Privacy Policy

About this Privacy Policy

At The Travel Cafe, we respect your privacy and are committed to handling your personal information with care and responsibility.

The Travel Cafe is a brand owned and operated by EdEt Tours (Private) Limited, the organisation responsible for collecting, using, storing and protecting personal information obtained through The Travel Cafe website and its services.

When you contact us, enquire about a journey or make a booking, you may share personal information with us. This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use, protect and retain that information, the circumstances in which we may share it with trusted service providers, and the choices and rights available to you regarding your personal information.

Information we collect when you enquire

When you enquire about a journey with The Travel Cafe, either through our website or by contacting us directly, we may collect your name, email address, telephone number, country of passport, number of travellers, intended travel dates, interests, travel preferences and any additional information you choose to share.

We use this information to understand your travel requirements, respond to your enquiry and help plan a journey suited to your interests and preferences. You are welcome to enquire even if your travel dates have not yet been decided.

Your privacy matters to us. At the initial enquiry stage, we do not require passport numbers, copies of travel documents, payment-card details or other sensitive personal information. Please do not submit passport numbers or payment-card details through our website enquiry forms. Where such information is required for travel arrangements, we will explain how it should be provided securely.

Information we may need if you book

When you decide to travel with The Travel Cafe, we may request additional personal information to arrange and manage your journey. Depending on your itinerary, this may include passport details, emergency contact information and specific information required by accommodation providers, transport operators or experience providers.

We request only the information reasonably necessary to make your travel arrangements, coordinate the services included in your journey and provide appropriate assistance throughout your trip.

If you are making arrangements on behalf of other travellers, please ensure that you have their permission to share their personal information with us and that they understand how it may be used in connection with their travel arrangements.

Information you choose to share with us

Every traveller has different needs and preferences. To help us create a comfortable and enjoyable journey, you may choose to share information about dietary requirements, accessibility needs, special occasions or other personal circumstances relevant to your travel arrangements.

We respect the personal nature of this information and encourage you to share only what is necessary for us to understand and accommodate your requirements.

If you choose to provide health or medical information relevant to your journey, we will handle it with particular care. Such information will be used only for the purposes for which it was provided and shared with relevant service providers only where reasonably necessary to make appropriate arrangements or deliver the services you have requested.

How we use your information

At The Travel Cafe, we use the personal information you share with us to understand your travel preferences and provide the services you have requested.

This may include responding to your enquiries, designing personalised itineraries, preparing quotations, communicating with you, arranging accommodation, transport and experiences, coordinating with our team and trusted travel partners, managing bookings, processing payments and refunds, and providing assistance throughout your journey.

We may also use relevant information to maintain appropriate business and financial records and fulfil our legal obligations.

We do not sell your personal information. We will only send you marketing communications if you have chosen to receive them, and you may withdraw that choice at any time.

Who we share information with

To plan and deliver your journey, we may share relevant personal information with our own team, including Tour Directors, guides, drivers and other personnel directly involved in organising and delivering your travel arrangements.

Where your itinerary requires additional services, we may also share necessary information with carefully selected accommodation providers, specialist experience operators and other trusted travel partners.

We may also share relevant information with payment service providers, website and technology service providers, professional advisers or public authorities where necessary for our business operations, to provide the services you have requested or to comply with legal obligations.

We share only the information reasonably necessary for the purpose concerned. We expect those who handle personal information on our behalf to treat it responsibly and with appropriate confidentiality.

We do not share or disclose your personal information to third parties for their own marketing purposes.

Website enquiries and security

When you submit an enquiry through The Travel Cafe website, the information you provide is securely transmitted through a third-party form processing service so that we can receive and respond to your enquiry.

We take reasonable measures to protect our website and the information submitted through it, including safeguards designed to reduce spam, automated submissions and unauthorised activity.

Our website uses Cloudflare services to support website performance and security, together with Cloudflare Web Analytics to help us understand how visitors interact with our website. We do not use advertising trackers or cookies for website analytics.

We use third-party technology and cloud storage services to process, communicate and securely maintain information relating to enquiries and travel arrangements. Some of these providers may process or store personal information outside Sri Lanka, in accordance with their own applicable privacy and data-protection policies.

Payment information

The Travel Cafe accepts payments by bank transfer and credit or debit card. Bank transfers may be made by travellers or by another person on their behalf.

Card payments are handled securely through an independent third-party payment service provider. We do not directly collect, process or store your payment card details.

We may retain payment confirmations and relevant transaction records for booking administration, accounting, fraud prevention and compliance with applicable legal obligations.

To protect our travellers and help prevent unauthorised transactions, we may undertake reasonable checks to verify a cardholder's identity and payment authorisation.

Where the cardholder is travelling, this may include visually checking the physical payment card against their passport at the commencement of the journey. We do not record or retain payment card details during this verification.

Where a payment is made using a card belonging to someone who is not travelling, additional verification and approval are required before the payment can be accepted. These checks may be carried out by us or our payment service provider, depending on the circumstances.

Any personal information obtained for verification purposes will be handled with appropriate care and confidentiality.

For further details, please refer to our Card Payment Policy.

How we protect your information

We treat the personal information entrusted to us with care and confidentiality. Access is restricted to members of our team who require it to manage your travel arrangements or fulfil legitimate business responsibilities.

We take reasonable precautions to safeguard this information against unauthorised access, disclosure, misuse or loss.

How long we keep your information

If your enquiry does not result in a booking, we normally retain the relevant information for up to 24 months from our last meaningful communication with you. After this period, the information will be deleted or anonymised unless we have a legitimate business reason or legal obligation to retain it for longer.

Where an enquiry leads to a confirmed booking, relevant personal information becomes part of your booking record. We retain this information for as long as reasonably necessary to manage your travel arrangements, maintain appropriate business and financial records, and meet applicable accounting, tax and legal obligations.

Once the information is no longer required for these purposes, it will be securely deleted or anonymised.

Cookies and website technologies

Our website uses limited technologies to support its functionality, performance and security. We also use privacy-focused analytics to understand how visitors use our website, without relying on analytics cookies or advertising trackers.

For further details, please refer to our Cookie Policy.

Your privacy rights

We respect your right to understand how your personal information is handled and to exercise the rights available to you under applicable data-protection laws, including Sri Lanka's Personal Data Protection Act.

Depending on the circumstances, these rights may include requesting access to your personal information, asking us to correct inaccurate or incomplete information, and making other requests permitted by applicable law.

If you wish to exercise your privacy rights, please contact us. We may need to verify your identity before responding to certain requests, and some rights may be subject to applicable legal requirements or exceptions.

Requesting deletion of your personal information

You may request the deletion of personal information we hold about you by emailing us at srilanka@thetravelcafe.lk. We will review and respond to your request within the timeframe required by applicable Sri Lankan data protection law. Where we are legally required to retain certain information, we will explain this to you.

Changes to this policy

We may occasionally update this Privacy Policy to reflect changes in our services, business practices, technology providers or applicable legal requirements.

The most recent version will always be available on our website, together with the date it was last updated.

Contact us about your information

For questions about this Privacy Policy, how we handle your personal information or to exercise your privacy rights, please email us at srilanka@thetravelcafe.lk.