Travel for Good



Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)

In more recent years, we are delighted to see how much more philanthropic and environmentally conscious our trade partners and customers have become. And as awareness grows, East West has started considering more seriously how we can do our part to fulfil our own corporate social responsibility objectives.

East West is currently funding the formulation of an initiative in responsible travel, which aims to address global concerns and improve community well-being through eco and Voluntourism. We will continue to promote and encourage participation from our employees, partners and clients to provide long-term sustainable benefits for these communities.

CSR In Action

Change the way you travel, for Good!
A Start Point in Responsible Tourism

Whether it’s as simple as staying in an eco-lodge, or a half-day add-on to your existing itinerary to teach English in an Orphanage in Borneo, or a 2-week dedicated trip to help build a school in the Himalaya, we will provide you forever life changing experiences!

Promote
By providing a simple code for corporate travelers including how they can contribute by simply supporting some local charities or people, we bring to our clients a starting point to responsible travel.
A simple act of giving, whether through a social day activity during a program like reading or painting a school, a donation to a school, tribe or charity or settling up a fund, will bring about smiles and a future generation that has gained from your effort.

Protect
Through research and connecting with the right local partners and organizations, we hope to bring about an awareness of existing programs aimed at protecting the wildlife and nature, to client looking for opportunities to be involved. We continuously look for new options such as rail travel, bicycle tours, seeking out community tourism, promoting excursions offered by locals or indigenous people, procuring local products or homegrown businesses, In the hope of inspiring greater consciousness and interest towards responsible tourism.

Types of Programs available

“Taste of Volunteering”
No help is too small. Participate in a Half-day to Full-day volunteer addition to your existing itinerary. Contact us and we will provide you options in your chosen destination.

Full Program (Volunteer) Holidays
East West can help assist with longer volunteer engagement holidays based on your interest and skill sets and match them with projects adopted.

Please click here for our sample itinerary.

Here are examples of different ways you can make it count

Eco-Tourism

• Minimizing your footprint by staying eco-lodges or green hotels
• Community based tourism means your stay in their locally owned and run lodges contributes to the sustainable employment and livelihood for the community
• Alternative modes of transport
• Contribute to a credible carbon offsetting program

Environmental Conservation

• Due to years of illegal logging and urbanization, Sabah’s forests have depleted substantially. Roll up your sleeves and help protect one of the biodiversity hotspots of the world. Assist botanists and conservation experts in planting new trees in Borneo, crucial for healthy orangutan and pygmy elephant populations.

Humanitarian

• Help bring medical aid for common ailments to villagers by assisting in the construction of a virtual clinic in the town of Lava. Villagers then wouldn’t need to take a 5hr journey to the nearest big town to get to the nearest hospital.
• Help improve the health & sanitation of villages in the rural hills of Sikkim in the Himalaya by providing proper education on diet and nutrition to be introduced in their daily meals.
• Utilize your skills to help others. Whether you’re a physiotherapist to help the elderly with joint problems, or an artist teaching school children a new art project.

Animal welfare

• Spend some time in the Orangutan Sanctuary in the tropical rainforest of Borneo. Assist the team in feeding the primates and understand the threat to their existence. Collect important wildlife population data.
• Snorkel or dive in one of the world’s most popular diving spots in the warm waters of Sabah. At the same time, help maintain this fragile eco-system by collecting rubbish which have settled on the sea bed, causing danger to marine life.

Cultural preservation

• The dying rural tribes of India are slowly phased out by urban migration and modernization. Preserve their heritage by documenting their existence. A simple collation of pictures, stories and movies help create an archive of knowledge for generations to come.

Education

• Education is the key to progress. From early childhood education to vocational training. Use your skills to help mentor and teach kids and adults in subjects ranging from English to entrepreneurship.

Research

• Assist botanists and scientists identify medicinal herbs in one of the most active biodiversity regions of the world. Identifying viable crops will enable communities to use this knowledge to grow their own for a sustainable additional income.