Corporate world shows sustainable way

Corporate world shows sustainable way

While tourism remains the bedrock of Thailand's and much of Asean's economy, environmental degradation threatens the industry, most notably with the shutdown of Maya Bay until 2021 for restoration efforts.

But a panel of industry experts at Bloomberg's Asean Business Summit say the corporate world can take the lead in driving tourism that promotes both growth and sustainability.

In 2029, Thailand expects 65 million tourists, up from 38.3 million in 2018.

"When we go to tropical destinations, they have to be pristine," said Angie Stephen, managing director for Asia-Pacific at Royal Caribbean Cruises. "So we have to work with governments across Southeast Asia to keep the environment sustainable for tourism."

Large cruise liners have received widespread criticism in recent years for polluting coastlines and ocean waters along their routes.

Ms Stephen said 70% of the waste from Royal Caribbean cruises doesn't make it to landfills, while its liners use in-house recycling machines. The company employs emission purification technology with sulphur dioxide to reduce the harm from its fuel sources.

Eric Gnock Fah, chief operating officer and co-founder of Klook, a travel activity booking startup, said an important component of sustainable tourism is spreading out tourists and avoiding heavy concentrations in iconic destinations.

"We are trying to divert traffic to different places to prevent over-tourism and divert tourists to locations outside Bangkok," Mr Fah said.

Klook has been promoting activities in Khao Yai and has seen a greater diversification of travel booking, with 60% in Bangkok and 40% in surrounding areas. Klook is also pushing activity bookings away from elephant rides, often considered harmful to the animals, and promoting more sustainable elephant sanctuary tours.

Ms Stephen also stressed the urgency of spreading out tourists, especially when a cruise docks at a destination and unloads thousands into one area.

John Blanco, general manager of Capella Bangkok, announced that his hotels plan to go zero landfill and zero plastic in the next few years.

"This goal has proved extremely difficult," he said. "It's one thing to ban plastic straws, but another to get all your third-party delivery contractors to stop using plastics when delivering products to our hotels."

Mr Blanco sees Bangkok and Thailand as an undervalued tourism market, with the value of its services far exceeding that of other tourism markets, especially in the West.

As tourism grows, however, the country must make sustainability a top priority, he said.

Do you like the content of this article?
COMMENT (4)