Locally-owned Thai DMC, Tripseed, has published a comprehensive Climate Action Plan to underline its commitment to taking an honest and open approach to environmental sustainability.

As one of the few founding members and signatories of the Glasgow Declaration, Tripseed recognises the urgency of reducing its environmental impact throughout its operations and has developed a pragmatic Climate Action Plan.

Tripseed sets out to accomplish realistic and achievable emission reduction goals, which will be tangible and measurable; prioritise sustainable procurement by joining with sustainable partners and suppliers whose social and environmental values are aligned with Tripseed’s; integrate sustainable transportation in its programmes; and collaborate with local communities that enable it to support social and environmental initiatives, conservation efforts, and sustainable tourism practices.

In a press statement, Ewan Cluckie, director of growth at Tripseed, stated that the company values “greater levels of honesty and transparency… in addressing climate change, as well as more sustainable approaches to tourism in general”.

“Through our Climate Action Plan, we aim to drive positive change within Thailand’s DMC sector and inspire others to prioritise the development of more sustainable supply chains. We recognise the collective responsibility we have towards the environment and are fully committed to making a meaningful difference,” he said.

When asked if the Climate Action Plan would impact existing partnerships, Cluckie told TTG Asia that none of his partners would be affected.

“Most, if not all our current partners, are already on their own sustainability journeys and trying to do things better. I believe we have one of the largest B-Corp (a certification for businesses that are meeting high standards of verified performance, accountability, and transparency on Environmental, Social and Governance factors) partner bases out of all DMCs in Thailand, so this is an area that they are all prioritising and one that we can assist them with by providing comprehensive, measurable, and transparent impact data,” he detailed.

Furthermore, when queried on how the strict approach to sustainability would impact operating costs at Tripseed, Cluckie commented that responsible sustainability choices would typically result in higher operating costs.

“While we do everything that we can to make our pricing competitive on the marketplace, paying fair wages, not engaging in any creative international accounting tactics to avoid taxes, and having a fully legal business registration without utilising nominee shareholders are all things that introduce a higher cost of business or otherwise impact our market competitiveness,” he said.

He emphasised that Tripseed’s focus is on “having the highest quality tours and services in the country without compromising our ethics or integrity towards growing travel back better”.

Cluckie also disagreed with the commonly-held belief that sustainable practices, in comparison with old-school tourism operations, would cut operating costs.

He remarked: “I think all the partners we work with understand and appreciate that we won’t always be the cheapest, but we’ll always be working the hardest to do things right and offer the best overall value and quality standards.”