Travel Counsellors gives back to the local community on a recent Thailand Gold trip

Back in September, 32 of our best-performing business owners enjoyed five nights away in Thailand to recognise their achievements. While it was a fantastic opportunity for our Travel Counsellors to get together and celebrate each other’s successes, it was also an opportunity to give back to the local community.

The jam-packed trip included a stay at the world-renowned Elephant Hills resort, which encouraged Travel Counsellors to bring with them essential items to donate to local families as part of the resort’s ‘Pack with a Purpose’ initiative. Donated items included stationery, books, toiletries, and toys.

However, during the group’s visit to Lake Camp, a floating tented camp on Cheow Larn Lake, keen cyclist and Gold Travel Counsellor, Christian Mascarenhas, spotted the opportunity to add to the group’s donation list. He suggested gifting bikes to the local school in Khao Sok, supporting Elephant Hills’ dedicated Children’s Project which helps local families and small, independent businesses such as the bicycle shop.

Christian said: “When I saw the bikes in the local bicycle shop, I wanted to offer the chance for local school kids to enjoy cycling just like I do. It’s a huge privilege and a pleasure to be able to provide lots of happy memories and big smiles to people in the local communities we visited. It’s really important for me to give thanks and give back after another successful year in business.”

Nink Pitchaporn Tanpornsri, Marketing Supervisor at Elephant Hills, said: “We were delighted to deliver the bicycles alongside a selection of essential stationery from Travel Counsellors to Wat Tham Wararam School in Khao Sok.

“To make sure that everyone had an equal chance of getting a bike, we asked the teachers to arrange a prize draw for the kindergarten and primary school students. The whole event was really fun and exciting for all the pupils and teachers, and truly something special for the kids to remember.”

Throughout the trip, our Travel Counsellors immersed themselves in a range of sustainable activities, including jungle trekking and forest bathing.

They also stayed in properties that are Green Leaf certified – which allows our franchisees and their customers to identify sustainable properties so that they can make more responsible travel choices. With our recent Travel Tracker Report showing that 52% of 16-24-year-olds are willing to increase their budget for a more sustainable trip, our Green Leaf programme is going to become even more important as we head into 2024.

Would you like to join a community where care is at the core of everything we do? Would you like to make a positive difference to your customers, your fellow business owners, and the wider community? If so, you’ll feel right at home at Travel Counsellors. Get in touch with our New Franchise team to see how our award-winning franchise model could work for you.