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Our Story

Building a Fairer Way to Travel Thailand

Jai Thai Travel is a small circle of Thailand's best independent tour and transfer operators, people who live and work in the places they take you. Deliberately few: every operator is hand-checked in person, vouched for by the others, and held to a shared standard. You get the best operator in every destination, and you book them direct.

Every operator vetted in personBased in Chiang MaiOperators keep 85%

What We Believe Our Story Coverage Operators Mission Meet Lars Editorial Tours

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Our Philosophy

What We Believe

A few convictions shaped how Jai Thai is built.

The Best Operator in Every Destination

We'd rather list one excellent operator than ten average ones. Every operator is here because they're among the best in their part of Thailand, vetted in person rather than signed up through a form. The circle is built around quality, not volume.

Operators Are Stronger Together Than Apart

Working together rather than competing, operators offer better pricing and better trips than any could alone. They refer guests to each other, share what they know, and back each other up. We're here to connect good operators, not pit them against each other.

Local Knowledge Is the Product

Every operator has spent years in their destination: the reefs before a storm, the markets before the crowds, the routes on no map. That knowledge is what makes a trip worth taking, and it comes from people, not platforms.

Direct Relationships Make Better Travel

Book through Jai Thai and you get a direct WhatsApp line to your operator before you travel. Ask what to bring, whether a trip suits your fitness, what they'd recommend. That's impossible on platforms where contact is mediated and slowed by ticket queues.

A Fair Deal for Operators Is a Better Deal for You

Operators keep 85% of every booking, not the 70–75% an OTA leaves them. That difference doesn't sit in a platform's margin. It goes into guides, equipment, smaller groups, and your actual experience. The fairer model isn't charity: it's why the trips are better.

Our Story

Jai Thai Story

Jai Thai started the way most real things do: not with a business plan, but with a problem worth solving.

Lars Hoorweg first came to Thailand five years ago and never quite left. A visit became a life in Chiang Mai: learning Thai, welcomed into a local family who ran a small tour agency. When they asked for help with their marketing, he got pulled into Thai tourism from the inside.

What he found was an industry working against the people who create its best experiences. Operators spent years building real expertise, only to hand 25–30% of every booking to a platform for visibility, and to compete against each other for it. Those with the deepest local knowledge had the least power.

The answer came from an unlikely place. Best Western didn't begin as a chain. It started in 1946 as a referral network of independent hotels, each vouching for the next so a traveller could cross the country in trusted hands. Independent businesses, stronger together, none losing their independence. That was the idea worth borrowing: not a chain, not a marketplace, but a small circle of the best independents who choose to cooperate. Jai Thai applies it to Thailand's operators.

Today the circle is 24 verified operators, each personally vetted by Lars through site visits, long conversations, and first-hand experience of their tours. Every operator keeps 85%. Every booking goes direct.

Lars Hoorweg, founder of Jai Thai Travel

Where We Work

Covering Thailand From North to South

From the mountains of Chiang Mai to the islands of the Andaman Sea, Jai Thai works with a hand-picked circle of local operators across Thailand's most loved destinations.

The North

Chiang Mai, Chiang Rai, Mae Hong Son

The Heart

Bangkok, Ayutthaya, Kanchanaburi

The South

Phuket, Krabi, Koh Samui, Khao Sok

Longtail boat on clear water beneath karst cliffs

Jai Thai Verified

The Standard for Getting In

The Operators We List

A circle is only as good as its standard for getting in. Ours, simply put: we only list operators we'd send our own friends and family to.

Every operator is personally vetted before listing: Lars visits them, experiences their tours, and checks they're who they say they are. The circle grows by referral and direct outreach, never open sign-ups, and stays deliberately small: 24 verified operators today, chosen one at a time. Who you see is decided by destination and experience type, never by who paid most.

The full verification process (licences, insurance, site visits, and ongoing reviews) is explained on our How We Vet Operators page.

See How We Vet Operators →

30+

Destinations

Operators

200+

Routes

10k+

Served

Our Mission

Better for Everyone

There's a bigger reason the model matters. Studies by the UN World Tourism Organization estimate that around 70% of what travellers spend in Thailand leaves the country through platform fees, international chains, and imported goods. Jai Thai is built to change where that money lands, so a single booking works in four directions at once.

For Travelers

The best operator in every destination, booked direct with rewards across the whole circle.

For Operators

Fairer commissions and the tools to manage their digital presence without losing their local essence.

For Communities

Ensuring tourism supports local infrastructure and cultural preservation rather than eroding it.

For Thailand

A sustainable model that preserves the natural and social beauty of the Kingdom for generations.

“Authenticity is found in the gaps between the guidebooks.”

Meet Lars

“I came to Thailand on a three-month trip. I'm still here five years later, learning Thai, working alongside local operators, and trying to build something that pays back the people who make Thailand worth visiting.”

Lars is the founder of Jai Thai Travel. Based in Chiang Mai, he is learning Thai and has spent five years working directly with local operators across the country, personally vetting every one through site visits and first-hand experience of their tours.

Before Jai Thai, he spent years inside a Thai family-run tour agency, a ground-level view of how the industry works and where it fails the people running it. That's what led to Jai Thai.

From Chiang Mai he has travelled to over 30 destinations across Thailand, from Chiang Khong on the Mekong to Koh Lipe near the Malaysian border. The circle spans the country: cooking teachers and trek guides in the north, island and kayaking operators in the south, city and food-tour hosts in Bangkok.

Alongside running Jai Thai, Lars researches sustainable tourism academically, focusing on how cooperative structures can build a fairer industry for local operators.

Read Lars's Full Author Profile →

Here to Help

Any Questions? We'd Love to Help.

Whether you're looking for a bespoke itinerary or have questions about our verification process, our team in Chiang Mai is here to assist.

Editorial Standards

How Our Content Is Researched

First-Hand Experience

We never write about places we haven't slept, eaten, or explored ourselves. Our guides are built on boots-on-the-ground reality.

Destination Research

Beyond personal visits, we consult historical archives and local experts to ensure cultural accuracy and respect.

Operator Interviews

We give the operators a voice, sharing their unique stories and the heritage behind their businesses.

Real Thailand Experiences

Tours in Chiang Mai

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