With no shortage of brands sharing their sustainable practices, it’s hard to stand out, but the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) did exactly that last night at the W Hotel.
TAT invited a number of media partners, suppliers and other travel industry members to its Sustainable Tourism Showcase that kicked off with a one-on-one discussion between ATIA’s Richard Taylor and John Roberts, director of Elephants & Conservation at the Golden Triangle Asian Elephant Foundation and group director of Sustainability & Conservation at Minor Hotels.
Roberts shared his knowledge from 20+ years of experience working with elephants in Thailand, highlighting the intersection of wildlife conservation and tourism. He shared the journey from his initial work in 2003 focusing on creating a high-end tourism product with elephant well-being at front of mind, to the more modern approach that involves tailoring activities to accommodate elephants’ varying levels of comfort around people.
John Roberts gave guests an insight into the journey of elephant conservation. (Supplied)
“What we now do is look at the elephant, look at its character,” Roberts said, “which elephant is happy to have strange humans walk around it?
“We have some elephants who are less happy having strangers around and we develop activities that are centre around observation.”
Next up was a panel featuring industry leaders, again led by Richard Taylor including: Trevor May from Phuket Marriott Resort & Spa; Graeme Lunn from Le Meridien Phuket Beach Resort; Phornphan Kitsupee of RAKxa Integrative Wellness; and Sherly Handjojo from the Tourism Authority of Thailand. All shared insights into their sustainability initiatives, presenting innovative approaches to responsible tourism.
Trevor May spoke about Marriot’s sustainability journey.
Handjojo commented on the way TAT has changed its approach to selling travel to Thailand.
“At the start our focus was simply to increase visitation, regardless of where the passengers went,” she said. “(Now) our aim is to promote tourism that is good for local communities and we want to disperse tourism growth to lesser-known destinations.”
Handjojo also revealed CF Hotels, a collaborative project with Chiang Mai University, which she described as “an online platform to help hotels reduce their carbon footprint. It’s like a 24/7 sustainability consultant”.
Another key takeaway from the panel came from Graeme Lunn’s discussion around sustainability being more than what a company does for the environment. He spoke about Le Meridien’s holistic approach to sustainability, that of course involves common recycling measures and reducing the use of plastics, but also how a hotel can give back to the local community. For example, allocating funds from the hotel to help local kids get to and from school with the right uniforms and equipment needed to learn.
The night concluded with a chance for guests to mingle and chat about their takeaways from the event. To me, one thing was clear, this event wasn’t another chance for executives to recount a PR campaign about their brands sustainability measures. It was a natural and insightful discussion on how Thailand is making tourism better for people and the planet!
This post was originally published on here
