Privacy Policy

Please note that the internet is a worldwide open network. If you transmit personal data over the internet, you do so at your own risk.

The personal data transmitted by you is protected using Secure Socket Layer (SSL), which provides 256-bit encryption. Despite our comprehensive technical and organisational security measures, it is possible for data to become lost or intercepted and/or manipulated by unauthorised persons. Globetrotter Travel Service AG has adopted suitable technical and organisational security measures to prevent this within Globetrotter Travel Service AG’s systems. Your computer, however, is located outside of the security environment that is controlled by Globetrotter Travel Service AG. As a user, you are obliged to inform yourself regarding necessary security measures and to adopt suitable measures accordingly. Globetrotter Travel Service AG shall accept no liability for damages that you may suffer due to the loss or manipulation of data.

Secure Socket Layer (=SSL)

Secure Socket Layer is a protocol that ensures secure data transfer online. The majority of browsers support this method. SSL uses the public key method, whereby data that is coded with a publicly available key can only be decoded using a completely private key. Most browsers show whether a connection is secured or unsecured using a key or padlock.

The Legal Basis of Processing

Art. 6 (I) lit. a GDPR serves our company as the legal basis for the processing operations that we carry out, for which we obtain your permission for a certain processing purpose. If the processing of personal data is carried out to fulfil a contract whose contracting parties include the data subject (as is the case with processing operations that are necessary to carry out the delivery of goods or the provision of another service or return service, for example), then the processing operation is based on art. 6 I lit. b GDPR. This is also the case for processing operations that are required to carry out contractual measures; for example, in the case of queries regarding our products or services. If our company is subject to a legal obligation that necessitates the processing of personal data (for example, to fulfil fiscal duties), then the processing operation is based on art. 6 (I) lit. c GDPR. In rare cases, the processing of personal data can be required in order to protect the vital interests of the data subject or a different natural person. This would be the case, for example, if a visitor to our company was to suffer an injury, necessitating the passing on of his/her name, age, health insurance details and any other vital information to a doctor, hospital or other third party. In such cases, the processing operation would be based on art. 6 (I) lit. d GDPR. In any case, processing operations may be based on art. 6 (I) lit. f GDPR. This forms the legal basis for processing operations that are not covered by any of the above-mentioned legal bases, if the processing operation is required to safeguard a legitimate interest of our company or of a third party, if the interests, basic rights and basic freedoms of the data subject do not prevail. Such processing operations are afforded to us in particular, because they were particularly highlighted by the European legislator. He expressed the view that a legitimate interest could be adopted if the data subject is a customer of the data controller (recital 47, sentence 2 GDPR).

Handling Contact Details

If you enter into contact with us, we save your data so that we can deal with you query, if this is necessary for the processing of your query, and keep it for no longer than the legally allowed period of retention. Data is not transferred to third parties, unless this is required in order to resolve your query.

Legitimate interests in processing, which are pursued by the data controller or by a third party

If the processing of personal data is based on art. 6 (I) lit. f GDPR, our legitimate interest is the undertaking of our business activity for the benefit of the wellbeing of all of our employees and shareholders.

The Duration for which Personal Data will be Saved

The criterion that is used to determine the duration for which personal data will be saved is the respective legal retention period.  Once this period has expired, the data will be routinely deleted unless it is still required to fulfil or initiate a contract.

The Extent and Purpose of the Gathering, Processing and Use of Personal Data

1. a.) When visiting www.globetrotter.ch

• When you visit our website, our servers will temporarily save every access in a log file.  The following data is gathered without your assistance and saved by us until it is automatically deleted after a maximum period of twelve months:

• the IP address of the computer sending the request

• the name and the URL of the file requested

• the website from which access takes place

• the operating system of your computer and the browser you use

• the country from which you gained access and the language settings of your browser

• the name of your Internet access provider

The gathering and processing of this data takes place in order to allow use of our website (establishment of a connection), to permanently ensure the security and stability of the system, to enable the optimisation of our website, and for internal statistical purposes. Therein lies our legitimate interest in the processing of data pursuant to art. 6 (1) lit. f GDPR. Furthermore, your IP address will be analysed for statistical purposes when accessing the network infrastructure of www.globetrotter.ch.

1. b.) When subscribing to our newsletter

On our website, you have the option of subscribing to our newsletter.  To do this, registration is required.  Within the scope of registration, the following data must be provided:

• Title

• Name and surname

• E-mail address

The above-mentioned data is required for the data processing operation.

By registering, you grant us consent to process the data that you have provided in order to regularly send the newsletter to the you have address provided, as well as for the statistical analysis of user behaviour and the optimisation of the newsletter. Pursuant to art. 6 (1) lit. a GDPR, this consent constitutes our legal basis for the processing of your e-mail address. We are entitled to engage third parties in the technical processing of advertising measures, and are also entitled to pass on your data for this purpose (c.f. point 3 below).

At the end of every newsletter you will find a link that will allow you to unsubscribe from the newsletter at any time. If you decide to unsubscribe, you are free to inform us of your reason for unsubscribing.  Once you have been unsubscribed, your personal data will be deleted.  Any further processing operations will be carried out exclusively in an anonymised form to optimise our newsletter. 

The Passing On of Data to Third Parties

We only pass your data on if you have given your express permission, if we are legally obliged to do so, or if this is required to exercise our rights – especially to enforce claims resulting from the relationship between you and Globetrotter Travel Service.

In addition, we pass your data on to third parties if this is required within the context of use of the website for the provision of the services you desire, or to analyse your user behaviour. If this is required for the purposes named in sentence 1, data can also be passed on to third parties located abroad. If the website contains links to the websites of third parties, Globetrotter Travel Service no longer has any influence over the gathering, processing, saving or use of personal data by third parties if you click on the link, and thus accepts to responsibility in this regard.

The Transfer of Personal Data Abroad

Globetrotter Travel Service is entitled to transfer your personal data to third companies (commissioned service providers) abroad, if this is required in order to carry out the data processing operations described in this privacy policy. These companies are subject to data protection standards to the same extent that we are. If the data protection standards of a country do not correspond to Swiss or European standards, we ensure that the protection of your personal data corresponds with Swiss standards at all times, through contractual means.

Social Media Plug-Ins

On this website, the social plug-ins indicated below are used. Plug-ins are, by default, disabled on our website, and thus send no data. By clicking on one of the social media buttons, you can activate the respective plug-in.

If these plug-ins are activated, your browser establishes a direct connection with the servers of the respective social network, as soon as you request our website. The content of the plug-in is communicated directly to your browser from the social network, and integrated into the website by your browser. Plug-ins can be deactivated again with a click.

You can find more information in the respective data protection declarations of Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Xing, Pinterest and Google.

1. a.) Facebook social plug-ins

On this website, social plug-ins from Facebook are used to make our website more personal. To this end, we use the “LIKE” and “SHARE” buttons. These are provided by the American company Facebook Inc., 1601 S. California Ave, Palo Alto, CA 94304, USA.

Through the integration of plug-ins, Facebook is informed that your bowser has requested the corresponding page of our website, even if you do not possess a Facebook account or are not logged in to Facebook. This information (including your IP address) is transmitted by your browser directly to Facebook’s servers in the USA, and saved there.

If you are logged in to Facebook, Facebook can directly match visits to our website with your Facebook account. If you interact with plug-ins – for example, the “LIKE” button or the “SHARE” button – the corresponding information is also sent directly to Facebook’s servers and saved there. The information is also published by Facebook and, depending on your personal privacy settings on the Facebook portal, made visible to other users.

Facebook can use this information for the purposes of advertising, market research, and user-orientated design of the Facebook website. To this end, Facebook creates user profiles, interest profiles and relationship profiles, to evaluate your use of our website in regards to the adverts displayed to you on Facebook, to inform other Facebook users about your activity on our website, and to provide services linked to the use of Facebook, for example.

If you do not want Facebook to attribute data gathered via our website to your Facebook account, you must ensure that you have logged out of Facebook before visiting our website.

To learn more about the purpose and extent of data gathering and the further processing and use of data by Facebook, as well as your rights in the matter and the settings available to protect your privacy, please view Facebook’s data protection notice.

1. b.) Twitter social plug-ins

On our website, plug-ins from the short messaging network Twitter Inc., 795 Folsom St., Suite 600, San Francisco, CA 94107, USA have been integrated. You can recognise the Twitter plug-in (tweet button) by the Twitter logo on our website. You can find an overview of the tweet button here.

If you have activated social plug-ins, a direct connection is established between your browser and the Twitter server. Twitter is informed that you have visited our website with your IP address. If you click on the “tweet button” while you are logged in to your Twitter account, you can post a link to content on our website onto your Twitter profile.

In this way, Twitter can attribute your visit to our website to your user profile. Please note that as providers of the website, we do not come to know the content of the data transferred or how Twitter uses this data. You can find more information in Twitter’s privacy policy.

If you do not want Twitter to attribute your visit to our website to your profile, please log out of your Twitter account before visiting our website.

1. c.) Google Plus social plug-ins

Our website uses the “+1” interface from the social network Google Plus, which is operated by Google Inc., 1600 Amphitheatre Parkway, Mountain View, CA 94043,USA. The button can be recognised by the “+1” symbol on a white or coloured background.

If you request a page on our website that contains such an interface, your browser establishes a direct connection with Google’s servers if you have activated social plug-ins. The content of the “+1” interface is transferred by Google directly to your browser and integrated into the website by your browser. We therefore have no influence over the extent of the data that Google gathers via the interface. According to Google, without clicking on the interface, no personal data is gathered. Only in the case of members who are logged in will such data (including IP address) be gathered and processed.

To learn more about the purpose and extent of data gathering and the further processing and use of data by Google, as well as your rights in the matter and the settings available to protect your privacy, please view Google’s data protection notice.

If you are a Google Plus member and do not want Google to use our advertising to gather information about you and to combine this with your membership data that Google has already saved, you must log out of your Google Plus account before visiting our website.

1. d.) Pinterest social plug-ins

Our website uses the pinterest.com service. Pinterest.com is operated by Pinterest Inc., whose registered headquarters are located at 808 Brannan St, San Francisco, CA 94103, USA. Through the integrated “Pin it” button on our website, Pinterest is informed that you have requested the corresponding page of our website. If you are logged in to Pinterest, Pinterest can attribute this visit to our website to your Pinterest account, and thus combine the data. By clicking on the “Pin in” button, data that is transmitted is saved by Pinterest. To learn more about the purpose and extent of data gathering and the further processing and use of data by Pinterest, as well as your rights in the matter and the settings available to protect your privacy, please view Google’s data protection notice, available at http://pinterest.com/about/privacy/.

If you are a Pinterest member and do not want Pinterest to use our advertising to gather information about you and to combine this with your membership data that Pinterest has already saved, you must log out of your Pinterest account before visiting our website.

1. e.) YouTube videos

We have integrated YouTube videos into our website, which are saved at www.youtube.com and can be played directly on our website. These are all integrated in “privacy-enhanced mode”, which means that no data about you as a user is sent to YouTube if you do not play these videos. Only if you play the videos will the data indicated in the paragraph below be transferred. We have no influence over this data transfer.

By visiting our website, YouTube is informed that you have requested the corresponding subpage of our website. Additionally, the data indicated in section 2 of this privacy policy is also transferred. This takes place regardless of whether you possess a YouTube user account or not, and whether you are logged in to a YouTube user account or not. If you are logged in to Google, your data will be attributed directly to your account. If you do not wish this data to be attributed to your YouTube profile, you must log out before activating the button. YouTube saves your data as a user profile and uses this for the purposes of advertising, market research and/or the needs-based design of its website. Such evaluations are carried out (even for users who are not logged in) in particular to provide needs-based advertising and to inform other users of the social network about your activity on our website. You have the right to object to the creation of this user profile, and must contact YouTube in order to do this.

You can learn more about the purpose and extent of data gathering and the further processing and use of data by YouTube in YouTube’s privacy policy. Here, you can also find more information regarding your rights and the settings available to protect your privacy:

www.google.de/intl/de/policies/privacy . Google also processes personal data in the USA, and is subject to the EU-US Privacy Shield framework, www.privacyshield.gov/EU-US-Framework .

1. f.) XING social plug-ins

On our website we use plug-ins from the social network XING.com. This is a service provided by XING AG, Dammtorstraße 29-32, 20354 Hamburg, Germany.

In the case of each request for our website, which features this component, this plug-in ensures that your browser downloads a correct representation of the component.

According to XING, no personal data pertaining to the user is saved when requesting our website. XING likewise saves no IP addresses. Additionally, no evaluation of user behaviour takes place through the use of cookies in the context of the “XING Share Button”. You can find more information regarding this matter in the data protection notice for the XING Share Button, available at: www.xing.com/app/share?op=data_protection

1. g.) LinkedIn social plug-ins

Our website uses the LinkedIn service. LinkedIn is operated by LinkedIn Corporation, whose registered headquarters are located at 2029 Stierlin Court, Mountain View, CA 94043, USA. If you use the plug-in button, this component ensures that your browser downloads a correct representation of the LinkedIn component.

LinkedIn therefore does not discover which concrete pages of our website are being visited. If you click on the LinkedIn “Recommend Button” while you are logged in to your LinkedIn account, you can post a direct link to the content of our pages to your LinkedIn profile. In so doing, LinkedIn is able to attribute your visit to our website to your LinkedIn user account.

We have no influence over the data that LinkedIn gathers or over the extent of the data gathered by LinkedIn through this process. We also do not learn the content of the data transferred to LinkedIn. To learn more about the data gathering carried out by LinkedIn, as well as your rights in the matter and the settings available to you, please view LinkedIn’s data protection notice. This is accessible at www.linkedin.com/legal/privacy-policy

Information regarding data transfers to the USA

For the sake of completeness, we would like to inform users whose abode or registered location is within Switzerland that in the USA, surveillance methods are used by US authorities that enable the general saving of all personal data belonging to all persons whose data is transferred from Switzerland to the USA. This takes place without discrimination, limitation or exception in pursuit of the following aims and without an objective criterion, which allows US authorities to access the data and to limit its use for highly specific and strictly limited purposes, which can justify both access to this data and its usage. Furthermore, please note that there no judicial redresses in the USA for Swiss data subjects, to allow you to gain access to the data in question or to obtain the correction or deletion of this data, and no effective legal protection against the access rights of US authorities. We would like to make data subjects aware of this legal and factual situation, so that they can make an informed decision as to whether to consent to the use of their data.

We would like to inform users who are resident in a member state of the EU that from the point of view of the European Union, the USA – partly due to the matters discussed in this section – does not offer an adequate level of data protection. As we have explained in this privacy policy, if recipients of data (such as Google, Facebook, and Twitter) are headquartered in the USA, we will ensure that you data is subject to a suitable level of protection with our partners either through contractual provisions with the company in question or through the company’s compliance with the EU-US Privacy Shield framework.

Retention of data

We only save personal data for as long as this is required in order: (i) to employ the tracking, advertising and analysis services indicated above within the context of our legitimate interest; (ii) to execute the services named above, for which you have expressed a desire or consent (e.g. our newsletter); or (iii) to comply with our legal obligations. 

Contractual data is retained for a longer period, as this is stipulated by legal retention requirements. Retention requirements that oblige us to retain data arise out of financial accounting provisions and fiscal provisions. According to these provisions, business communication, completed contracts and accounting receipts must be retained for up to 10 years. If we no longer require this data to provide services for you, the data will be blocked. This means that the data may still be used for accounting and fiscal purposes.

The right to complain to a regulatory authority

Without prejudice to any other administrative or legal redress, you have the right to make a complaint to a regulatory authority, especially in the member state in which you reside, if you are of the opinion that the processing of personal data pertaining to you violates the GDPR.

The regulatory authority to whom you make a complaint will inform the complainant about the status and outcome of the complaint, including the possibility of a judicial redress in accordance with art. 78 GDPR.