Blockbuster Berlin show boosts Asia
Asian Trails has just returned from ITB in Berlin and after three busy days of meetings, the consensus from our team is that this year’s trade show has been one of the best ever for Asia.
The Asia section at the event was bustling with interest – indicating that the tourism sector in our part of the world is bracing for a major increase in visitors.
As always, it was wonderful for me to catch up with ‘old’ friends and meet new customers face-to-face. Many discussions focused on the news in our destinations and creating new and exciting products for the season.
Our new Explore guides were a major topic of discussion. We have already published brochures on Vietnam and Thailand in 2024 and the spotlight is now on Cambodia, which is released with this latest Trailblazer.
The informative guides highlight products designed with sustainable and responsible tourism elements, including excursions that involve deep interaction with local people, independent restaurants that specialise in more authentic food than mainstream eateries and alternative transport that is clean and silent.
These approaches enable our guests to experience the true inner heart of the destinations they visit, while leaving a minimum footprint.
Explore Cambodia reveals locations packed with cultural heritage and pristine beauty and these can be explored by eco-friendly transport, such as E-bikes, electric tuk-tuks and conventional cycles.
A focus on community-based tourism unveils how guests can enjoy highly rewarding and immersive endeavours, such as sowing tree saplings in a reforestation area in Kratie province.
The diversity of attractions, exceptional accommodation choices and ongoing infrastructure development confirm that Cambodia has become a standalone destination.
This month’s Trailblazer also includes our latest Sustainability Report 2023. This online publication provides a comprehensive overview of our drive to make sustainable travel and tourism the norm, not the niche approach, in our products and daily operations.
For example, in 2023 our Reusable Water Bottles Initiative raised a total of USD$10,588 for various clean water and plastic reduction projects across Asia.
The report also highlights how Asian Trails’ staff gave back to local people and the environment through corporate social responsibility activities.
These included engaging cyclo-drivers in Phnom Penh in our tours so they gain income and guests enjoy a local form of travel, planting coral gardens in the sea off Bali to maintain fragile ecosystems and seeding coconut trees on a beach in Southern Thailand to combat soil erosion. We will continue to expand on these initiatives as we go forward.
Finally, I would like to thank you all for being a friend and business partner of Asian Trails.
Please contact me if you think I can help with your objectives, in the growth of your business or simply to have a chat on matters that are of mutual importance.
Wishing all of our readers happy and sustainable trails!
Laurent Kuenzle
Chief Executive Officer, Asian Trails
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