The Mekong’s destination management companies must toe a precarious line – how do you scale your offerings while protecting the communities you serve?
It’s up to Chi Ngo, Community Initiatives Project Lead for Discova Travel, to find that delicate balance. She tends to put the community first in the equation – as she explains, “Discova’s projects are not imposed from the outside but decided together with local communities through open dialogue, ensuring that every initiative is relevant and sustainable.”
Discova’s travel experiences are completely grounded in the communities they visit. Over 90% of their people hail from the destinations they work in. Community-based tourism is central to Discova’s portfolio, tailored into educational programs, customized multi-country journeys and immersive day tours that connect visitors more intimately with the destinations they visit.
“The company follows a ‘win-win-win’ philosophy,” says Chi. “Students gain academic and personal growth, partners deliver meaningful, high-quality experiences, and communities receive lasting development and income opportunities.”
In our conversation, Chi shared how Discova balances growth with sustainability — from training women to lead homestay enterprises in northern Viet Nam, to supporting youth education through initiatives like the Eileen Yee Educational Fund, to ensuring every project aligns with the UN Sustainable Development Goals.
You’ve spoken about “shifting from volume to value” in tourism. “Rather than chasing large numbers of tourists at any cost, we must prioritise high-quality, meaningful travel experiences with genuine benefits to local people.” In your opinion, why is this shift urgent for communities served by your projects in the Mekong countries?
It has to do with safeguarding each area’s unique assets and ensuring sustainable development there.
High-volume tourism creates overcrowding, degrades natural sites or historical areas, and erodes local cultural integrity, as traditions are commodified to meet mass tourist demand. If it’s not controlled, mass tourism can negatively affect host communities – leading to congestion, rising costs, and even displacement from their homes.
Prioritizing value over volume requires that we focus on high-quality, meaningful experiences, which encourage higher local spending and promote local entrepreneurship. Focusing on value supports sustainable tourism practices with lower environmental footprints, such as eco-tourism that aligns with conservation goals.
When tourism activities are managed for preservation, not extraction, you get stable, diverse livelihoods that reduce poverty – helping meet a major development goal.
Discova has a “local first” approach, with 95% of staff coming from the destinations. Why is this so important – particularly in the context of projects in Vietnam, Cambodia and Thailand?
By recruiting 95% of staff from the destinations themselves, Discova ensures a large proportion of the payroll remains in the community, providing stable jobs and incomes directly to local families. This combats “leakage”, where communities lose profits to foreign-owned businesses that import management and labor.
The jobs we provide are not just low-level service roles. They include management, guiding, and product development, helping locals to develop human capital. Local staff, especially guides and product developers, also possess innate cultural knowledge of history, traditions, customs, and language nuances.
This investment in the local workforce creates a skilled, professional tourism sector that can drive its own future growth and competitiveness. And in culturally rich destinations like Cambodia, Vietnam, and Thailand, locals provide an insider perspective that generates genuine, deeply satisfying experiences that move beyond superficial sightseeing.
Village Stays are a hallmark of Discova’s community travel. What makes them so impactful for both visitors and hosts? Can you share any interesting stories from Discova’s projects in Vietnam, Cambodia and Thailand?
Village Stays are powerful because they create genuine exchange. Visitors get an authentic window into daily village life, while local families gain new sources of income and pride.
For hosts, the impact is tangible: families earn directly from hosting, cooking, guiding, and sharing cultural activities, while diversifying their livelihoods beyond farming or logging – making communities more economically resilient.
This helps reduce youth migration – they can proudly make a living at home, without moving to the big city for work – and empowers women as well. By becoming entrepreneurs managing homestays and cultural activities, women gain increased financial influence and social standing within the family and the wider community.
For travellers, the experience goes beyond sightseeing. They live alongside their hosts, join in farming or cooking, and form real friendships that bridge cultures. This emotional engagement often becomes the most cherished memory of their journey.
In Mai Chau, northern Viet Nam, for example, Discova has worked with ethnic minority communities since 2013 to train families in hospitality and business skills. Many have since transformed their stilt houses into homestays, with women leading the way. The pride and appreciation from guests even inspired villagers to revive traditional music and dance once reserved for weddings – a reminder that tourism, done right, can sustain culture as much as livelihoods.
How does Discova decide which projects – whether education, infrastructure, or environmental conservation – to prioritise?
Discova conducts a Community-Led Needs Assessment to select promising projects. The Assessment focuses on long-term sustainability across three main areas: economic, educational, and environmental. The key is that projects are driven by the community itself: shaped around their own priorities rather than outside assumptions, and decided collaboratively instead of imposed from outside.
The goal is to help communities become as resilient and self-supporting as they can be.
Many of our projects fill in fundamental gaps in basic infrastructure, like water supply, roads, solar lighting, and housing; health and welfare, through community well-being programmes and basic healthcare resources; and education, helping children and young people access better learning opportunities.
What makes Discova’s approach to educational travel different from other destination management companies?
Discova’s approach to educational travel weaves purpose, local empowerment, and a clear developmental agenda into every step of the journey. Each trip is designed to give students an immersive learning experience while supporting sustainable growth for the communities they visit.
A key part of this approach is long-term community partnership. Discova’s projects are not imposed from the outside but decided together with local communities through open dialogue, ensuring that every initiative is relevant and sustainable. This community-led process builds mutual respect and equality between partners.
The company also follows a “win-win-win” philosophy: students gain academic and personal growth, partners deliver meaningful, high-quality experiences, and communities receive lasting development and income opportunities. We make sure 100% of funds raised by student groups go directly to community projects, with clear reporting on how every contribution is used.
Discova also maintains a strong local-first commitment. Our educational travel programs are designed to create livelihoods for young people within their own communities, encouraging them to stay, preserve their heritage, and thrive through tourism rather than seek work in big cities. The company supports skill-building through initiatives like the Eileen Yee Educational Fund, which helps disadvantaged students complete their education and receive vocational training that leads to fair employment.
Revenue is also directed toward social enterprises that train and empower marginalised youth, helping them build confidence and join the responsible tourism supply chain.
Every journey aligns with United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, ensuring each experience goes beyond simple tourism and contributes to a student’s broader education on global issues.
Discova has managed projects across Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand, and Indonesia worth over USD 100,000 in one year. What’s one project that had the biggest impact despite a relatively small budget?
One of Discova’s most impactful projects with a relatively small budget was the dormitory construction in Pak Xeng District, Lao PDR. This is the biggest high school in this area, with nearly 400 students commuting long distances or living in overcrowded bamboo huts on school grounds. The lack of safe accommodation was a major barrier to education, especially for girls.
Discova raised $40,000 USD through partners/fundraising to build a new dorm for the students there. Providing a secure, comfortable environment is an essential building block for learning that many students previously lacked. For female students, this was also a critical factor in encouraging their families to allow them to continue their schooling, particularly in remote hill tribe villages. This directly answered challenges related to gender equality and dropout rates in the area.
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