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| Local food |
Travelling is one of the best ways to see the world in new perspectives. The people at Local Alike believe that travelling of any kind or the tourism sector as a whole must head towards more collective responsibility and sustainable outlook. Local Alike works with local communities and businesses to create the best experiences for everybody.
It is a social enterprise building an online platform to connect travellers and locals through meaningful and authentic experiences. As a social enterprise, Local Alike uses community-based tourism as a form of development tool to solve local issues, preserve local culture, and generate additional income to local communities.
You get to experience trips that are designed to be enjoyable and authentic for every traveller and local alike. You simply have to try out the amazing food and drinks, adventurous treks, immersive cultures, exciting shows, and so much more that you won’t find with traditional tour companies.
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| Exploring local |
Local Alike matches you with local communities and responsible tour operators instead of simply matching you to one tour guide. This is called community based tourism, a form of tourism that allows local residents to be involved while emphasizing community development.
The vision of Local Alike is to create opportunities for locals communities and businesses to better their livelihoods through tourism.
The Local Alike website gives you instant access to curated travel experiences, in-depth content, unstaged photographs, social impact reports, real user reviews, and news to help you plan your trips better.
Every experience has been designed to be immersive, memorable, unique, and more importantly be socially conscious. It’s really super easy: You can either find a curated experience collection or you can use their filters to find your best match.
Each tour’s price is determined by the local host and to keep it transparent, the Local Alike website adds a small management fee to support their operations.
The Local Alike website is able to take your bookings and process your payment with the help of Omise and PayPal. Your private and sensitive data are protected with the highest standards and regulations by VISA, Master, JCB, and American Express. All sensitive data is transmitted using TLS.
Prior to founding Local Alike, Pai worked at the Mae Fah Luang Foundation Under Royal Patronage. He was tasked with business development at Northern Thai communities under the Doi Tung Development Project.
Pai was born and raised in rural Thailand where he developed a deep appreciation for the ingenuity of indigenous culture and the role of sustainable development. He graduated with an MBA in Sustainability Management from Presidio Graduate School in San Francisco, California. Pai has worked in a variety of cross-cultural settings. His goal is to bring the wisdom of indigenous people to the mass market in order to develop sustainable products that have a positive impact on the society.
The vision of Local Alike is to create opportunities for locals communities and businesses to better their livelihoods through tourism.
The Local Alike website gives you instant access to curated travel experiences, in-depth content, unstaged photographs, social impact reports, real user reviews, and news to help you plan your trips better.
Local Alike offers
- Large selection of responsible travel experiences
- Approved local hosts and tour operators
- All experiences contribute towards a social cause
- Secure, safe, and fast booking
Social impact
Advancement in our society should never lead to the deterioration of our world. Creating positive social impact through tourism is the very reason this company is founded.Strive to be better
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| local craft work |
This is at the core of everything Local Alike does— to be better. This is the reason why Local Alike people come to work everyday. They are proving that tourism as a business can be a viable development tool for local villages. As a social enterprise, Local Alike measures where each baht goes and ensure that every traveler’s contribution goes into improving the local livelihoods.
Local Alikers are on the mission to enhance the livelihoods at local communities across Thailand and neighbouring countries. By introducing them to community-based tourism, Local Alike bring out their best and surface them to the world through the Local Alike website. On the other hand, Local Alike also build a free online solution for locals to use in managing their tourism business.
What is community based tourism?
Community based tourism is a form of tourism that takes environmental, social and cultural sustainability into account. It is managed and owned by the community, for the community, with the purpose of enabling visitors to increase their awareness and learn about the community and local ways of life.How Local Alike curate their listings
Local Alike work closely with the Community Based Tourism Institute of Thailand (CBT-i) to establish a clear set of expectations and standards in our endeavours. The principles of Local Alike development work is backed by well-researched guidelines developed by the CBT-i. Local Alike only works with communities that have mutual understanding in the work that Local Alike does. In return, Local Alike make a responsible decision to manage their carrying capacity, ensuring that their livelihoods are undisturbed. |
| meeting a local |
1) Conduct field inspection
Local Alike selects villages based on their readiness. Local Alike introduces a set of tourism standards to make sure each village is ready to welcome travellers.
Local Alike selects villages based on their readiness. Local Alike introduces a set of tourism standards to make sure each village is ready to welcome travellers.
2) Know the locals and set expectations
Local Alike enter the village and create an active conversation. Local Alike understands their needs and agrees on how tourism can help them reach their solutions.
Local Alike enter the village and create an active conversation. Local Alike understands their needs and agrees on how tourism can help them reach their solutions.
3) Bring out their best and help them shine
Local Alike takes responsibility in helping them come up with unique content used to promote their village. Local Alike work with locals to come up with a price then get it online.
4) Generate interest and soft launch
Local Alike launch a pilot trip to introduce travellers to the village while going through the entire process with villagers. These trips help Local Alike iterate and make sure everything is ready.
Local Alike launch a pilot trip to introduce travellers to the village while going through the entire process with villagers. These trips help Local Alike iterate and make sure everything is ready.
5) Lift off onto online platform
Once everything is good-to-go, Local Alike green light the village on their platform and it’s ready for all travellers to book. Local Alike start tracking their social impact starting here.
Once everything is good-to-go, Local Alike green light the village on their platform and it’s ready for all travellers to book. Local Alike start tracking their social impact starting here.
How do you use the Local Alike website?
Local Alike built their marketplace website with one basic premise: to surface the best responsible travel experiences to the world. All their local partner hosts are matched with travellers for the most enjoyable experience. All of their tours are curated by their very own trip experts. They meet with local leaders and responsible tour operators to surface the best experiences possible.Every experience has been designed to be immersive, memorable, unique, and more importantly be socially conscious. It’s really super easy: You can either find a curated experience collection or you can use their filters to find your best match.
Book easily, pay securely
Once you’ve decided which tour you’d like to join, Local Alike will inform you of the confirmation within 48 hours after their local friend accepts your booking. Payment is done on their website too!
Each tour’s price is determined by the local host and to keep it transparent, the Local Alike website adds a small management fee to support their operations.
The Local Alike website is able to take your bookings and process your payment with the help of Omise and PayPal. Your private and sensitive data are protected with the highest standards and regulations by VISA, Master, JCB, and American Express. All sensitive data is transmitted using TLS.
Share to earn travel credits.
Once you create an account with Local Alike, you can start sharing your personal referral link. Both you and your friends will receive travel credits when they create a new account. Share enough and you may be able to redeem a free trip with Local Alike!Somsak “Pai” Boonkam
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| Somsak “Pai” Boonkam |
The founder and CEO of Local Alike is Somsak “Pai” Boonkam, an Ashoka Fellow, a social enterprise building an online platform to connect travellers and locals through meaningful and authentic experiences. As a social enterprise, Local Alike uses community-based tourism as a form of development tool to solve local issues, preserve local culture, and generate additional income to local communities.
Prior to founding Local Alike, Pai worked at the Mae Fah Luang Foundation Under Royal Patronage. He was tasked with business development at Northern Thai communities under the Doi Tung Development Project.
Pai was born and raised in rural Thailand where he developed a deep appreciation for the ingenuity of indigenous culture and the role of sustainable development. He graduated with an MBA in Sustainability Management from Presidio Graduate School in San Francisco, California. Pai has worked in a variety of cross-cultural settings. His goal is to bring the wisdom of indigenous people to the mass market in order to develop sustainable products that have a positive impact on the society.
Email: pai@localalike.com
Website: www.localalike.com
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