Travel better. Feel good. Do good.
HEROST is a positive travel guide and online platform for better tourism. It helps travelers find responsible, community‑based experiences and local hosts who care about people, culture, nature, and place. We highlight clear commitments, honest efforts, and practical steps, so travel can create more good and less harm for everyone involved.
Discover Our Tourism Engagement
What is HEROST?
HEROST is an online platform for positive travel, responsible travel, and better tourism.
It helps travelers discover thoughtful hosts, local experiences, nature‑based stays, wellness places, cultural activities, and community initiatives.
It also helps hosts share their efforts in a clear and honest way.
A HEROST host may support local jobs, buy local products, save water, reduce waste, care for nature, respect culture, or help travelers meet local people.
Together, these actions make tourism more fair and meaningful for the destinations that welcome visitors.
Why HEROST exists
Travel can create jobs, income, pride, and new opportunities.
But travel can also damage nature, weaken cultures, and put pressure on local communities.
HEROST exists to support a better way to travel.
We want tourism to bring more benefits to the people and places that welcome travelers, and less harm to local environments and communities.
We help travelers choose more mindful, responsible travel options with more care.
We also help hosts show the good work they already do and the progress they want to make.
Our approach
HEROST focuses on action, not perfection.
We do not ask hosts to claim that they are fully “green” or “sustainable.”
We invite them to show their efforts, their values, and their commitments.
This approach is more honest. It is also more realistic.
Change is a journey. Every useful step matters.
HEROST highlights efforts such as:
- Supporting local communities
- Creating local jobs
- Buying local products and services
- Respecting local culture
- Saving water and energy
- Reducing waste and pollution
- Caring for nature and wildlife
- Offering meaningful, community‑based travel experiences
These actions help travelers understand how a host contributes to better tourism.
What makes HEROST different?
HEROST does not only list beautiful places.
We look for hosts with purpose.
We care about the people behind each place.
We care about the story behind each experience.
We care about the benefits that tourism can bring to local communities.
HEROST also encourages travelers to book directly with hosts when possible, or through partner platforms that share our values.
Direct booking can help more value stay with the people who create the experience.
Our values
Equality, equity, and diversity
Tourism should create opportunities for many people, not only for a few.
HEROST supports travel that respects people, cultures, identities, and communities.
Creativity and authenticity
Travel should help people discover real places, real stories, and real connections.
HEROST celebrates local knowledge, cultural heritage, and original experiences.
Value over volume
Better tourism matters more than more tourism.
HEROST supports deeper experiences, stronger local benefits, and healthier destinations.
For travelers
HEROST is for travelers who want their journeys to mean more.
You can use HEROST to find places to stay, visit, learn, rest, eat, explore, and connect.
You can look beyond price, location, and photos.
You can also look at a host’s efforts, values, and commitments.
HEROST helps you make more mindful, responsible travel choices.
For hosts and partners
HEROST is for hosts, destinations, organizations, and partners who want to support better tourism.
We help hosts present their efforts in a simple, clear, and inspiring way.
We welcome partners who work in responsible travel, community‑based tourism, local experiences, conservation, wellness, culture, and positive impact.
Through our international network, we also offer consulting and training services for tourism destinations, businesses, and experiences.
Contact us to become a HEROST partner
Our community
HEROST is growing as a global community of positive travelers, local hosts, tourism partners, young ambassadors, and changemakers.
We created a Global Youth Ambassadors program to support awareness, education, and action for better tourism.
Together, we want to show that travel can connect people, support communities, and protect the places we love.
Our story
HEROST was created by Catherine GERMIER, a French impact entrepreneur and tourism development and marketing consultant.
In 2019, Catherine started to explore how digital tools could support more community‑centered, responsible tourism.
She wanted to help travelers find better choices.
She also wanted to help local hosts gain more visibility.
This idea became HEROST.
HEROST grew from Millennium Destinations, the impact tourism organization that Catherine launched in Seoul, Korea, in 2014.
From May 2020 to April 2022, HEROST operated as a Korean startup based in Seoul, with Catherine as CEO.
Since May 2021, HEROST has also existed as a French Association under the Loi 1901 framework.
In 2021, Catherine moved to Phnom Penh, Cambodia, and became CEO of Destination Mekong, a non‑profit organization that supports more inclusive tourism in the Mekong region. She led the organization until 2024.
Today, Catherine operates Millennium Destinations from Cambodia.
HEROST continues to grow as a positive travel platform, practical travel guide, and global community.
Join the HEROST journey
Every better choice matters.
Every host can take one more step.
Every traveler can make one more mindful choice.
Every destination can create more value for local people and nature.
Together, we can change travel for good.