TRAVEL INDOCHINA's RESPONSIBLE TRAVEL POLICY

As well as having offices in Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States of America, Travel Indochina has offices in several cities across Indochina. Our direct presence in Asia means that we are much better able to control the content of our itineraries, the actions of our suppliers, and the style of our Small Group Journey and Tailormade travel arrangements. Our presence in Asia also makes us more responsible as we can more effectively implement this policy. Click here for more information about our unique responsible travel journey on which you can really make a difference.

The Travel Indochina philosophy is premised on a belief that Small Group Journey and Tailormade travel arrangements allow for more genuine experiences with local people and their environments, and allow us to avoid the offensive traits of mass tourism.

• We firmly believe that the most valuable assets in our organization are our staff, and endeavour to train, treat and remunerate staff in accordance with this belief.
• We staff our Travel Indochina Asian offices with local people, wherever possible.
• Our bases in Asia make it more practical for us to demand that suppliers act in accordance with responsible travel principles. We have a history of demanding responsible behaviour from our suppliers and of working with our suppliers to develop standards in the tourism industry.
• We firmly believe that our emphasiz on Small Group Journey and Tailormade travel (with a focus on local experiences) allows opportunities for cultural exchange and the dissemination of information between travelers and local people.
• We intentionally avoid the trappings of mass tourism such as organized shopping stops, dining exclusively at hotel restaurants, and sightseeing from large buses only.
• A number of our Vietnam, Thailand and India itineraries include home-stay, farm and ecolodge experiences, allowing opportunities for social interaction and the sharing of ideas across people from different backgrounds.

We encourage you to look at our full Responsible Travel Policy, which outlines many of the responsible travel initiatives Travel Indochina is involved in. We also encourage you to refer to our Tread Lightly booklet, containing traveler tips for more 'responsible' travel in Asia, and the Chip in for a Charity section in this booklet, which suggests ways you too can give something back to developing Asia.

A RESPONSIBLE TRAVEL JOURNEY

Our new “Indochina Footprints” Small Group Journey offers you the chance to put something back into the destinations you travel through. This journey covers Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos and aims to highlight many of the issues facing these countries. You will spend two days helping out at the Sunlight Shelter in Saigon and the Big Brother Mouse children’s publishing project in Laos. You also visit the sights of Saigon, visiting the incredible temples of Angkor and ornate monasteries of World Heritage listed Luang Prabang. The focus on traveling responsibly includes visits to the Childsafe Centre in Phnom Penh, the inspiring Angkor Hospital for Children, the Gecko Environment Centre on Lake Tonle Sap and taking part in a ‘book party’ organized by Big Brother Mouse that aims to improve literacy in rural villages in Laos. We will also donate USD100 across our chosen causes for every “Indochina Footprints” traveler, and fully carbon offset the cost of operating each departure.

Click here to find out more about this exciting, and worthwhile new journey.

CLEANER CLIMATE Travel Indochina is committed to measuring and assuming responsibility for our carbon emissions. We have worked with Cleaner Climate to offset emissions from our Australian, United Kingdom and USA offices during 2010. The predicted emissions for 2010 are based on our previous carbon footprint and include direct and indirect emissions from company- operated vehicles, electricity usage, business related commercial flights, paper consumption and waste disposal. During 2010 we will recalculate our footprint to ensure the completeness of our footprint and offset any shortfall. The emission reductions are generated from Clean Technology (Kyoto compliant) projects in India (run-of-river hydro), Thailand (rice husk biomass), and China (hydro). These not only reduce emissions, but also contribute to the sustainable development of disadvantaged communities. Offsetting your own travel emissions is a personal decision. You can help support these same projects by making an offset payment through the carbon calculator on this site. The calculator will direct you to a secure payment site and you will receive an offset certificate and receipt from Cleaner Climate verifying your purchase.

Charities we support

Vietnam The Loreto Vietnam-Australia Program  This inspirational organization has operated as a registered charity association and non-government organization (NGO) in Vietnam for ten years. Creativity for Humanity CFH’s mission is to build sustainable business enterprises in Vietnam’s handicraft sector by providing a platform linking designers and businesses with Vietnam’s underprivileged artisans. KOTO (Know One Teach One) KOTO has now trained nearly 250 Vietnamese street and disadvantaged kids to be chefs or                                       bar & service staff.

Cambodia Angkor Hospital for Children Travel Indochina is a proud supporter of the inspiring Angkor Hospital for Children, in Siem Reap in Cambodia. This pioneering hospital provides much needed medical care to disadvantaged Cambodians and also runs a sustainable health care professional training program. For the past few years, Travel Indochina has paid for the employment of nurse Phannsy, who has kindly provided us with this letter. ChildSafe Network (a program of Friends-International) is a proactive child protection network involving local people, businesses and international communities, including travelers.

Laos Big Brother Mouse Travel Indochina supports the work of Big Brother Mouse (BBM), a project aimed at publishing books for children to increase literacy levels in Lao PDR. ElefantAsia Work with Travel Indochina to support the care and existence of these enigmatic giants in the ‘Land of the Million Elephants’

India The Purkal Youth Development Society PYDS assists children, young adults and women and primarily provides educational interventions and supportive actions in nutrition, health and other activities. For more insight, please click on the article: Hope in the Hills published in the Times of India, Mumbai.

Thailand Himmapaan Reforestation Project Travel Indochina proudly supports the innovative Himmapaan reforestation project in northern Thailand. The area of land targeted by the project for reforestation is close to the award-winning, Lisu Lodge eco-accommodation, near Chiang Mai.