Responsible Travel, Information & Facts - Travel Indochina Australia

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.

Big Brother Mouse children in action 3

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 organisation 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 emphasis on Small Group Journey and Tailormade travel (with a focus on local experiences) allows opportunities for cultural exchange and the dissemination of information between travellers and local people.
We intentionally avoid the trappings of mass tourism such as organised 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 traveller 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. In addition to our Responsible Travel Policy, we have developed a position on visiting orphanages in Asia which we encourage you to read and consider before your travels.

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 2011.

The predicted emissions for 2011 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 2011 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.

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Charities we support

Vietnam

The Loreto Vietnam-Australia Program

This inspirational organisation has operated as a registered charity association and non-government organisation (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 travellers.

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’

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.

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.