It can be easy to forget that the exciting and exotic places we visit on our travels aren’t just great destinations, but also the home of local people and communities with ancient traditions and culture. As such TrustedDMC sees social responsibility and sustainability as our highest duty, as we want to make sure that the local way of life is protected and allowed to flourish without being overwhelmed by our increasingly global world.
Handing out presents to local children.
To achieve this, we work closely with the local people and communities in the areas we visit, ensuring that they themselves receive the benefit of tourism to their home, rather than being exploited by large corporations and outside interests. Thus, all our suppliers are local people, trained by us in how to manage various tourism services, such as transportation and accommodation. Once the training is complete, we then provide support to these local businesses, and work with them to bring them customers and guests. In this way, the communities themselves decide the direction tourism takes on their land, ensuring the survival of their culture, traditions and way of life.
Local kids showing off their new colouring books.
We also place great emphasis on authenticity, especially when it comes to building materials and architecture. Instead of constructing new modern buildings, we make use of traditional houses, constructed from local materials (lowering the environmental impact) and built in authentic styles, albeit with some modern amenities added.
As education standards can be poor in rural Vietnam, TrustedDMC works closely with foreign partners and donors (such as Cora SA France, and Vinaes) to provide books and clothes for the children living in these remote areas. In addition to these activities, we are again working with Cora SA France to construct three new schools around Ba Be over the next three years, which will greatly improve the education of the next generation of people from this region. Cora has generously donated 30,000 euros to this project, 100% of which will be divided between the three schools.
Guests taking part in agricultural work.
Historically, travel in the rural northern region of Vietnam has been difficult for locals and foreigners alike. In order to make this part of locals’ life easier, Mr Linh’s Adventures (a sister-company of TrustedDMC) launched a shuttle bus service in 2017 aimed at local people and students studying in Hanoi, offering free travel between Ba Be and the capital.
Ensuring cultural and social sustainability is a difficult task, but one we believe is achievable through cooperation with local communities, travel companies around the world, and the visitors that we welcome here. In the end this will not only protect and help the local people, but also make sure that visitors continue to have welcoming and authentic experiences all over Vietnam and Indochina.