Tourism with a twist: More young adults turn to community-based travel to make friends

[SINGAPORE] Some people nurse setbacks with indulgent meals and stiff drinks. Others distract themselves by plunging head first into new hobbies – pottery, perhaps?

But youth worker Lim Liyin, 30, chose an entirely different remedy to deal with a personal struggle in late 2023: a four-day motorcycle tour along the winding, picturesque mountain roads of north-eastern Vietnam’s famed Ha Giang loop.

The twist? She deliberately chose a tour designed for strangers to meet – a form of tourism called community-based travel.