Responsible Tourism Policy

Policy Aims

To provide our guests with an enjoyable and unique eco-friendly experience in the Khao Sok rainforest; together with demonstrating our commitment to ensuring that tourism is a positive benefit to the local community whilst limiting any negative impact on the environment we are visiting.

Economic Responsibility

The only "farang" at Tree Tops is Genene, the English owner who deals with the "office" side of the business; otherwise Tree Tops is run and managed on a day to day basis by Genene’s husband Pom and his family who are local to the area. All other members of staff, if not family, are mainly from the local villages, with a couple of our guides originally coming from the hill tribe villages in the north and two of our staff are from Burma. One of our Burma staff has been at Tree Tops for over 20 years; the other is the orphaned son of another long term member of staff from Burma, who sadly died of TB last year, so we took in his son. Unlike some local businesses we pay our staff on the basis of the job they do and how hard they work; we do not pay our staff from Burma less just because of where they are from.

All our guides are licenced and have many years experience of the Khao Sok area. We have an "on the job" training programme for younger members of staff to enable them to obtain the necessary experience prior to applying for their licence.

During our recent renovation project we built a number of staff houses just outside of Tree Tops main site, some of which, due to popular request, we have also made available to rent by local families.

We make regular donations to the local school and last year, in addition to the monetary donation also donated 5 bicycles. We have also made substantial donations to the local temple and at the time of the building of the new temple a few years ago we donated the entire funds to finance the tiling of the new floor. Every year we hold a "do merit" ceremony at Tree Tops whereby the local monks call upon the spirits to "bless" our business with "good luck" for the next year…this also generates income for the monks themselves as well as maintaining our commitment to local culture and belief. We source the majority of our food locally mainly from the local markets.

We send our laundry out to a local "business" to help provide an income to a local family.

We pay local taxes and following the recent government directive to assist the poor in the community, we pay our share of the local electricity cost that is now "free" to local people.

Environmental Responsibility

Office based initiatives include:-

Paper re-cycling and re-using
Printer cartridge re-cycling/re-filling
Minimum use of paper documentation ie.

all trip itinerary information is available on the website
most correspondence is dealt with by email
invoices are sent by email

Office machines are turned off when not in use, not left in "standby".

Our Guides advise and educate our guests on ways to reduce negative impact on the local community and environment. All trip activities are accompanied by our guide who ensures that guests are aware of the correct attire, cultural beliefs and our responsibility to the local wildlife, flora and fauna and the effects that poaching has on the environment. When the itinerary includes trekking in Khao Sok National Park we can take time to stop at the Visitors Centre and see the extent of environmental protection work being carried out on the various types of flora and fauna in the Park, by the Park Rangers.

Our new air-conditioned tree house and tree high rooms are constructed of man-made materials whilst still retaining that “jungle feel”. The rooms are built carefully up, on and around trees without damaging the centre core. Most rooms have the tree growing through the room at some point. The electric supply to the rooms is controlled by a key sensor, so when you remove the key when leaving the room, the electricity will automatically cut off, thereby saving energy.

The basic style tree house rooms and the raft houses are constructed of bamboo and thatch obtained from self-sustaining resources of locally grown bamboo.

The bathroom facilities at our raft houses are built on the island to ensure that sewage does not enter the lake.

Social Responsibility

We issue our Guests with our Travellers Code of Conduct Guidelines and General Information Document at the time of confirmed booking.

We are proud to be part of the local community and endeavour to provide our guests with a unique insight into the surrounding environment and its people. We provide local employment both directly via our staff and indirectly by purchasing provisions, hiring boats and other equipment necessary to run our tours.

Most of the social responsibility to Khao Sok is an economic responsibility so our economic policy is also much of our social policy. The local people need jobs and money to survive and our business provides this to the area.

Our guides advise and instruct guests in local culture and customs and ways in which guests can ensure that tourism has less of a negative impact on the area.

Most of our guests either travel as individuals, couples, families or small groups which provides for a more personal experience between those travelling, the guides and the local community.

Whilst much social responsibility revolves around putting money back into the community, we have also accepted a responsibility towards local animal welfare. We are in discussion with a local animal lover and pet shop owner in Takuapa to jointly fund an animal neutering programme; firstly for the local cats and dogs that are dumped at the local temple and cared for by the monks and secondly for the local people who would like to get their animals neutered but cannot afford to do so. Funding for this will initially come out of a proportion of Tree Tops and the pet shop income, hopefully supported by donations from interested guests. The long-term aim is to set up an animal sanctuary for the unwanted animals, on the land we have just outside of Tree Tops.