Privacy policy.

Our privacy obligations

VGlobal Adventures (VGA) is bound by privacy laws which regulate how we may collect, use, disclose and store personal information. These laws also specify how individuals may access and correct personal information held about them.

“Personal Information” means information or an opinion about an identified individual (or an individual who is reasonably identifiable), whether true or not, or recorded in a material form or not. For example, these types of information could include your name, contact details, age and other information.

In this policy “we”, “us”, “our” and “VGA” refers to VGlobal Adventures registered under Sahil Rahim Vellani, ABN  14156867279.

If you have any questions regarding this policy, please contact us via email. By visiting our websites and/or providing your personal information to us, you consent to the terms and conditions in this policy, unless you tell us to the contrary by express notice.

When do we collect your personal information?

VGA will only collect personal information about you by lawful and fair means, and not in an unreasonably intrusive manner. In some circumstances, it may be necessary for us to collect personal information about you from a third party. This includes where a person makes a travel booking on your behalf (e.g. a family or group booking). Where this occurs, we will assume you have consented to your personal information being collected by us and to us handling it in accordance with this policy. If you provide us with information about other people travelling with you (for example, family members or travelling partners), you should make them aware of this policy and any privacy collection notices we provide you.

VGA only collects personal information for purposes that are directly related to our business activities, and only when it is necessary for or directly related to such purposes. We also collect personal information related to employment services, human resource management, and other corporate service functions.

What kind of personal information does VGA collect and hold?

Any personal information that you provide to us is collected and managed by VGA. If you provide your personal information to a third party via a link from our website, that information is collected and managed by those third parties. Once you have used these links to leave our site, please note that we do not have any control over the third party site. Therefore, we cannot be responsible for the protection and privacy of any information which you provide whilst visiting such sites, which are not governed by this policy.

The types of personal information VGA may collect includes (but is not limited to) your name, date of birth, residential address, hotel address, email address, contact telephone numbers, dietary/medical requirements, testimonials or opinions, financial information including credit card or payment details and information on your booking request with VGA or otherwise provided during the course of your tour.

How does VGA use your personal information?

We use your personal information for a variety of reasons including to:

  • provide services and products to you;

  • answer your inquiries and deliver customer service to you;

  • tell you about products or services that we think may be of interest to you;

  • maintain and improve our customer services;

  • meet our legal obligations;

  • manage and resolve any legal or commercial complaints and issues;

  • carry out internal functions including training; and

  • conduct marketing research and analysis.

Whilst you may opt not to provide us with your personal information, you should be aware that – without this personal information, we may not be able to provide you with some of the services and/or products you are seeking.

In what circumstances will VGA disclose your personal information?

In the course of conducting our business and providing our products and services to you, we may disclose your personal information. We only disclose personal information for the purposes for which it was given to us, or for purposes which are directly related to one of our functions or activities (e.g. for making travel and related arrangements). We do not give it to anyone else unless one of the following applies:

  • you have consented to the disclosure;

  • you would reasonably expect, or have been told, that your information is passed to those individuals, bodies or agencies; or

  • it is otherwise required or authorised by law.

To whom do we disclose your personal information?

We may disclose your personal information to:

  • suppliers of products or services which you have selected (such as tour operators, carriage providers, third party service providers, hotels or other accommodation providers);

  • third party travel service providers who assist in fulfilling the booking you have made;

  • third parties when we contract out some of our functions and activities;

  • to comply with our legal obligations and any applicable legal or regulatory requirements relating to your travel;

  • professional advisers (such as lawyers or auditors);

  • payment systems operators and financial institutions;

  • organisations authorised by VGA to conduct promotional, research or marketing activities; and

  • upon lawful request from law enforcement agencies or government authorities, and any persons acting on your behalf including those persons nominated by you, executors, trustees and legal representatives.

Direct marketing

We are committed to compliance with all laws and requirements relating to the use of your personal information for marketing purposes. We will only use or disclose your personal information for direct marketing purposes if you have provided your information for that purpose (and you would expect us to use the information for that purpose), or if you have provided consent for your information to be used in this way.

From time to time, we may contact you with information about products and services offered by us and our related entities and our business partners, which we think may be of interest to you. When we contact you it may be by email or SMS.

Where we use or disclose your personal information for the purpose of direct marketing, we will allow you to request not to receive direct marketing communications (also known as ‘opting-out’), and comply with your request to ‘opt-out’ of receiving further communications within a reasonable timeframe.

Data security

We will take all reasonable steps to ensure that your personal information is stored securely and is protected from misuse and loss and from unauthorised access, modification or disclosure.

We keep your personal information for as long as it is required to provide you with the products you requested from us and to comply with legal requirements. If we no longer require your personal information for any purpose, including legal purposes, we will take reasonable steps to securely destroy or de-identify your personal information.

Website usage

Our website is professionally hosted and operates in a secure environment. You should however be aware that there is always an inherent risk in transmitting your personal information via the Internet.

Cookies

Cookies are pieces of information that a website transfers to your computer for record-keeping purposes. The information collected may be used by VGA to improve your experience on our website. If you visit an area of the website where you are not required to log on, to read, browse or download information, our system will record the date and time of your visit to our site, the pages viewed and any information downloaded. However, our system will not record any personally identifiable information about you without your consent.

If you complete an online form on our website, the information that you enter on that form will only be collected if you actually submit the form to us. If you change your mind and do not submit the information, any information you have entered up to that point will not be collected by our system and will be discarded (note that if your browser has an “auto complete” function, it might automatically fill in the form again the next time you visit that page).

Any personal information that you actually submit to us using our website or in an e-mail will only be used in accordance with this privacy policy.

Online pricing

VGA endeavours to ensure the accuracy of our website pricing and content. In the case of a technical based pricing or content error, we reserve the right to cancel or refund the mistaken purchase price to you.

Links to third party sites

Links to third party websites may be provided on our website. We are not responsible for the content or practices of these third party websites.

These links are provided for your convenience and do not represent our endorsement of any linked third party website.

How you can access or correct your personal information

You can request access to the personal information we hold about you at any time, and we will provide you with that information unless we are prevented by law from giving it to you. If we are unable to give you access to the information you have requested, we will give you reasons for this decision when we respond to your request. You will not be charged for accessing your information, although we might have to charge the reasonable cost of processing your request, including photocopying, administration and postage. We will advise you of any fee payable before we process your request.

If you believe that your personal information is not accurate, complete or up to date, please contact us via email.

Privacy contact

If you have queries, concerns or complaints about the manner in which your personal information has been collected or handled by VGA; or would like to request access to or correction of the personal information we hold about you, please contact us via email. If you consider your privacy concerns have not been resolved satisfactorily by us, or you wish to obtain more information on privacy requirements, you can contact The Office of the Australian Information Commissioner on 1300 363 992 or visit their website at oaic.gov.au.