SUMMARY
Local Alike aims to promote community-based tourism in Thailand. We have a mission to preserve local culture and ways of living in order to provide sustainable economic opportunities and livelihoods. We seek to enable environmentally-conscious tourists to gain valuable experiences of different cultures, seeing things from a local community perspective. We believe all of us, citizens of the world, can connect on a deeper level towards a collectively sustainable society. We immerse ourselves in every community which we work with to recognize and understand the needs of local people. We engage them in a participatory design process and devise tailor-made strategies for their particular community development. By doing so, we open doors for the communities to promote their unique culture and ensure that their legacy will go on and not be ruined by unethical tourism activities. We act as a friend, trusted adviser, and purposeful agency to provide a bridge between local communities and tourists. Local Alike has a vision to grow our platform and scale to become a marketplace of community tourism in Thailand. As our reach grows, so does awareness and our capacity to help more communities and our ability to have bigger social impact.
IMPACT
Local Alike believes in traveling the right way. We inspire every traveler to be a changemaker by helping us transform tourism into a powerful development tool. We work hand-in-hand with the locals to curate a genuine and meaningful experience for travelers and locals alike. We also set up community based tourism fund to help improve the quality of life for each community we work with. Our business model seeks to reduce the inequality of opportunities such as access to jobs and education. These is the main cause of poverty, leaving them no choice but to sell their products and service to middlemen at a disadvantaged price which compromises their livelihood. Moreover, young people also leave their homes for the city in search of income to support their families. This gradually causes local wisdom and culture passed on from generation to generation to fade away. Community tourism helps to raise awareness and provide income opportunities for sustainable development.
OUR CHIVAS VENTURE EXPERIENCE
It was the first global competition experience for Local Alike and myself. I had a chance to meet with fellow social entrepreneurs and most importantly, to share and learn from experts and judges both in London and New York. It was a great opportunity for Local Alike to expand our network on international scale, but my favourite moment was sharing the moment with other social entrepreneurs from all over the world.
WHAT'S NEXT
Our sales have increased by 85% compared to last year, and we are now venturing to nearly 60 local communities. This year we will also expand our model into Vietnam. We raised nearly 1 million Thai Baht investment last year and we have partnered with big corporations in Thailand.
