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The Mission Statement of Green Trails
The Mission Statement of Green Trails
Our Mission Statement
We stand for and promote Travel with Love and Respect
- Love and respect for the destination and the people who live and work there;
- Love and respect for our beautiful natural world and for all living creatures;
- Love for the diversity of cultures; Love for history, heritage, customs, and traditions.
- Love for animals: we support the rescue of street dogs and cats.
- Respect for other religions, different opinions, and other lifestyles.
We want to bring together people from different backgrounds and cultures for mutual enjoyment and benefit while at the same time showing and teaching the utmost respect for our environment. We have to learn from each other. Green Trails is one of the leading operators of educational tours in North Thailand.
Safety for all participants is our priority, and we promote an active and healthy lifestyle. We offer vegan and vegetarian food if required. We discourage drinking alcohol in villages and during our activities.
Mark Twain
We consider this famous quote from American writer Mark Twain one of the all-time great quotes related to travel:
“Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one’s lifetime.”
We promote a healthy and active lifestyle
The devastating Covid-19 crisis made very clear that your immune system is essential to protect yourself against viruses and illness. We promote a healthy lifestyle that bolsters your immune system. Walking, hiking, trekking, and cycling are activities we love, encouraging people to do. We promote bicycle taxis as means of transportation. The drivers of these vehicles are, in general, healthier than their urban counterparts. The same goes for the mountain dwellers who lead an active life. We want you too to be active. There are many reasons why sitting is called the new smoking.
Healthy and unprocessed food
Many people have lost touch with where their food comes from. We will show you how rice, corn, and other staple foods are grown on our tours. You will see how fruit grows. The pineapple doesn’t grow on a tree. Did you know that? You will see how villagers grow vegetables and other crops. Everyone enjoys his cup of coffee but have you ever seen a coffee plant?
We will show you how to cook healthy food with fresh ingredients. We promote vegetarianism but will never force that on people. During our treks and tours, we serve meat. I am a vegetarian.
Alcohol, tobacco and drugs
Alcohol, tobacco and drugs don’t only damage your health but also cause numerous social problems and lots of misery. We are very aware of this and monitor the use of alcohol, tobacco and drugs closely on our trips. We can’t ban them on our trips but will do so on a case-by-case basis. Many tourists now smoke cannabis but we ask guests not to do on our trips. If you spend the night in a village, please limit consumption of alcohol as much as possible and don’t smoke ganja.
Our core values and intentions
We embrace the diversity of cultures and lifestyles. We embrace ethnic, cultural, and religious diversity.
Preservation of traditions and heritage is our priority.
We encourage tolerance and understanding.
We embrace the beauty of our world and aim to protect her.
Green Trails wants to be the liaison between people from different backgrounds and cultures to learn from each other.
We believe that tourism should improve and enrich the lives of all who are involved. The benefits should be mutual.
We want to make this world a better world for future generations.
Green Trails is open to new ideas and looks forward to challenges.
We try to find solutions and are constructive instead of only being critical.
We support the cultural diversity of ethnic minority groups.
Safety for everyone involved in our tours is our priority.
How do we implement our core values and intentions?
Our tours and guides
We continually evaluate our tours. There is always room for improvement.
We look into every aspect of the tour and open to suggestions and feedback. Your feedback is of crucial importance to us.
Our guides are our ambassadors. Most of them have been working with us for many years. They are very knowledgeable. They know the communities we work with very well.
All our guides and drivers are fully licensed for the work they do.
We know all our drivers personally and trust them.
We regularly have meetings with guides and drivers and discuss all aspects of our tours.
All our guides have a first-aid certificate. Every year we organize a first aid refresher course for our guides.
We employ four guides from ethnic minorities and aim to create more jobs for people of ethnic minorities.
Ethnic minorities and hill tribes
We focus on a small number of ethnic minority communities, with which we have longstanding relations.
We continually monitor our impact and have tremendous respect for our hosts.
On our website, we already have extensive information about the ethnic minorities, aka hill tribes. We are continuously updating and improving this information.
We encourage you to learn a couple of words in the local language before you visit a community. It will break the ice, and it is also a lot of fun. Languages are a lot of fun.
Green Trails supports the cultural diversity of ethnic minority groups.
Preservation of traditional weaving and textiles is essential for us. We encourage tribal people to wear these unique garments. Textile tours for groups and individuals are our specialty.
We run educational tours for universities and schools to communities. Mutual benefit is our priority.
We stimulate guests to buy locally produced handicrafts.
Protection of forests and tree planting
Protection of forests and tree planting is our way of fighting climate change.
We cooperate with FORRU, the Forest Restoration Research Unit of Chiang Mai University.
We promote and participate in tree planting events and activities.
With the help of FORRU, we will expand the section on the Flora of North Thailand.
We will create new trails and maintain or improve existing ones in forested areas.
We love the forest and believe in its healing powers.
Our guides stimulate the awareness of our beautiful natural world and try to keep our footprint as minimal as possible. We try to be as sustainable as possible.
We pick up trash during hikes and treks and stimulate others to do that as well.
We update this article on the Mission Statement of Green Trails regularly