The Market

There are at least 55.1 million Americans who could be classified as "sustainable tourists" or "Geotourists". A growing number of tourists are willing to forgo five-star hotels and lavish meals to live a simpler life for a while. "The travel habits of such tourists are guided by their high awareness of the world around them. These travelers have ceaseless expectations for unique and culturally authentic travel experiences that protect and preserve the ecological and cultural environment."

See what National Geographic Traveler says in the Geotourism Study

See what Newsweek says about travellers

"A growing number of tourists are willing to forgo five-star hotels and lavish meals to live a simpler life for a while, whether in a Buddhist monastery, a Mongol tent or a village hut in Cameroon. "Tourists have turned into travelers," says explorer Robin Hanbury-Tenison,...the former go abroad to rest their bodies and their minds. The latter go to see and understand."

The communities that we work with provide authentic encounters with local cultures to tourists who shun mass tourism. The style of Community Based Tourism (CBT) that we support is a form of pro-poor tourism that ensures tourism revenues reach those who provide the experience, while seeking minimum contamination, and maximum appreciation, of the visited culture and its surrounding environment.

What we promote is the opposite of mass tourism. CBT fosters cross-cultural exchanges and friendships and provides learning opportunities for the curious and culturally sensitive. Asian Encounters is not for everyone; but it will satisfy the emerging market for responsible travel among people with an abiding interest in the peoples of the world, a genuine concern for their well being and a yearning to better understand Asia's cultures and lifestyles.

Our unique contribution is the provision of shared computers and Internet access to local communities for promoting and marketing their CBT products. Homestay operators and local guides interact directly with distant clients without having to depend on intermediary agents, whose only contribution anyway is to handle information.Once the communities become familiar with the technology, they can use it for other development activities of their choice; improving health, education, agriculture, enterprise development, employment and so on.