In September 2021, eight Thailand agencies formally agreed to promote carbon-neutral tourism in the country. The wide range of Carbon Neutral Tourism MOU signatories shows the nation’s commitment to building sustainable tourism: they included the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT); Designated Areas for Sustainable Tourism Administration (DASTA); and Thailand Convention and Exhibition Bureau (TCEB), representing the overall tourism sector, community-based tourism, and MICE tourism respectively.
The body representing adventure and ecotourism, Thai Ecotourism and Adventure Travel Association (TEATA), has taken the lead in exploring and promoting carbon-neutral tourist destinations: building carbon-neutral infrastructure, so “when travelers arrive, the experience creates the least carbon footprint possible,” explains Nantapol Khaimuk, TEATA’s Vice-President (Adventure).
We asked Khun Nantapol to tell us about the destinations he’s helping promote for TEATA, and how sustainable travel is progressing in the Mekong Subregion’s biggest tourist nation.
The Carbon Neutral Tourism MOU was signed more than a year ago. What has TEATA been doing to hold up its end of the deal?
Recently, we just finished a trip to Nan Province. We have this grant that we received from the government, which we’re using to set up Nan as a carbon neutral province.
The Nan Province project is part of the Thailand Carbon Neutral Network and the Carbon Neutral Destination. Our goal is to create a network of operators for hotels, car rental agencies, villages, and restaurants to know about how to minimize their carbon footprint, how to apply BCG concepts.
This project is the first of its kind. If the Carbon Balance Project is going to be applied elsewhere, Nan is the is the Pioneer Province, basically.
BCG has been mentioned a lot in recent Thailand tourism initiatives. What is it and how does it promote sustainable tourism?
BCG stands for “bio circular and green” concept, which is what we’re trying to apply in this grant. And at the end of the year, which is pretty much soon, we will be completing this project and hopefully it will run on its own. And then people will know that Nan is a carbon neutral destination in the future.
When we’re promoting ecotourism and communities and adventure tourism, our main approach is using the BCG model to make tourism more unique, approachable and sustainable; and less damaging to the environment as well.
Applying BCG principles lets you plan the destination. We can calculate our carbon footprint: we can plan the decrease of harmful greenhouse gases from vehicles; or plan energy use wisely so that we don’t overwhelm locals with many big hotels or restaurants that don’t really suit the area.
For example, in our carbon balance project, we have organized electric vehicle caravans, instead of using conventional gasoline-powered buses and cars. Using the BCG and carbon balance scenario, we can already calculate the difference between the two. For each destination where we have organized caravans, we see a 20% reduction in carbon emissions!
We’ve done this for four to five destinations already, with an increasing number of partners: we’ve shown a carbon footprint reduction just by using electric vehicles, applying BCG economies to our operators. So this is the solid evidence that carbon balance is a success story!
Being sustainable is crucial to the success of ecotourism in Thailand. Why is sustainability a necessary component of promoting tourism in the country?
It’s necessary because you don’t want to go to one destination, use all the resources in it, create so much waste and terminate that destination permanently so that people will not go there anymore. We’ve seen many examples of that for sure, like Maya Beach in Krabi.
The pandemic has helped many of these sites recover. Phuket and Maya Beach were closed for many, many months. Upon reopening, they discovered that nature has come back with great strength. The corals have changed back to their natural colors. There’s less garbage. The boats are less congested. And there are many other national parks that are being closed during the rainy season so that nature can rejuvenate and regenerate.
That’s partly why we have many government programs that try to bring tourism to second tier destinations. Moving away from mainstream destinations like Phuket, Chiang Mai, we are trying to direct tourists to less-visited destinations with unseen attractions.
The next couple of years are going to be very important for ecotourism and adventure travel in Thailand. Do you have any prediction on how Thai ecotourism or adventure travel will develop in the next two or three years?
I think tourists will be more aware of trying to be sustainable. The government is pushing electric vehicles, and because of the rising fuel prices, using electric vehicles can be promoted in sync with driving to attractions in Thailand.
This will decrease the activity’s carbon emissions, while also promoting self-driving or affinity groups, instead of travel agencies who organize trips. Visitors will be motivated to plan your trips on their own.
Also, because of social media, all the nice destinations will shown to the public; you won’t need a professional anymore to lead the way, so I think the opportunities for travel agencies will become less and less. By planning your own routes, travelers will save money.
I think better access to the Internet will give villages and communities better knowledge: they will know that if a traveler is satisfied or not with their with their service, and they will improve even faster using feedback from the Internet.
What Thai ecotourism or adventure travel destinations that you feel will become hot or in-demand in the next two or three years?
Not to be self promoting, but I think Nan Province is going to be popular. With the high speed railway reaching Laos, and Nan Province is very close to the train route, it’s a gateway to Laos. Tourists from China and Laos will see Nan as as a gateway to both inbound and outbound tourism.
Nan is definitely an outdoor province. It has many scenic mountains, and then people go there to see nature. The fresh air is cool because it’s quite high-elevation. It’s got many mountains that, during the rainy season, you can see the clouds below you; during the cool season, the winter season, you can go there and enjoy the cold weather.
There are many outdoor activities. There are rafting routes that we can go on the Nan river and many small tributaries. And camping is definitely on the rise since COVID began; after social distancing, people want to be in the open air. Nan’s cafes are also very popular; cafes with nice gardens, photogenic cafes.
