Travel While Doing Good
At DTH Travel, creating authentic and meaningful travel experiences goes hand in hand with our commitment to responsible travel. We focus on empowering local communities through our curated products — while inspiring our clients to be a part of the solution in protecting the ecosystem and the environment, and preserving traditions and cultures across Asia. Here’s how we’re driving change through our people, our planet, and our purposeful actions:
We Care for Animal Welfare
We remain dedicated to protecting the wildlife, ensuring that our programs are ethical and have positive impacts for both travellers and animals. Our initiatives include:
- Committing to protecting animals and wildlife in the region.
- ‘Stop sell’ on all tours that involve elephant riding and reviewing all other products that involve animals.
- Working with partners that align with our stance and actions on animal welfare.
Go Local Experiences
We’ve designed a range of must-have immersive experiences for explorers seeking a deep connection with the places they visit. Through partnerships with the local populations, our excursions highlight authentic cultures and traditions, contributing to community development and sustainability.
Partner Communities
We collaborate with a variety of partners to empower communities across Asia and preserve intangible cultural heritage. Some of our trusted partners include:
- PHARE Circus: A troupe which employs alumni of Phare Ponleu Selpak (PPSA), a non-profit arts school in Battambang, Cambodia, providing underprivileged children and young adults with artistic education and vocational training.
- Living Land Farm: A community enterprise in Luang Prabang, Laos, founded by locals who wanted to make better use of their land, eventually turning it into a community farm and craft centre.
- Jungle School Gombak: A leadership experiential program that empowers the people of Gombak, Malaysia to share their cultural knowledge and expertise.
- Hang Kia Commune: A mountain community in Vietnam that houses the Mong Ethnic Minority.
- Ock Pop Tok Living Crafts Centre: A textile and artisan institution in Laos, founded on the principles of fair trade and sustainable business practices.
- Kaiphaen Restaurant by TREE: A training restaurant that employs underprivileged Laotians and turns them into world-class, skilled, hospitality personnel.
- Pour un Sourire d’Enfant: A Cambodian non-government organisation dedicated to the welfare of underprivileged children.
Corporate Social Responsibility Activities
We actively engage in and organise activities as part of our corporate social responsibility. These programs include food drives, trash collection, marathons, and more, all aimed at fostering a better Asia for both explorers and locals. We support initiatives and groups such as:
- Pencils for Kids: An organisation dedicated to helping children in developing countries attend school. We’ve been supporting their missions across Thailand, to provide school supplies for underprivileged children. Most recently, we sponsored a charity golf classic to raise funds for one of their missions.
- Laos Friends Hospital for Children: DTH Travel joined the hospital’s half-marathon to support its cause in raising awareness for the important work it does, providing medical care for children in Laos.
- Bangaan Elementary School: A school in Nueva Viscaya, Philippines. They’re one of the recipients of DTH Travel’s donations, both monetary and in kind, from weekly soup kitchen programs and more, to keep its undernourished kids healthy.
Enhanced Sustainable Practices in Offices
We believe in practising our advocacy in even the smallest ways, which is why our commitment to sustainability extends to our office policies and other action points. They include:
- Sustainability Team and Training Initiatives: We have established a dedicated Sustainability Team, led by an expert Coordinator who drives our sustainability projects. Regular training sessions for both staff and suppliers ensure that our travel offerings adhere to industry best practices. Our comprehensive strategy includes community engagement, carbon reduction, and broader environmental initiatives — all aimed at fostering long-term positive impacts.
- Carbon Measurement and Reduction: We’re actively measuring our carbon footprint to identify reduction opportunities and operational cost savings. Our carbon reduction roadmap sets clear goals, with future plans to communicate progress transparently to stakeholders. This comprehensive approach includes initiatives like switching to digital sharing of itineraries via Google Drive, reducing paper usage significantly.
- New Sustainability Clauses: We’ve introduced sustainability clauses in our contracts, setting clear expectations for our suppliers to align with our policies. We provide training to help partners meet these standards, fostering collective progress.
- Monitoring of Compliant Suppliers: We employ a robust supplier monitoring system with inspections and customer feedback to ensure compliance. We’re also prioritising properties and suppliers with sustainability certifications for promotions, further encouraging eco-friendly practices.
- Partnering with Local Social Enterprises: Among others, we collaborate with Mad Travel, Rags2Riches, House With No Steps, and Bambike to support the marginalised communities they employ.
- Ensuring Sustainability Even in Corporate Giveaways: We prioritise working with eco-friendly suppliers and small businesses that support local communities.
- Waste Management: We do our best to segregate and recycle waste such as paper, glass, and aluminium.
- Eco-Friendly Fixtures: As much as possible, we opt for energy-saving tech and rely mostly on natural light.
- Office-Wide Earth Hours: We encourage our team to switch off the lights, while they’re out for lunch, and always after they leave their desk at the end of a working day.
- Reduction of Single-Use Plastics: We provide reusable cutlery and glasses in our office to cut back on plastic waste.
Future Projects and Community Collaboration
Looking ahead, we are planning for Global Sustainable Tourism Council Policy training for our sustainability team, alongside the development of internal and external sustainability policies. We aim to enhance our collaboration with community service projects, reinforcing our commitment to corporate contributions.