We get this question quite a bit - how did it all start, why is it called socialtours? So here it is
In 1998, while still working in the manufacturing and export industry, me and my partner facilitated the travel of a group of students from the UK to Nepal. The idea was simple. Make no profits and use the profit to help build a hostel for a school up in the mountains. We charged each student 200 GBP more, brought in over 20 kids and raised 4000 GBP, which went to the building of the hostel. The trip included Nepal classics, the best whitewater, the best trekking and an Elephant safari. Was a big success.
Two years later, we did it again, bringing in student and funds for conducting a cataract eye camp in the villages, 6000 USD worth of medical support. Again a grand success.
Thus the seed of social tourism was set in my mind. Armed with this, in 2002, I set up socialtours.com travels, based on CSR principles, a responsible tourism policy, a value based decision making process, and basically three very basic principles – to be sensitive to the environment and the culture, and to contribute into the local economy.