Strolling along a baking russet road flanked by unkempt greenery and ramshackle houses I feel a hand slip into mine and have to remind myself I’m in Vietnam and so this is not out of the ordinary. It belongs to a sweet-smiled 16-year-old girl named Anh Phap, who has spent the morning helping her older brother teach me (and a group of UK travel agents) the traditional methods their farming family uses to culture crops and make savoury pancakes with the fresh ingredients.

As we walk through her rural village on the island of Go Noi, Anh shares shyly – in broken English – that it’s her dream to become a tour guide and she’s excited to have tourists visit her home because it’ll help her improve her conversation skills.

Anh’s excitement comes because this is the first time a Just You tour is visiting the Phap residence. The operator is in the process of incorporating this experience, which also features a visit to a wood-carving workshop, a bicycle ride around the village and a gargantuan Vietnamese feast prepared by the Phap family, into its itineraries for 2023. Our group is enjoying a preview thanks to the TTG Sustainable Travel Heroes initiative, which has been opening agents’ eyes to the joys and benefits of this kind of responsible travel since February 2022. It’s clear the Go Noi experience is set to be a firm favourite.

“I farmed, I went on a bike, I cooked and the food was out of this world,” says Hays Travel’s Vicky Barnett. “I’ve thoroughly enjoyed the experience and I can honestly say the authenticity of Vietnam is just amazing.”

HOLISTIC APPROACH

Tour operators play an important role when it comes to supporting individuals in rural communities with limited access to education and jobs, but also in supporting groups disadvantaged due to other factors such as gender, family circumstance or physical ability.

Just You knows this, and so its Discover Vietnam itinerary pays a visit to Reaching Out Teahouse in Hoi An, which is run by a social enterprise providing the physically disabled with opportunities to thrive.

As we step through the grand double doors of the teahouse, the hustle and bustle of Hoi An’s Old Town seems to dissipate almost instantly. A server leads us past mahogany tables and a cabinet filled with ceramic teapots, cups and saucers to an outdoor area leading into yet more rooms filled with trinkets and treasures. We sit beneath foliage in the dimly lit courtyard and order our teas, coffees and juices of choice – mine’s a freshly squeezed lime juice with a selection of syrups – and it’s only when our server gestures for me to write my order down I realise her speech and hearing is impaired.

Thirst quenched, we take it in turns to browse the surrounding rooms we now know are a shop selling arts and crafts produced by persons with disability; and many of us make purchases knowing we’re helping to keep a locally owned, fair-trade and responsible business alive.

At Hanoi’s Koto (Know One Teach One) Villa, another community project in Vietnam, we devour a lunch of marinated meats and dressed salads feeling inspired by the chefs and waiting staff. Inspired, because these joyful teenagers and young adults were previously part of an at-risk group, many coming from poverty-stricken communities, and are now are well on their way to a successful career in catering and hospitality thanks to the social enterprise’s training programme and the job-seeking support it gives them upon “graduation”.

Sarah Weetman, sales director at Just You, highlights another tour experience helping disadvantaged youths pursue a career in catering or hospitality through practice: the Oodles of Noodles project at Streets Restaurant Cafe in Hanoi.