Hgtravel sustainability booklet

SUSTAINABILITY

As one of the company's core values,

sustainability is based upon four pillars in HG Travel

Our Team

Our Affiliates

Our Products

Our Suppliers

TogetherSustainable experiences

To underline the significance of developing sustainable products, HG Travel dedicates a full product line - "Together" - to contribute towards mankind's welfare and sustainable society.

Our Product

“Together” is HG Travel's product line designed for travelers who care and who aim to make a positive impactwhile visiting Indochina.

Together is about giving back and helping the less fortunate members of the community. The countries of Indochina, beautiful as they are, cannot be considered as developed as west- ern countries. Especially in remote regions, you might find a lack of infrastructure, an insufficient education system and no health care. But in spite of a difficult past, recent conflicts and even genocide, the people here keep smiling and are looking forward to a better future. We want to enable you

to be part of this future and share some experi- ences with the locals.

There are many approaches to sustainable tourism and Together comprises a variety of them. Whether you like to actively help by getting involved in

community projects or just like to share a bowl of pho with the locals, supporting their small business, we can put you in the right place. But helping

in a sustainable way can be difficult;; many offers in Indo- china are not what they seem. Especially when it comes to orphanages and children in Cambodia, we might advise you against visits, as many such operations are just out to make money for the owner, while the children are misused as tourist attractions.

Our Product

Our Product

Chi Phat Community Based Ecotourism

Visit Chi Phat, a remote community in the Cardamom Mountains. This village has received training and development guidance from Wildlife Alliance, an international organization to protect wildlife

and nature. Transferring from Phnom Penh, you'll be met by a community motor taxi in Koh Kong for the final stretch of road to the village (17Km, taking around 40 minutes). It’s a beautiful trip into the Cardamoms and the first wildlife can be observed in the form of birds. At Chi Phat you will be welcomed by your community guide and learn about the area's visitor code of conduct. You will then have time to wander the village and enjoy lunch. After lunch you will take a short mountain bike trip to waterfalls just north of Chi Phat where you can enjoy a relaxing swim. You can take some of the short trails around the area and your guide will tell you more about the

area's wilderness and environmental highlights. You will then visit the Reforestation Project Nursery (about 3km) to learn about the reforestation project, and you can plant a tree to contribute

to Conservation of the Cardamoms. Riding further to Bold Mountain View, you can enjoy the scene from sunset point (about 3km from commune). Heading back to Chi Phat, you will freshen up and

then enjoy dinner the community prepares for you. A quiet, early night here under a bright, star filled sky is an unforgettable experience.

It is our responsibility to manage visitors flow to remote areas and community based tourism projects to maximise the benefit for locals. Further, HG Travel actively supports its own community based project in Tu Ne.

Destinations

Preah Rumkel Community Based Ecotourism

Preah Rumkel Community-Based Tourism Site is located in the flooded forest, near the home of the endangered Irrawaddy Dolphins, with unique biodiversity and people; truly an exotic location. To visit Sopheak Mitt Waterfall, board a boat for a 7km/1hr cruise against the current,

enjoying scenic river views and glimpses of various birds. To reach the falls you will dock and trek 3.3km, over hills, across streams and through the jungle. Apart from the trek, the

rest of the day is free to relax around the falls. In the dry season from December to May, the level of the Mekong River is low and the water is very clear.

Our Product

Destinations

Our Product

Tam Hiep Kindergarten ProjectBen Tre Province, Vietnam

Located on an island, the locals of Tam Hiep commune has very limited income source. Hence, educational facilities are either not available or in bad shape. In collaboration with our Australian oversea tour operator, HG Travel organized a tour project helping the local commune with renovating classrooms, purchase new chairs and tables.

Projects

Our Product

Na Sai Kindergarten projectMai Chau, Hoa Binh province, Vietnam

Located in the remote mountainous area of Mai Chau, the kids in Na Sai village have to struggle daily over 4 kilometres to nearby village's kindergarten.HG Travel joined hands with a Korean tour operator in organizing a project trip to build a new kindergarten and provide proper playing ground for the kids in Na Sai.

Projects

Our Suppliers

HG Travel's integral approach to sustainable tourism includes

the right choice of suppliers. It starts with selecting people

who are willing to make a difference and support them in

their efforts. Be it the guide, training provision, the

restaurants , training street kids. We even send our

clients to the right suppliers for drinking water, who

uses eco friendly techniques - our quality control

makes sure that we have the best partners possible.

Our Suppliers

Sleep

Sustainably engaged means that you might want to compromise the pampered

luxury and stay close to the locals at their homestay and enhance your

experience and feelings. Otherwise HG can arrange environment-friendly

luxury eco-hotels, resorts or lodges close to the site for your comfort

while staying there.

Tu Ne Muong house-on-stilt homestay

Arriving in Tu Ne, you will be accommodate at Mr. Cu A Nong's homestay in Muong

house-on-stilt traditinational architecture, and enjoy the friendly talk with the host about the

Muong's tradidtions and customs.

Chi Phat Homestays

The Chi Phat CBET project has 12 guesthouses and 5 home-stays that are official members of

the project. Membership in the CBET (Community Based Eco Tourism initiative) means that

the facilities are monitored by the CBET committee, they are being cleaned regularly, and

that facility owners share a portion of their revenues with the community fund, allowing

the project to become sustainable. Bookings are made on a

rotation basis to ensure business is shared equally among

the accommodation providers. However, visitors may also

choose their preferred guest house or home stay.

Sala Don Khone Ecolodge

Experience a homestay in one of the ecolodge along the river with beautiful

landscape scenery of river and mountains and let yourself treated well by the friendly Laotian staff.

Our SuppliersSleep

Our Suppliers

Topaz EcolodgeTopas Ecolodge is a small hotel situated on a beautiful hilltop deep in the

mountains of Hoang Lien National Park only 45 min outside Sapa town

in the North of Vietnam. The ecolodge has 25 mountain bungalows all

built as rustic chalet-style single bedroom houses from local white granite.

You can enjoy the magnificent view of the towering peaks and endless

valleys dotted with ethnic minorities’ villages. A perfect place for touring in

the surrounding area hiking or biking or just relaxing from the noisy and busy

city life.

4 Rivers Floating Lodge4 Rivers Floating Lodge, an environmentally friendly 4-star boutique resort, offers the perfect

get-away from the daily bustle admist unspoilt virgin forests, paradise of birds and tropical

jungle alonge with pure luxury and high-end facilities.

Sleep

Tu Ne Muong house-on-stilt homestay

Arriving in Tu Ne, you will be accommodate at Mr. Cu A Nong's homestay in Muong

house-on-stilt traditinational architecture, and enjoy the friendly talk with the host about the

Muong's tradidtions and customs.

Chi Phat Homestays

The Chi Phat CBET project has 12 guesthouses and 5 home-stays that are official members of

the project. Membership in the CBET (Community Based Eco Tourism initiative) means that

the facilities are monitored by the CBET committee, they are being cleaned regularly, and

that facility owners share a portion of their revenues with the community fund, allowing

the project to become sustainable. Bookings are made on a

rotation basis to ensure business is shared equally among

the accommodation providers. However, visitors may also

choose their preferred guest house or home stay.

Sala Don Khone Ecolodge

Experience a homestay in one of the ecolodge along the river with beautiful

landscape scenery of river and mountains and let yourself treated well by the friendly Laotian staff.

Our SuppliersEat

KOTO Hanoi Restaurant Established by ""Know One, Teach One"" (KOTO Australia) a vocational training organisation for street and disadvantaged youth in Vietnam.The multi-level restaurant serves as professional platform for KOTO trainees to fine tune their skills in hospitality service and culinary arts while at the same time providing guests with a warm and charming venue to enjoy fantastic food and service prepared by disadvantaged youth.

Romdeng Restaurants Phnom PenhRomdeng restaurant belongs to TREE, a global alliance of training restaurants offering its partners in the NGO world access to established high quality standards of practice in the field of social enterprise and extensive support in implementing those. TREE restaurants are based upon a highly successful model of social business which provides not only positive beneficiary impact but also customer satisfaction and enhanced sustainability for the organization. A true taste of Cambodia in cuisine and décor, Romdeng serves Cambodian

food that ranges from almost forgotten recipes from the provinces to contemporary creative Cambodian cuisine.

Marum Restaurant Siem ReapAlso belonging to TREE, Marum Restaurant is located in Cambodia's premier tourist destination, Siem Reap.Featuring a winning mix of creative local cuisine, Marum is named

after the Moringa, or 'Tree of life' - very appropriate, as customers will be enjoying a fantastic dining experience that helps build a new life for the

students in training there!

Our Suppliers

Transfer vehicle

Move

Cycling

Hiking / TrekkingOn an ox-cart

Our Suppliers

Farming & Fishing Eco Tour Hoi An provides travelers with a close-up and intimate exposure to both the local farming and fishing communities.

Leisurely cycling along country roads witnessing local Vietnamese

rural life first hand, discovering all manner of photo opportunities

- coming and visiting a beautiful organic vegetable village,

watering and planting vegetable, hoeing a soil with local

farmer, riding a water buffalo in a rice paddy field; seeing

ducks swimming along the rice farm or farmers tending

their crops.

Experiencing the friendliness of the local people greeting you along the

way; boarding on Hoi An Eco-tour bamboo boat for a river cruise to meet and engage with local

fishermen and enjoy a hands-on experience of traditional net fishing.

This tour provides you with a cultural window into the ways of life of both our farming and fishing communities.

Experience

Our Suppliers

The local community in Cat Ba’s Viet Hai Fishing Village make a meagre living from cultivating pearls and catching

seafood, with only limited tourism and agricultural activities being carried out by the locals. As a result, the

community have limited access to vegetables, as they don’t grow them themselves, plus it is expensive to purchase

them from the mainland.

By establishing and monitoring the green farm in Viet Hai The Au Co is able to guarantee a

year-round supply of 100% organic locally-sourced, high quality agricultural produce for its

passengers to enjoy.

Simultaneously, Au Co Organic Farm is enabling the community of Viet Hai village to diversify

their local economy and helping them to be more independent, by reducing their reliance on

‘importing’ more expensive vegetables from outside the village.

Also, the Project helps to increase the awareness of local people on environmental issues as well

as living standards of Viet Hai villagers.

Experience

Our Suppliers

Experience

With Eco Sea Project Nam Dinh, travelers will visit

some of the biggest bonsai villages in Vietnam,

also showcasing the green ‘Temple of

Literature’; witness farmers at their daily

work on salt fields; enjoy your time with

bird-watching at the Xuan Thuy National

Park or get familiar with the local fisherman’s life.

Other local highlights are the countryside

museum and the Ninh Cuong church.

Our Suppliers

ExperienceEstablished in 2008, Koh Trong community-based eco tourism project aims to

make a positive impact on the island landscape and the living conditions

of the locals.

A 9 kilometers (6 miles) loop road around the island's perimeter

provides the perfect opportunity to explore the area by bike or horse

cart. Visitors come across traditional villages, fruit orchards and rice

fields while observing the daily rituals and routines of the traditional

village life.

The 'Reforestation Project' gives you the chance to plant a tree in your

name and help to enrich the flora of the island.

Our SuppliersExperience

Elephant Valley Project (E.L.I.E) Elephant Livelihood Initiative Environment

Jack Highwood, a passionate animal lover and

vegan, set up a camp in the jungle to give old

and mistreated elephants a dignified life,

after they were abandoned by their

owners or saved from their misery. Unlike

other camps, elephants are not tourist

attractions here and you are not allowed to ride

the animals, but rather can get to know them by

spending time alongside the gracious animals. Explore the jungle home of two

families of elephants and learn about these pachyderms, the local mahouts

and the forest.

Our Suppliers

The Bokeo Nature Reserve of 123.000 hectares forest

in is rich in biodiversity, birds, insects, and mammals

including populations of black gibbons, bears, tigers,

and migrating populations of wild buffalo and

elephants.

Thanks to a network of zip lines and tree houses, traveler will

'fly' over the forest to meet the wildlife with Gibbon Experience - Eco Tourism Forest

Conservation Project.

The funds received are reinvested to protec the forest.

Experience

Acknowledged as the company's most valuable assets and the

ambassador to travelers, HG Travel carefully selects and fosters

our own in-house guides.

Our in-house guides frequently receives in-house trainings to

strenghten their profound destination knowledge and service

engagement. In return, HG Travel receives mostly good feedbacks

from travelers in return. Furthermore, our in-house guides have

been honored with several guide awards in the past by local

organization and oversea partners.

Our Suppliers

BeyondGuide

Our Suppliers

But also the small things matter and a sustainable approach lays in the

details. Meaning even the choice of which water brand, not to use

disposable cold towels and minimising waste are essential. The HG

quality control team commits to this task as one of their prime directive,

searching for areas of important in the interest of our environment and the

clients expeierence.

Beyond

Our Team

“Travel for People”, simply like its name, enables people who couldn’t travel by themselves

giving them new experience, hope and motivation for a brighter life in future.

Sustainability starts within! Thus, we are proud that we an active team of volunteers that drive our in house CSR program HG for People. The activities are split in small teams under several themes like Travel for People, Smiles for People, Food for People and Emergency Care.

Travel for people

56

Tourist sites where children had visited

Teambuilding games during the whole trip

30 Million VND total funds that T4P had raised

36Numbers of children enjoyed the trip83

Days to prepare for the trip

1000k ++

16Numbers of active volunteers

Smiles & Happiness

“Food for People” aims to provide foods for the deserving poor who are

struggling for their warm meals every day. Those might be orphans, homeless,

handicapped, poor families or children in remote areas.

Food for peopleOur Team

100Kg The weight that volunteers have to carry on during trekking

10kmDistance that volunteers had trekked

23Number of volunteers

190Number of people that we have served meal

10Hours is total travelling time for voulunteer to reach Dan May village

Million dong have been raised from “Clap Your Hands” campaign

11,7

"Emergency Care" aimes to help people in case of force majeure cases like

�oodings, disasters… by fund-raising activities to immediately respond and

support the a�ected people.

Emergency Care

Our Team

2 streams volunteers had to cross by

40+ active volunteers & more than 50 donors

58 poor families in 3 villages

1000+ new blankets, clean warm coats, wool hats, scarves, socks, gloves, etc.

With the hope to bring more happiness, smiles to unlucky people with small projects

such as: bring music, caring to hospital, retirement house, orphan center, Cinema night,

Make a wish come true…

Our Team

Smiles for People

Established in 2014 by some researchers & practitioners, the Center for Environment and Community Assets Development (CECAD) is a non-governmental organisation with a focus on preserving biodiversity, implementing changes in response to climate change, improving living conditions, reducing social imbalance and assisting in the development of communities.

CECAD works primarily with poor, disadvantaged and vulnerable communities as well as ethnic minorities.

Tu Ne Community Based Tourism (CBT) ProjectThe Tu Ne Community Based Tourism (CBT) Project, a component of the three year CECAD project on The

Marginalized and Capacity Building in Tu Ne commune, Hoa Binh Province, Vietnam, has developed an environmental and cultural tourism group focusing on the traditions of local Muong people. Tu Ne attracts responsible travel, wild nature, authentic culture and wild and new destination seekers.

Within the frame of the program, the basic tourism infrastructure has been established and local has been trained about serviced-oriented and service behavior. In turn, the community will have chance to

communicate with multi cultures from various countries and improve their income. By joining Tu Ne CBT trip, travelers are supporting the local community and help them to improve the life conditions.

Starting in the last months of 2011, Tu Ne CBT Project is one of HG Travel’s Sustainable Tourism Development Projects which contribute to the local communities and environment. Through the Community Involvement Program, HG Travel

brings guests opportunities to develop their social responsibility and an increased sense of belonging to the local community.

Our AffiliatesCECAD

ChildSafe NetworkChildSafe Network is an international network that consists of local and international people, businesses

and groups that protect children from abuse and prevent them from being placed in abusive situations.

The situation nowadays is that children worldwide, especially street children, are at high risk of being abused. Abuse and risk situations for children include:

domestic violence, unsafe migration which can lead to tra�cking, various forms of exploitation including sexual and labor, and drug use.

HG Travel collaborates with ChildSafe Network to encourage travelers to look at the situation di�erently and provide them with alternatives so that they actively participate in helping children move away from life on the streets.

Friends-International is a leading social enterprise saving lives and building futures of the most marginalized children & youth, their families and their communities in South

East Asia and across the world.

Friends-International and its partners reach out to over 60,000 at risk children and young people, their families and communities each year supporting them to become productive and functional citizens of their countries.

Our affiliatesFriends-International

Thank you for your support enabling us to support!