There are many types of tourism, one of which, "MICE" tourism refers to Meetings, Incentives, Conferences, and Exhibitions. It is a particular type of tourism in which groups of people are brought together for a particular purpose; perhaps to share knowledge, promote their products or just to enjoy the junket.  There is no reason why MICE tourism cannot be pro-poor, and plenty of reasons why it should be.  Development Conferencing is an innovative way of making conference tourism pro-poor as a CBT product, especially when the topic of the conference relates to poverty reduction and rural development.  The e-Bario Knowledge Fair was a pioneering example of Development Conferencing with CBT.

With funding from the Global Knowledge Partnership, Asian Encounters partners with Digital Divide Data, Vientiane and Enterprise Telecommunicaitons Lao to set up the first e-CBT installation in Lao.

Indigenous people are good for national tourism development in Asia but tourism is far from being good for indigenous people.

On World Indigenous Day, 9 August 2007, Minority Rights Group International launches a campaign pushing for holidaymakers - and countries promoting environmentally-friendly tourism - to be more aware of the impact of eco-tourism on indigenous communities. Often the communities get only a miniscule percentage of what the tourism industry generates.

Asian Encounters organises a familiarisation tour from Hong Kong to village homestays in Sabah, Malaysia, in conjunction with Charlotte Travel Ltd. and with sponsorship from the Hong Kong office of the Malaysia Tourism Promotion Board.