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8 | www.travelweekly-asia.com COVER STORY Growing up in the Isan village of Roiet, Somsak Boonkam (Pai) knew he had to pursue education to escape poverty in Thailand. Aged eight, his parents managed to gather enough money to send him to Chantaburi High School. From there, he studied his way to university at Nakhom Pathom. "That changed my life. If I hadn't moved out, I'd have finished high school and ended up as a factory worker," said Pai, who two years ago set up Local Alike, an online business offering community-based tourism experiences. (The start-up won the People's Choice Award at the WIT Start-Up Pitch in Singapore last year.) "My parents wanted me to get a better education to get out of poverty and encouraged me to think for myself, be independent." After graduation, he took an engineering job with a German company and stayed with the company for three-and-a-half years, two of which were spent in Germany. With the money saved from his stint in Germany, he took time off to travel through Laos, Myanmar and India. "I saw a lot of inequality and poverty and I knew that as an engineer, I could not solve these problems." And so he quit his job to pursue further education in sustainability at Presidio University in the United States, working his way through two- and-a-half years of studies. And with the money he had accumulated from Germany, he bought a restaurant in Chiang Mai for his parents to run and Pai:"My parents wanted me to get a better education to get out of poverty." "Now they rely on travel agencies but travel agencies don't want to spend too much time on developing the communities for tourism." This was when he saw the need for a platform like Local Alike to connect these communities throughout Thailand directly with travellers. He and his co-founder, Noon S. Pakavaleetorn, first approached investors for funding but found no interest. "We decided no more talking with investors, we would enter competitions." In its first year, Local Alike entered a Thai social enterprise competition, called Banpu, and won the first prize of 250,000 baht (US$7,660). With that, they were able to work with seven communities in Chiang Mai and Chiang Rai – on the ground and get them online. In the second year, Local Alike entered three competitions – one of which was run by AIS, the Thai telecommunications company, and the prize was a marketing reach worth one million baht. In total, it raised one million baht in cash from these competitions and with that, was able to build out its business. Today, it has 15 communities in its listings and hopes to expand to 200 in the next couple of years. The venture also intends to work with partners and communities in other countries in Asia. "We select our communities based on whether they have unique and interesting points of culture and lifestyle, and we have to make sure that tourism is a second source of income," said Pai. The team now has 11 staff and an NGO, Change Ventures, has pledged 1.2m baht in new funding. "We will use the new funds to expand our staff and build out demand. We organise tours for corporates and also have individuals booking tours with us." Local Alike has also launched a voluntourism programme with the Tourism Authority of Thailand in Europe. "We have developed three special itineraries to sell in Europe – people come to stay for six nights/five days with the communities." Up to 70% of transaction fees go By Yeoh Siew Hoon I saw a lot of inequality and poverty and I knew that as an engineer, I could not solve these problems. CONTINUED ON PAGE 9. start a new life. Armed with a degree from the U.S., he returned to Thailand where he worked on the Doi Tung Development Project in the north. He spent time with two villages to help them develop homestay plans. "I learnt so much during my time there. The people were not only motivated to improve their villages but they really wanted to do tourism and on fair and equitable terms. "Tourism is a big source of income for Thailand but only 15% or less of that goes towards the local communities." Pai estimates there are at least 200 communities who want to "create something that connects them directly with travellers looking for sustainable tourism activities". A WORLD OF SPECIAL INTERESTS A LOT TO LIKE ABOUT LOCAL ALIKE