Our Responsible Tourism Pledge

Here at Bamboo Travel, we care deeply about the destinations we sell. When travelling in the developing world it is essential that we are mindful of how we affect the countries we visit and the people living there. Tourism has the potential to either help or damage a destination, but we believe that when practised responsibly travel can bring great benefits to both the tourist and the country they are visiting. We work hard to ensure that our tours are beneficial to the local community and that your money goes directly to the communities you visit as much as possible. We work with carefully chosen locally run partners in all our countries, ensuring that our guests will be accompanied by local guides & drivers throughout, and staying in smaller locally owned accommodation wherever possible.

Our pledge

In cooperation with AITO, we are working to increase our bookings of sustainable tours. There are a number of worthwhile projects already being run in many of the countries we work with, and we would like to increase awareness of these projects by encouraging more people to take part. We have hand picked a few select experiences from some of our key countries to promote this year. For every person booked onto one of these excursions we will donate $10 per person to one of our selected charitable causes (more on these below). These experiences can be easily included on most itineraries. In this way, we can make an impact across a wide range of areas in a variety of countries, while also providing much needed funds to a very worthy cause.

How you can get involved

To help us achieve our goal, you can choose to include one of our selected sustainable experiences in your tailor-made trip. We have chosen projects which genuinely work to improve the welfare of their communities in some way, whether it’s providing training to underprivileged youths in Cambodia or protecting elephants in Laos. The excursions have all been designed to offer an enjoyable experience to you the traveller as well. You can learn more about the country you visit and get a memorable travel experience, all while giving something back at the same time!

Here are the selected excursions for each of our countries, followed by details of the charities we are currently supporting. More will be added to this list as this project develops.

Borneo:
The Borneo Nature Foundation, Central Kalimantan

Cambodia:
Meet Cambodia's Hero Rats, Siem Reap
Phare the Cambodian Circus, Siem Reap
Jahoo Gibbon Camp, Mondulkiri

Laos:
MandaLao Elephant Sanctuary, Luang Prabang
Rural Village Experience with Big Brother Mouse, Luang Prabang
Nam Nern Night Safari, Nam Et Phou Louey National Park

Myanmar:
Medical Action Myanmar, Yangon

India:
Salaam Balak City Trust, Delhi
Pink City Rickshaw Tour, Jaipur

Sri Lanka:
Support the Tea Plantation Community, Nuwara Eliya, Hatton

Vietnam:
KOTO Cooking Class, Hanoi

Indonesia:
Muntigunung Community Trek, Ubud

Bicycles for Girls
We are working with one of our trusted partners in Nepal to sponsor the education of young girls in the Chitwan National Park area, and provide them with a means of transport to get to and from school, as well as much needed school supplies. The simple act of providing them with a bicycle cuts down their long journey time to school, meaning they stay in education for longer. In 2019 our donations helped to purchase 12 bicycles and some stationary for a local Tharu village. 

The Borneo Nature Foundation
Another of our charity partners is Borneo Nature Foundation who are a not-for-profit wildlife and biodiversity conservation and research organization that protects and safeguards tropical rainforests and the environment in Borneo. The foundation has a long-term project studying reforestation in some of the most damaged rainforests, subsequently their research focuses on identifying the best tree species for replanting and optimal light, water and nutrient conditions for survival and growth. Reforestation of rehabilitation areas is an essential part of their work. Replanting trees prevents soil erosion, restores wildlife habitats, and reduces fire risks; it engages local communities in conservation; and it contributes to the global fight to stop climate change.

Medical Action Myanmar
We are also keen supporters of Medical Action Myanmar (MAM). The main goal of MAM is to improve access to quality health care in Myanmar targeting poor, marginalized and vulnerable people. The introduction of community health workers providing community-based malaria diagnosis and treatment and basic health care services in remote communities in Mon state was associated with a substantial reduction in malaria. MAM also supported treatment of over 2600 severely ill COVID patients together with Community Based Organisations in 18 treatment centres in Myanmar. MAM has trained a network of over 2100 Community Health Workers who provide community-based health care, focusing on malaria, TB, and basic health care in remote and hard-to-reach villages.

Carbon Offsetting
As a tour operator selling long-haul flights is very much a part of our business, so we feel that it is important we do our bit to minimise the effects this has on the planet and offset some of the resultant carbon emissions. After researching the carbon market we have decided to partner with The Gold Standard. Rather than simply planting trees, which has been shown to be an inefficient method of offsetting carbon emissions, with the Gold Standard we can select specific renewable energy projects to offset specific amounts of carbon, which also creates sustainable development benefits for communities in Asia. We will be offsetting 1.5 tonnes of carbon for each client we send away, but if you would like to offset more than this for your own trip then you can do so on the Gold Standard website.