Context: Tourism is the backbone of the Thai economy, with just over 35,000,000 tourists arriving in Thailand during the period 2017-2018, an increase of 8.6 per cent on 2016-2017. Tourism provides an abundance of jobs in Thailand, with its total contribution to employment being 6,137,500 jobs or 16.1 per cent of total employment. The revenue created is also significant, generating THB3.9 billion in 2017. However, this income is primarily dispersed throughout urban areas and accumulated by large enterprises, such as hotel chains and large travel agencies. Few local people benefit from such a source of revenue.
Implementation of programme/ initiative: The Local Alike initiative aims to address this income disparity through four elements of its operations:
- Community Development Solution: Local Alike develops local tourism facilities such as homestays; it also promotes route development, and carrying capacity to prepare and strengthen its partner villages.
- Co-created Journey: Local Alike works with community partners to create authentic experiences for travellers.
- Community Based Tourism Marketplace: Local Alike connects travellers from around the world by enabling them to book activities, tours and homestays listed by locals themselves, as well as Local Alike’s curated programmes. Local Alike uses a platform which bridges the gap between community members and travellers.
- Community Fund: Local Alike supports and improves the quality of life for each community, by creating savings which are then used to improve education, the environment and livelihoods of those in the programme. This in turn allows for greater sustainability of each community’s development.
Main challenges: There are two main challenges Local Alike is facing. First, team expansion and finding potential employees with ethical principles and attitudes in line with those of the company. As a consequence, over the last two years, Local Alike has focused primarily on developing its team and increasing its number of employees. Secondly, there has been difficulty in balancing modernity with hospitality and local charm. To address this challenge, Local Alike is introducing standards and supports communities with which it works to maintain service quality and ensure customer satisfaction.
Results achieved: Local Alike has been working with 70 community partners in 30 provinces and has generated more than THB30 million for these communities. The revenue generated results in an annual increase in villagers’ income of 15 per cent. This increase benefits locals greatly – many now do not require high interest rate loans to start their next crop season and can send their children to high school. The initiative has generated at least 2,000 part-time jobs throughout Thailand, creating opportunities in villages for students and older persons who would otherwise not earn an income. It has also connected more than 15,000 travellers with local communities. Local Alike has further been implementing 12 social projects, using their contributed funds to enhance learning capacities for locals and solve community issues, such as waste management and poor infrastructure.
Moving Forward: Local Alike wants to see that communities with which it works operate community tourism sustainably in the long run. It would also like to showcase how sustainable tourism should be implemented in South-East Asia and has now expanded, by means of setting up with partners in Viet Nam and Taiwan Province of China.
Replicability: They key to Local Alike’s success has been understanding and working together with partners under the shared notion of “community-based tourism”. Another key aspect has been ensuring that the company works closely alongside communities, always maintaining a focus on sustainability. In this regard, community members are encouraged to make their own decisions relating to, or involving, their businesses, while at the same time understanding and adhering to Local Alike’s principles of preserving culture and nature, along with bringing economic opportunities for decent and sustainable livelihoods to communities.
References:
https://www.facebook.com/LocalAlike/
Local Alike Company Profile: https://drive.google.com/file/d/13HdIMgM7D8fcdi9Vgekla-2y7wQp92rx/view?usp=sharing
Acknowledgments:
This good practice was kindly edited by Ms. Elizabeth Linklater
Project Details
Date: May 24, 2018