Our Vision and Goals

Our goals are to improve the world and to convince others of their power to do the same. We accomplish this by offering life-changing educational tours to groups of inspiring people and introducing them to concepts and people we think are earth shattering. Our past participants then do their own “world-improving” from there! 

Our Goals

This Responsible Tourism Statement compiles the guidelines by which we aim to design our tours, and these are some of the goals we hope to achieve:

  • Offer educational tours that inspire people to be more responsible donors, travelers, and global citizens
  • Financially support PEPY’s educational programs and the work of our partners as well as being financially sustainable as a tour operator
  • Design our tours with input from local communities and commit to putting their needs first rather than creating projects to meet voluntourists’ demands
  • Focus our support on capacity building and contributions for on-going sustainable programs offering participants the chance to learn about and from the communities they visit
  • Provide travelers with authentic opportunities to experience more of Cambodia’s culture than what is typically offered in other tour packages
  • Create a vibrant virtual community, which aids travelers in contributing to ongoing projects even after they leave and connects them to other global changemakers
  • Provide support for local and responsible tourism initiatives through our choices of operators with a focus on minimizing our environmental impact
  • Serve as a model tour company, both in Cambodia and in the field of voluntourism globally, and to help improve the tourism industry by sharing the lessons we learn from the mistakes we make along the way
  • Awaken both travelers and local communities to their own power to enact the changes they want to see in the world

In a team brainstorming exercise to clearly state our vision for PEPY Tours, we came up with three whiteboards full of goals and then narrowed them down to this list. We have many other specific goals, some for each tour or educational program and some for our entire organization. We’d be happy to tell you what we are currently working on to improve in ourselves and in our tour offerings, just ask!

Our Vision

We hope to live in a world where:

  • tourism dollars support the development of local livelihoods as well as benefit and protect local environments and cultures
  • travelers and locals behave respectfully towards each other and are able to exchange information and services that mutually benefit both parties
  • all travelers and tour operators are educated about how to make responsible choices in travel and where they give their money
  • tours are designed around local needs, and local communities take ownership over tourism in their home areas
  • both travelers and global communities recognize their own ability to be a part of enacting the changes they want to see in the world