Can incentive travel and sustainability coexist?

Can incentive travel and sustainability coexist? This is a question worth pondering: How can we create a luxurious travel experience while ensuring sustainability? Can reduction, reuse, and conservation be practiced in travel in Vietnam?

At DMC Image Travel & Events, we have been, are, and will continue to develop ideas to harmonize incentive travel, experiential travel, and responsible sustainability, providing unique experiences for each client group. We always strive for new values, aiming to bring comfort, intimacy, and authenticity to our clients’ experiences, helping them not only enjoy but also connect with unique destinations and local communities.

Since the pandemic, our lives have been greatly affected, and the awareness of simplicity and practicality has become more important than ever. Connecting with nature, taking care of health, and enhancing the quality of life experiences have become top priorities, and we are focusing on organizing trips in this direction.

Choosing resorts nestled in pristine nature, using sustainable materials and environmentally friendly technology, is always our priority. Travelers can enjoy the deepest local cultural experiences while connecting intimately with nature. However, special services such as fine dining and privacy are still ensured.

This does not mean we advocate overlooking 5 or 6* hotels or interesting activities. Instead, let’s look into the evolving world of sustainable incentive travel, along with top sustainable travel tips for holidays, such as using solar energy, planting trees, and prioritizing environmentally friendly products.

Promoting responsible tourism activities such as trekking that do not generate plastic waste, using reusable water bottles, and supporting local food sources bring great benefits to the community.

Can incentive travels drive sustainability? 

Incentive travel often emphasizes quality, uniqueness, and experience. At DMC Mekong IMAGE Travel & Events, we combine sightseeing activities with biking, kayaking, and other experiences. The symbiosis between luxury and sustainability is significant. By promoting environmentally friendly habits and supporting local communities, we always seek to inspire the importance of responsible tourism and share our policy. When partners effectively integrate sustainability, they also signal increased tour value. Customers may feel more aligned with ethical considerations.

Small changes can be a catalyst for spreading and promoting awareness of responsibility and sustainability in tourism. We believe that encouraging tourists to support lesser-known destinations and use public transportation instead of airplanes can be a crucial aspect in evaluating an incentive travel experience. Unique experiences come not only from indulging in extravagance but also from guiding behavior and understanding of local culture. We believe that the exclusivity of a destination lies in the ability to interact with the local community and understand their secrets.

For incentive trips, we always encourage travelers to support longer and more locally immersive holidays at lesser-known destinations to minimize environmental impact and support the local community. We also support sustainability by suggesting incorporating train travel instead of airplanes. This is not just another aspect to evaluate an incentive tour but also adds meaning to the purpose of the trip.

Which areas will go furthest in combining sustainability and incentive travel? 

We believe that hotels and restaurants are the most important units in promoting and changing. Many places have switched to green solutions and created connections with the community. Switching to environmentally friendly transportation and enhancing genuine local cultural experiences avoiding turning “culture into commodities,” can help minimize negative impacts. 

All of these factors seem to be the focal point for loving travelers and are trends for the future. From there, sustainable tourism transitions from being seen as difficult to become a normal reality for travelers.

Strategy for sustainable incentive tourism at incentive company in Vietnam  

DMC Mekong Image Travel & Events’s strategy for incentive travel and sustainable tourism not only emphasizes luxury but also focuses on environmental protection, community development, and preservation of local culture. In fact, the most sustainable tourism experiences today can also be the most luxurious. Below are some of the most effective ways:

Community engagement

We focus on local tourism and integrate community-based activities to ensure a positive impact on the final destination. This not only creates unique experiences but also helps to develop the socio-economic and cultural sustainability.

Environmental management

As partners of sustainable tourism organizations like Travelife and Wafort responsible tourism community, we are committed to minimizing our ecological footprint through energy savings, waste reduction, and support for wildlife conservation. For diving activities, we ensure that travelers are guided to not harm corals and marine ecosystems in general…

Besides that, we always have our own conservation initiatives, implement fundraising to support local efforts to protect and preserve wildlife, so that travelers can make a difference in their trips and enhance the meaning of destinations. There are also sponsored activities, contributions to climate action projects that we will do in the future, such as offsetting carbon emissions by contributing to reforestation, or using renewable energy…

Cultural preservation

Actively protect cultural heritage by preserving traditions, arts, and customs. We build cooperation between village units, local artisans to enhance respectful tourism connections between travelers and locals.

Visitor management

 We employ management measures to limit the number of visitors accessing each destination at a time, creating a unique and balanced experience for travelers, effectively impacting ecological protection, and making visitors feel more comfortable.

Enhancing guide knowledge

We continuously update knowledge about sensitive destinations so that guides can provide information to travelers about responsible and environmentally and culturally friendly tourism. This also emphasizes the awareness and rights of both customers and destinations, conserving the environment and avoiding negative impacts on socio-economic development. For example, acts of intrusion, feeding wild animals, or supporting the purchase and sale of products made from the skin or meat of rare endangered animals need to be strictly eliminated.

In conclusion, incentive travel and sustainability can indeed coexist. A vivid picture of incentive travel will become a good motivation when combined with the concept of sustainability, especially with significant impacts on the thoughts and actions of future generations of travelers. With the goal and desire to expand sustainable tourism into every journey, we hope that these small daily changes will quickly bring about significant impacts. We hope that you also share our goal and start implementing it now instead of saying that we will do it soon!