Our Founder

In 2002 I decided to take a career break, at the time I was working for The Economist newspaper in their advertising sales department.

January 5th 2003 I arrived in Thailand and headed to a little known province called Surin on the Cambodian border (NE Thailand) to teach English. The local people were amazing, the kids keen to learn, the food fantastic, and ridiculously cheap (back then I could get 20p noodle soup), the weather (no more grey days) and access to so many wonderful places on my free weekends. I extended my stay from 3 to 6 months.

Soon corporate life became a distant memory and I shuddered at the thought of returning to commuting. I decided to stay. I wanted others to enjoy the hospitality, delights and rewards of rural Thailand.

Later in 2003 I set up a small community-based tourism company focusing on real Thai life experiences in Surin. My one marketing channel was The Lonely Planet. I had fortunately met their writer for Thailand while on a weekend trip to the island of Koh Samet. My Thai mobile in their pages brought a steady trickle of people to my door.

My Community Based Travel business grew organically through the Lonely Planet, later through a website (on dial-up internet) and through word of mouth.

Over time we expanded our reach in Thailand, and added tours before making the transition to a DMC in 2010. I am delighted with what Path has become but I do miss those early years at times. I love rural Thai life and working with customers on a daily basis. Our roots in communities and the importance we place on having a positive impact have never been lost or forgotten, it feeds everything we do.

Our support for communities, local people, and locally owned businesses has never wavered.
We want the vast majority of our customers’ funds to remain in the communities in which they visit.