Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) has launched a global digital campaign to promote Voluntourism, which affords travelers the opportunity to have a life-changing adventure: A Ttwo-week Volunteer Vacation in Thailand.
The modern traveler is often looking for more than just fun & sun from their holidays abroad, and Volunteer Tourism, or Voluntourism, is one popular option. Observing this growing trend in the travel industry, the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) has thus initiated a digital marketing campaign called “THE LITTLE BIG PROJECT” which hopes to attract those looking for “A Purposeful Vacation”.
Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) is launching “THE LITTLE BIG PROJECT” campaign to promote voluntourism (volunteer tourism) in order to inspire active travelers from all over the world to make a big difference through doing little things.
Mr. Pongsathorn Kessamli, Deputy Governor for Policy and Planning of Tourism Authority of Thailand, notes that, “Volunteer Tourism, or Voluntourism, is now very popular with European and American youth travelers. They want to make the world a better place, and seek to do something meaningful when they travel.”
The mission of THE LITTLE BIG PROJECT is to help others, but it is also a competition: one overseas visitor and one Thai will team up for 2 weeks to work on anything from helping Save the Elephants at a nature park in Chiang Mai, to a community development project for Hill Tribe Children, to Marine Conservation in Koh Talu. Anyone interested in participating should create a 1-minute English-language digital video to introduce themselves and briefly discuss why they’re uniquely qualified to partake in the campaign here in Thailand. Applications will be accepted through May 20th, 2013, and the 10 best video submissions will be selected – 5 from Thai natives and 5 from overseas registrants – and they will be the Voluntourists in this year’s competition.
And, they’ll have the chance to share their philanthropy efforts with a world-wide audience by making blog posts, uploading photos and videos, and telling their story through social media.
Prizes will be awarded, too!:
- The team with the most votes for their blog will win $5,000 USD for donation to their project for continued funding, plus a hotel voucher valued at $500 USD for their personal enjoyment.
- The visiting competitor whose video receives the most views will win an Apple gift card worth $1,000.
TAT believes THE LITTLE BIG PROJECT will give people looking to do something different on vacation an opportunity to have a life-changing adventure, An online registration form for anyone interested, can be found online where entrants can provide a link to their YouTube-hosted video.
Mr. Pongsathorn Kessamli, Deputy Governor for Policy and Planning of Tourism Authority of Thailand added that voluntourism gives this niche market that opportunity, including travelling to do volunteer activities relating to conserving and protecting animals, the environment, and building communities in Thailand.
“THE LITTLE BIG PROJECT” is one of the TAT’s strategic plans for the international market in 2013. These plans focus on tourists with various special interests, voluntourism in this case. The goal is to connect these tourists to Thais at the local, community level, which will bond them much more intimately to Thailand than standard tour packages.”
Theodore is the Co-Founder and Managing Editor of TravelDailyNews Media Network; his responsibilities include business development and planning for TravelDailyNews long-term opportunities.
