High Asia in Myanmar

Tom Friedman, in his best selling book The World Is Flat, makes the point that the work of many industries once done here in the USA , can be done overseas for less money with the same if not higher quality. This thesis is applicable to the adventure tourism market as well.

Today in Myanmar , India , Bhutan , Tibet etc there are ever more locally run outfits that can offer international tourist high quality logistics and guides. In many cases these companies still lack sustained, high quality management skills and accountability if and when things go wrong. At High Asia we have long partnered with local companies in each of the countries we guide in, as does every American outfitter that runs treks, tours and expeditions in foreign countries.

We decided that instead of subcontracting to local outfits and relinquishing quality control to them, as virtually 100% of US based companies' do, we would shift our operations to the country in question. To do this we initially purchased our partner company, streamline management, took over guide training procedures, and established comprehensive accountability company insurance thereby entirely localizing our operations in the destination country. By making this move we have eliminated the quality control wild card that every foreign operator must contend with when doing business overseas. In Myanmar we are now the local operator.

For you the traveler looking for the best guides and travel logistics in these wonderful countries, our localized operations translate directly into cheaper prices for superior services. We are there on the ground, never relying on second hand information or subcontracted vehicles and guides. We train our own guides, our vehicles are owned by us and our itineraries are designed by us. In the US we maintain only a small US based ( New Jersey ) office, which Jon manages. Our foreign guides are flown over as needed and the rest happens on ground in Tibet and Myanmar.

In Myanmar we have established Woodland Travels ( www.woodlandtravels.com ) as our base of operations. This allows us to train guides ourselves, invest in infrastructure such as our own vehicles and hotel/spas and assist communities in remote areas of Myanmar in the development of community based ecotourism initiatives which empowers them to benefit directly from the tourism experience.