A force for good: What can global travel & tourism learn from social enterprises?

Can the loc­al com­munity-based busi­ness mod­els of tour­ism social enter­prises be rep­lic­ated at glob­al scale? Anishka Narula-Nielsen thinks so. It’s her first “Good Tour­ism” Insight. (You too can write a “GT” Insight.)

The search for ‘good tourism’

Tour­ism is one of the most power­ful forces in the world. It drives eco­nom­ies, cre­ates jobs, and intro­duces us to new cul­tures. But we also know that not all tour­ism is ‘good tourism’.

For years, we’ve seen the same cycle repeat itself: des­tin­a­tions get pop­u­lar, tour­ism booms, and before long loc­al com­munit­ies are priced out, cul­ture is com­mod­i­fied, and the envir­on­ment takes a hit. 

Mean­while, most of the profits don’t even stay in the des­tin­a­tion, they instead flow to large cor­por­a­tions, for­eign-owned resorts, and inter­na­tion­al book­ing plat­forms, leav­ing loc­al people with the smal­lest share of the profits and the biggest share of the burden.

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What makes tourism ‘good’? 

It’s not just about eco-friendly hotels and sus­tain­ab­il­ity-related buzzwords. Good tour­ism act­ively bene­fits the people and places that make travel pos­sible. And I would argue that one of the most effect­ive ways to achieve this is social enterprise.

The social enter­prise busi­ness mod­el, which com­bines profit with pur­pose, is quietly trans­form­ing the tour­ism industry. Social enter­prises in tour­ism are often over­looked, yet they play a vital role in mak­ing the sec­tor more inclus­ive, eth­ic­al, and sustainable. 

Dur­ing my doc­tor­al stud­ies, I focused on research­ing social enter­prises in Thai­l­and and found that tour­ism social enter­prises are drivers of sus­tain­able tour­ism devel­op­ment because they:

• Pri­or­it­ise pur­pose over profit: Social value cre­ation is at their core.
• Empower loc­al com­munit­ies: Unlike private-sec­tor busi­nesses, social enter­prises involve loc­al voices in decision-making.
• Embed sus­tain­ab­il­ity: Respons­ible prac­tices are fun­da­ment­al to their oper­a­tions, not an afterthought.

Social enter­prises are more than just eth­ic­al busi­nesses. They redefine what ‘suc­cess’ looks like in tour­ism. My research found that well-run tour­ism social enter­prises con­trib­ute to: 

• Job cre­ation for mar­gin­al­ised groups; 
• Loc­al eco­nom­ic devel­op­ment through sus­tain­able sup­ply chains; and 
• The pre­ser­va­tion of cul­tur­al her­it­age by rein­vest­ing in communities.

In this “Good Tour­ism” Insight I explore why I believe this approach rep­res­ents one of the most prom­ising solu­tions for the future of good tourism.

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What makes social enterprises different?

Most tour­ism busi­nesses adhere to a famil­i­ar for­mula: max­im­ise profits and min­im­ise costs. 

Social enter­prises rewrite the script. They oper­ate with a dual mis­sion: profit and pur­pose. They are self-sus­tain­ing busi­nesses that rein­vest a sig­ni­fic­ant por­tion of their earn­ings into social and envir­on­ment­al causes. 

Unlike tra­di­tion­al busi­nesses that often extract value from com­munit­ies, social enter­prises embed com­munity-driv­en impact into their busi­ness mod­els, ensur­ing that tour­ism act­ively con­trib­utes to loc­al well-being rather than dis­pla­cing or exploit­ing communities.

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What I learned about tourism social enterprises in Thailand

In Thai­l­and, where I con­duc­ted my research, many social entre­pren­eurs are deeply influ­enced by Buddhist val­ues and King Bhu­mibol Adulyadej’s ‘Suf­fi­ciency Eco­nomy Philo­sophy’, which emphas­ises mod­er­a­tion, resi­li­ence, and long-term sus­tain­ab­il­ity. This cul­tur­al found­a­tion makes Thai social enter­prises unique, but the prin­ciples they fol­low apply globally.

The val­ues of Thail­and’s Suf­fi­ciency Eco­nomy Philo­sophy shape busi­ness mod­els that pri­or­it­ise fair wages, loc­al invest­ment, and long-term sus­tain­ab­il­ity over short-term profits.

What does this look like in practice?

• A com­munity-run gues­t­house that chan­nels profits into loc­al edu­ca­tion and health.
• An eco-tour com­pany that funds loc­al con­ser­va­tion efforts through vis­it­or fees.
• A res­taur­ant that offers on-the-job paid train­ing to loc­al mar­gin­al­ised youth, provid­ing them with career opportunities.

Spe­cif­ic examples, such as HiveSters in Bangkok and Anda­m­an Dis­cov­er­ies in Phang Nga, south­ern Thai­l­and, demon­strate how com­munity-led tour­ism can offer high-qual­ity vis­it­or exper­i­ences while put­ting loc­als in the driver­’s seat. 

• HiveSters part­ners with seni­ors in the com­munity to offer authen­t­ic cul­tur­al exper­i­ences such as Thai dessert-mak­ing classes, provid­ing income to age­ing women who might oth­er­wise be excluded from the workforce.
• Anda­m­an Dis­cov­er­ies works with com­munit­ies affected by the 2004 tsunami, offer­ing homestays, loc­al guide train­ing, and con­ser­va­tion-focused tour­ism that helps restore both eco­sys­tems and livelihoods. 

These mod­els show how tour­ism can uplift com­munit­ies. And, rather than rely­ing on out­side fund­ing, these busi­nesses sus­tain them­selves while cre­at­ing last­ing, mean­ing­ful change. 

Read more “Good Tour­ism” posts about places in Asia

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What can the travel & tourism industry learn from social enterprises?

While social enter­prises are still a niche with­in tour­ism, they offer valu­able les­sons that main­stream tour­ism should adopt.

Keep money in local hands

One of the biggest issues in tour­ism is eco­nom­ic leak­age; when much of the money tour­ists spend leaks out of the des­tin­a­tion and fails to bene­fit the loc­al eco­nomy. Social enter­prises address this by pri­or­it­ising loc­al own­er­ship and rein­vest­ing profits back into the des­tin­a­tion. Before book­ing a hotel or tour oper­at­or for your­self or your cus­tom­ers, ask: Who owns this busi­ness? Where does my money actu­ally go?

Move beyond ‘feel-good’ sustainability

A hotel with sol­ar pan­els and bam­boo straws isn’t auto­mat­ic­ally an example of ‘good tour­ism’. Too many com­pan­ies mar­ket and sell sus­tain­ab­il­ity rather than prac­tise it. Look bey­ond gre­en­wash­ing. Is their impact doc­u­mented? Do they share how they give back? Social enter­prises make their pur­pose clear and rein­vest much of their profits to it. 

Recognise that sustainability is about people, too

When we talk about sus­tain­ab­il­ity in tour­ism, the focus is often on the envir­on­ment. But what about the people? Social enter­prises under­stand that sus­tain­ab­il­ity means fair wages, cul­tur­al pre­ser­va­tion, and long-term eco­nom­ic sta­bil­ity for all involved in the pro­duc­tion and deliv­ery of whatever it is they sell. 

A good tour­ism busi­ness is one that respects its work­ers, its com­munity, its sup­ply chain, and the envir­on­ment in which it oper­ates. A trekking com­pany that pays its guides fairly is as sus­tain­able as an eco-lodge redu­cing its plastic waste. And surely, both of those busi­nesses, and the industry as a whole, can strive to do both, ensur­ing tour­ism is both envir­on­ment­ally and socially responsible.

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Scaling up: How can global tourism do better?

The good news? Social enter­prises prove that tour­ism can be both prof­it­able and eth­ic­al. But to make these prin­ciples main­stream, big­ger changes need to happen.

• Gov­ern­ments must learn to pri­or­it­ise loc­al busi­nesses over large-scale investors who extract more than they give back.
• Trav­el­lers need to be even more inten­tion­al; choos­ing busi­nesses that rein­vest in host com­munit­ies and destinations.
• Industry stake­hold­ers — hotels, air­lines, tour oper­at­ors, etc — should integ­rate social enter­prises into their sup­ply chains.
• Des­tin­a­tion man­age­ment organ­isa­tions and tour­ism boards also have a role to play by sup­port­ing social enter­prises with capa­city-build­ing, vis­ib­il­ity, and procurement.

Tour­ism has the poten­tial to be one of the world’s greatest tools for eco­nom­ic empower­ment and cul­tur­al pre­ser­va­tion, but only if we act­ively design it that way.

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Final thought: The power of choice

If tour­ism is to be a force for good now and in the future, then every­one in tour­ism should embrace busi­ness mod­els that bal­ance eco­nom­ic and envir­on­ment­al sus­tain­ab­il­ity with social well-being, mak­ing des­tin­a­tions more resi­li­ent, eth­ic­al, and com­munity-focused. 

Good tour­ism isn’t about sac­ri­fi­cing com­fort or fun. You don’t have to spend your trip volun­teer­ing or hik­ing bare­foot for it to be mean­ing­ful. It’s simply about choos­ing wisely.

Wheth­er book­ing a hotel, a tour, or a meal, consider:

• Who bene­fits from my spending?
• Are staff paid fairly and treated with respect?
• Is this busi­ness rein­vest­ing in its community?
• Does the busi­ness source loc­ally and part­ner with loc­al initiatives?
• Can I find trans­par­ent inform­a­tion about their impact?
• Is the des­tin­a­tion bet­ter now than when I found it?

Tour­ism should be a force for good, not just for profit. And by mak­ing con­scious choices, every trav­el­ler and link in the sup­ply chain has the power to make tour­ism truly good.

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What do you think? 

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About the author

Anishka Narula-Nielsen is a tour­ism con­sult­ant and research­er spe­cial­ising in social enter­prises’ role in sus­tain­able tour­ism development.

Com­mit­ted to “shap­ing a tour­ism industry that pri­or­it­ises people, place, and pur­pose”, Dr Narula-Nielsen recently foun­ded Roots and Routes Con­sult­ing, which helps tour­ism and hos­pit­al­ity busi­nesses “refine their strategies for long-term suc­cess and sustainability”.

Pas­sion­ate about “cre­at­ing mean­ing­ful impact”, Anishka provides “stra­tegic insights that enhance guest exper­i­ences, stream­line oper­a­tions, and integ­rate respons­ible tour­ism practices”.

She is based in Lon­don, UK.

Featured image (top of post)

A force for good: What can glob­al travel & tour­ism learn from social enter­prises? A Gem­ini-gen­er­ated image.

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