Travel Indochina’s responsible travel belief statement

Travel Indochina practices a thorough, realistic responsible travel policy. We believe that travel should entail an exchange of knowledge and perspectives, a sharing of wealth, and a genuine appreciation of Asia’s beautiful natural environments. This philosophy underpins the heart and soul of our style of travel. It drives all that we strive to deliver to our travellers, and shapes the contact we have with our supplier colleagues in Asia.

We recognise that poorly planned itineraries or poorly informed tourists contribute less to cross-cultural understanding and less to the livelihoods of local people. We also recognise that we largely work in a developing part of the world. Political and social factors sometimes impede the short term implementation of our responsible travel initiatives, so we do not make blanket, unrealistic statements about the achievability of our goals - doing so would make us irresponsible. We aspire to short or medium-term implementation of our policies where this is realistic and to incremental change where there are constraints of a governmental or cultural nature.

Our responsible travel policy

As well as having offices in Australia, the United Kingdom and North America, Travel Indochina has offices in several cities in 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 tailor-made travel arrangements. In short, our offices in Asia give us leverage in implementing our responsible travel policy.

We encourage you to look at our full responsible travel policy, which outlines our mission and the many responsible travel initiatives in which Travel Indochina is involved throughout Asia. Prior to your departure, we suggest you download and 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.

Responsible travel video

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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 North American offices during 2012.

The predicted emissions for 2012 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 2012 we will recalculate our footprint to ensure the completeness of our footprint and offset any shortfall.

This year we are offering twelve carbon offset journeys, where we will offset the carbon emissions for every passenger on every departure, so you can travel guilt-free, knowing we’ve got your carbon footprint covered. We’ll cover all carbon emissions during your trip including hotels and transport, but do not cover the emissions from your international flight. Just look for this logo.

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.

You may also choose to offset the emissions generated by your international flight to Asia. You can help support the same emission reduction projects through Cleaner Climate’s carbon offset calculator.