Under 30's Thailand tour

Environment

We use local transport where safe, reliable and feasible to do so. When this isn’t possible, we use private locally-owned transport instead. As such, we ensure our vehicles/fleets are well maintained and fuel-efficient. On this trip we travel on overnight trains, public buses, local ferries, songthaews, tuk-tuks and eve a kayak, when exploring the limestone cliffs of Southern Thailand. Using public transport helps to protect the environment by reducing additional cars on the road and also provides our travellers with a great cultural experience. Many exchanges between locals and travellers have happened on our local transport, it’s the responsible way to get around and can also be a lot of fun!

Saying no to plastic bags is so engrained in our minds that we actively hand out a reusable cloth bag to every traveller on our trips. We want to help our passengers get on board by making it easier for them to avoid single-use plastic bags whilst discovering a destination with us.

Community

Accommodation on this trip is very varied. We try to use small locally-owned properties where we can and it’s available. On this trip we stay in a jungle guesthouse just outside of Khao Sok National Park. It’s family-run and one that we have been visiting for many, many years. Choosing small properties like this guarantees our money is going directly to the Thai people and we have been able to see the benefits of this over the years. It also allows our travellers to feel right at home, rather than just tourists in a new country.

We have a foundation that was set up to empower travellers to have a positive impact on the communities they visit. It now supports more than 50 grassroots projects around the world. In Thailand we support an organisation called Friends of the Asian Elephant. Asian elephants face a number of troubling threats in Thailand. Ongoing human development has dramatically reduced the size of their habitat. As a result, elephants and humans often live in close contact with each other, confrontations are inevitable and many elephants are harmed in the process. Land mines are a risk. To make matters worse, elephants are frequently exploited for labour and tourism. Friends of the Asian Elephant was established to protect and conserve the welfare of elephants in Thailand. FAE’s elephant hospital provides free medical care for sick and injured elephants, as well as education for keepers. Its Mobile Vets Project sends teams to Northern Thailand to diagnose and treat elephants. It also works collaboratively with other organisations to advocate for elephant welfare. We were the first global operator to end elephant riding and they have now been joined by over 160 travel companies after learning of the abuse.