How the transparency index works
We do not rank camps by how good they are. We measure how much verifiable information each operator publishes, and we show our workings.
What the index is
Every camp in this directory carries a score from 0 to 100 and a grade from A to E. That number answers one question and one question only: how much checkable information does this operator publish about its own camp?
It is not a quality rating. A camp with a grade of E may be excellent. What we can say is that, at the time we checked, a family could not find out basic facts about it without picking up the phone.
How the points are shared out
| Block | Points |
|---|---|
| Safety | 40 |
| Price | 30 |
| Programme | 20 |
| Operator | 10 |
Safety carries the most weight because it is the hardest thing for a family to verify from another country, and the easiest thing for an operator to leave vague.
Within each block, a field scores full points when the operator publishes it, half when it is published only partially, and nothing when it is not published at all.
What "not published" means
It does not mean the camp is unsafe. It does not mean the camp has no insurance. It means we looked, and the information was not there.
We record every check: the page we read, the sentence we read on it, and the date. If you hover over any figure on a camp page you will see where it came from.
What we do not count
If we contact an operator and they confirm something by email, we mark it as verified by us. That earns a badge on the camp page — and zero index points. The index measures the operator's transparency, not our research. Rewarding ourselves for filling their gaps would defeat the purpose.
When the data goes stale
Every piece of evidence expires twelve months after the last check. Once it expires it goes back into our verification queue and the camp page says so.
Common questions
- Does a high score mean the camp is better?
- No. It means the operator publishes more checkable information. Quality and transparency are different things, and we only measure the second.
- Can an operator pay to improve its score?
- No. The score is computed from published facts only. Commercial agreements change nothing about it, and any camp page with a commercial link says so openly.