includes, for example, financial institutions, advertisers, subsidiaries of the touress corporate group. Or, in some cases, if we’re required to by law, we might share your data with governmental or other authorities.

Below, we go into more detail about how the information you share with us is used and exchanged with these parties.

How does touress make use of mobile devices?

We offer free apps, through which we also collect and process personal data. This works in much the same way as our website, but they also allow you to benefit from the location services available on your mobile device(s). 

How does touress make use of social media?

The use of social media may be integrated into touress services in various ways. These will involve us collecting some of your personal data or the social media provider receiving some of your information. If you’d like to learn more about how this information is used and exchanged, read on.

What security and retention procedures does touress put in place to safeguard your personal data?

We have implemented a range of procedures to prevent unauthorised access to, and the misuse of, personal data that we process.

How does touress treat personal data belonging to children?

Unless indicated otherwise, touress is a service you are only allowed to use if you are over 18 years of age. We only process information about children with the consent of their parents or legal guardians, or when the information is shared with us by the parents or legal guardians themselves.

How can you control the personal data you’ve given to touress?

You have the right to review the personal data we keep about you at any time.

Who is responsible for the processing of personal data on the touress website and apps?

Connect World Pte Ltd is located in Singapore, controls the processing of personal data for the provision of its services. That includes its websites and mobile apps, except for some exceptions that are clarified in this privacy statement. 

What kind of personal data does touress collect?

Depending on the law that applies to you, we might be required to provide some additional information. If you’d like to know more, please read on.

Personal data you give to us.

touress collects and uses information you provide to us. When you make a Tour Reservation, you are (at a minimum) asked for your name and email address.

Depending on the Tour Reservation, we may also ask for your home address, telephone number, payment information, date of birth, the names of the people travelling with you and any preferences you might have for your Tour (such as dietary or accessibility requirements).

You might also be invited to write reviews to help inform others about the experiences you had on your Tour. When you write a review on the touress platform, we’ll collect any information you’ve included, along with your display name and avatar (if you choose one).

There are other instances where you’ll provide us with information, as well. For example, if you’re browsing with your mobile device, you can decide to allow touress to see your current location or grant us access to your contacts. This helps us to give you the best possible service and experience by, for example, showing you our city guides, suggesting the nearest restaurants or attractions to your location or making other recommendations.

If you create a user account, we’ll also store your personal settings, uploaded photos, and reviews of previous bookings. This saved data can be used to help you plan and manage future Tour Reservations or benefit from other features only available to account holders (such as incentives or other benefits).

We may offer you referral programs or sweepstakes, and participating in these will mean providing us with relevant personal data.

Personal data you give us about others.

Of course, you might not simply be making a Tour Reservation for yourself. You might be taking a Tour with other people or making a reservation on someone else’s behalf. In both those scenarios, you will provide their details as part of the Tour Reservation.

In some cases, you might use touress to share information with others. This can take the form of sharing a wishlist or participating in a referral programme, as described when you use the relevant feature.

At this point, we have to make it clear that it’s your responsibility to ensure that the person or people you have provided personal data about are aware that you’ve done so, and that they have understood and accepted how touress uses their information (as described in this Privacy Policy).

Personal data we collect automatically.

Whether or not you end up making a Tour Reservation, when you visit our websites or apps we automatically collect certain information. This includes your IP address, the date and time you accessed our services, and information about your computer’s hardware and software (such as the operating system, the internet browser used, software/application version data and your language settings). We also collect information about clicks and which pages have been shown to you.

If you’re using a mobile device, we collect data that identifies the device, as well as data about your device-specific settings and characteristics, app crashes and other system activity. When you make a Tour Reservation using this kind of device, our system registers how you made your reservation (on which website), and/or which site you came from when you entered the touress website or app.

Personal data we receive from other sources.

It’s not just the things you tell us, though – we may also receive information about you from other sources. These include business partners, such as affiliate partners, subsidiaries of touress corporate group, and other independent third parties.

Anything we receive from these partners may be combined with information provided by you. For example, touress’ Tour Reservation services are not only made available via touress and touress apps, but are also integrated into services of affiliate partners you can find online. When you use any of these services, you provide the reservation details to our business partners who then forward your details to us.

We also integrate with third party service providers to facilitate payments between you and touress. These service providers share payment information so we can administer and handle your Tour Reservation, making sure everything goes as smoothly as possible for you.

Additionally, we collect information in the regrettable case that we receive a complaint about you from touress, for example in the case of misconduct.

Another way we might receive data about you, is through the communication services integrated into our platforms. These communication services offer you a way to contact services you’ve booked with to discuss your tour. In some cases, we receive metadata about these communication activities (such as who you are, where you called from, and the date and length of the call).

We may also receive information about you in order to show you more relevant ads, such as the additional cookie data touress social media partners make available to us.

When you link your touress user account to a social media account, you yourself might exchange data between touress and that social media provider. You can always choose not to share that data.

Why does touress collect and use your personal data?

We use the information collected about you for a variety of purposes. Your personal data may be used in the following ways:

1. Tour Reservations: First and foremost, we use your personal data to complete and administer your online Tour Reservation – which is essential for what we do. This includes sending you communications that relate to your Trip Reservation, such as confirmations, modifications and reminders.
2. Customer service: We provide international customer service from our local offices and we’re here to help 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Sharing relevant details, such as reservation information or information about your user account with our customer service staff allows us to respond when you need us. This includes helping you to contact the right travel partners and responding to any questions you might have about your Tour Reservation (or any other queries, for that matter).
3. Account facilities: touress users can create an account on our website or apps. We use the information you give us to administer this account, allowing you to do a number of useful things. You can manage your Tour Reservations, take advantage of special offers, make future Tour Reservations easily and manage your personal settings. Managing personal settings gives you the ability to keep and share lists, share photos, easily see Tour Services you’ve searched for and check travel-related information you’ve provided. You can also see any reviews you’ve written. If you want to, you can share certain information as part of your user account, by creating a public profile under your own first name or a screen name you choose.
4. Online groups: It’s possible that we might give account holders the chance to connect and interact with each other through online groups or forums.
5. Marketing activities: We use your information for marketing activities. These activities include:
   1. Using your contact information to send you regular news about travel-related products and services. You can unsubscribe from email marketing communications quickly, easily and at any time. All you need to do is click on the ‘Unsubscribe’ link included in each newsletter or other communication.
   2. Based on your information, individualised offers might be shown to you on the touress website, in mobile apps or on third-party websites/apps (including social media sites) and the content of the site displayed to you might be personalised. These could be offers that you can book directly on the touress website, on co-branded sites, or other third-party offers or products we think you might find interesting.
   3. When you participate in other promotional activities (such as sweepstakes, referral programmes or competitions), relevant information will be used to administer these promotions.
6. Communicating with you: There might be other times when we get in touch, including by email, by post, by phone or by texting you. Which method we choose depends on the contact information you’ve previously shared. We process the communications you send to us. There could be a number of reasons for this, including:
   1. Responding to and handling any requests you or touress travel partners have made. touress also offers customers and touress’ travel partners various ways to exchange information, requests and comments about touress’ travel partners and existing Tour Reservations via touress.
   2. If you have started but not finished a Tour Reservation online, we might contact you to invite you to continue with your reservation. We believe that this additional service benefits you as it allows you to pick up the process where you left off without having to search for a our Tour Packages or fill in your reservation details again.
   3. When you use our services, we might send you a questionnaire or invite you to provide a review about your experience with touress or touress’ travel partners.
   4. We also send you other material related to your Tour Reservations, such as how to contact touress if you need assistance while you’re away, and information that we feel might be useful to you in planning or getting the best out of your Trip. We might also send you material related to upcoming Tour Reservations or a summary of previous Tour Reservations you made through touress.
   5. Even if you don’t have an upcoming Tour Reservation, we may still need to send you other administrative messages, which could include security alerts.
7. Market research: We sometimes invite our customers to take part in market research. Please see the information that accompanies this kind of invitation to understand what personal data will be collected and how that data is used.
8. Improving our services: We also use personal data for analytical purposes and product improvement. This is part of our commitment to making our services better and enhancing the user experience. In this case, we use data for testing and troubleshooting purposes, as well as to generate statistics about our business. The main goal here is to get insights into how our services perform, how they are used, and ultimately to optimise and customise our website and apps, making them easier and more meaningful to use. As much as possible, we strive to use pseudonyms for this analytical work.
9. Providing the best price applicable to you, depending on where you are based: When you search our apps or website, for example to find a tour package, based in thecountry where you are based.
10. Customer reviews and other destination-related information: During and after your Tour, we might invite you to submit a review. We can also make it possible for the people you’re travelling with or whom you’ve booked a reservation for to do this instead. This invite asks for information about touress’ travel partners or the destination.
11. Call monitoring: When you make calls to our customer service team, touress uses an automated telephone number detection system to match your telephone number to your existing reservations. This can help save time for both you and our customer service staff. However, our customer service staff may still ask for authentication, which helps to keep your reservation details confidential. During calls with our customer service team, live listening might be carried out or calls might be recorded for quality control and training purposes. This includes the usage of the recordings for the handling of complaints, legal claims and for fraud detection.Not all calls are recorded and recordings are kept for a limited amount of time before being automatically deleted. An exception to this rule would be if touress has a legitimate need to keep the recordings longer for fraud investigation or legal purposes.
12. Promotion of a safe and trustworthy service: To create a trustworthy environment for you, the people you bring with you on your Tour and touress’ travel partners, we might use personal data to detect and prevent fraud and other illegal or unwanted activities. Similarly, we might use personal data for risk assessment and security purposes, including the authentication of users and reservations. When we do this we may have to stop or put certain Tour Reservations on hold until we’ve finished our assessment.
13. Legal purposes: Finally, in certain cases, we may need to use your information to handle and resolve legal disputes, for regulatory investigations and compliance, to enforce the touress online reservation service terms of use or to comply with lawful requests from law enforcement. Providing your personal data to touress is voluntary. However, we may only be able to provide you with certain services if we can collect some personal data. For instance, we can’t process your Tour Reservation if we don’t collect your name and contact details. If we use automation to process personal data which produces legal effects or significantly affects you, we will always implement the measures required to safeguard your rights and freedoms. This includes the right to obtain human intervention.

How does touress process communications that you and your booked Trip Provider may send via touress?

touress can offer you and touress’ travel partners various ways to communicate about the Tour Services and existing Tour Reservations, directing the communications via touress. This also allows you and our touress’ travel partners to contact touress with questions about your Tour Reservation through the website, our apps and the other channels that we make available.

touress accesses communications and may use automated systems to review, scan, and analyse communications for the following reasons:

• Security purposes
• Fraud prevention
• Compliance with legal and regulatory requirements
• Investigations of potential misconduct
• Product development and improvement
• Research
• Customer engagement (including to provide you with information and offers that we believe may be of interest to you)
• Customer or technical support

We reserve the right to review or block the delivery of communications that we, in our sole discretion, believe might contain malicious content or spam, or pose a risk to you, touress’ travel partners, touress or others.

All communications sent or received using touress communication tools will be received and stored by touress. Business partners (through whose platform you’ve made a reservation) and touress’ travel partners might also choose to communicate with you directly, by email or other channels that touress does not control.