Privacy Policy

Purpose

Taste Cultural Food Tours Inc (TASTE) takes privacy and confidentiality seriously and has obligations concerning the collection, use, disclosure, and storage of personal information that relates to our tour participants, contractors, partners, and employees. TASTE also has obligations to disclose information in some circumstances and is committed to operating according to relevant legislation which includes:

  • Privacy Act 1988
  • Privacy and Personal Information Act 1998 (NSW)

We are committed to being completely transparent about the information we collect about you, how it is used and with whom it is shared.  This policy outlines how TASTE fulfils its legal obligations and best practice guidelines relating to the collection, storage, use and access to personal information.

Types of information collected by TASTE

In the delivery of our cultural food tours and related services, we must collect personal details (such as names and contact details) and sometimes sensitive information if disclosed by you (such as relevant dietary requirements of a medical nature) which may disclose your religious beliefs. If sensitive information is disclosed by you, we use this information to cater to your needs or act in your interest to ensure you get the most out of our cultural food tours. We are only prepared to accept what may be sensitive information about you or your party on the condition that we have your positive consent.

You are responsible for ensuring that other members of your party are aware of this Policy and consent to you acting on their behalf in all your dealings with TASTE.

This Policy also applies to other persons whose personal information is collected in the course of delivering our tour services (including personnel of food and beverage outlets/suppliers on the tour program) and tour guide recruitment and training programs. TASTE collects information that is only relevant to the relationship we have with these individuals.

Consent

Consent to collect, store, and use personal information will be gained before requesting, storing or using information.

Consent is implied when:

  • you enquire about a tour or gift certificate on our website or when you call to talk to any of our team;
  • your personal information has been provided to us by our third party ticketing system provider or a third party booking agent (such as Viator);
  • you subscribe to a mailing list; or
  • you use cookies

Credit card details for all transactions (including making a donation to our charity) are collected and processed directly with an industry trusted provider of online merchant facilities.

The only exception to consent is when information has been de-identified and is gathered and used for the purposes of general reporting or business analysis conducted internally by TASTE.

Voluntary consent can be withdrawn at any time, and in this situation, all personal information that has not already been de-identified for reporting will be removed from TASTE’s customer management systems.

What will TASTE do with personal information collected?

TASTE will use your name and contact details to complete your cultural food tour booking or gift voucher purchase. We will also use your information to:

  • manage tour arrangements with tour guides employed directly by TASTE;
  • send you notifications and communicate with you generally; and
  • provide you with a tax receipt for donations paid.

We will never share or otherwise disclose your personal details with food/beverage/catering partners (Tour Partners). Any dietary restrictions disclosed by you to us will only be shared with Tour Partners on a de-identified basis.

TASTE may need to disclose your information if required to do so by law, but only when such request is made by a legal authority.

TASTE would also like to store and use your information to contact you from time to time with information about special offers, new tours, special events or other promotional activity.  All details you give us in connection with your tour booking will be kept, but we will only use names and contact details for these purposes.  When we do, we may disclose your email address to a trusted email automation provider who will manage these email data in accordance with Australian privacy laws.  If you do not wish to receive such communication from us, simply follow the link to unsubscribe to these communications.

All information will be stored in a secure location and accessed only by those with a legitimate need to do so, and we have taken all reasonable steps to have appropriate security measures in place to protect your information.  We take website security very seriously and are committed to safeguarding your personal information.  Please note that our website contains links to websites owned by third parties eg ticketing and payments systems.  This Privacy Policy only covers the website (www.tastetours.com.au) owned and controlled by TASTE however, we have only partnered with third party providers that have privacy obligations no less onerous than that imposed on TASTE in Australia.

Confidential documents and data containing personal information, whether generated internally or done by an external contractor, are required to be managed in accordance with this Policy and to TASTE’s obligations to treat all personal information with care and confidentiality.

Personal information collected by other organisations (such as third party tour booking agents) and disclosed to TASTE as part of our cultural food tour service, will be treated with the same care and conditions as if the information had been given directly to TASTE by the customer.

Privacy complaints and feedback

If you do not agree to the use of your personal information set out above, you should inform us in writing at privacy@tastetours.com.au.

In accordance with privacy laws, you may ask us in writing for a copy of the information we hold about you (there may be an administrative charge) and to correct or update any of your information.

You can also choose not to provide us with some of the information requested, however, we may not be able to complete your tour arrangements.

If you have a complaint about the handling of your personal information, please provide details by emailing us at the address above.