The Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) and the Thai tourism industry are jointly pursuing ‘green initiatives’ in an effort to maintain the delicate balance between tourism promotion and environmental protection to ensure long-term sustainability.

Promoted under the Seven Greens concept developed by TAT, the initiative to protect and preserve the environment and restore environmental quality by raising environmental awareness and by promoting increased Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) involves the active participation and support of all tourism stakeholders. These include state agencies involved in promoting tourism, private sector tourism operators and tourism-related service providers, as well as public and non-governmental organizations, communities, media representatives and individual tourists — both Thai and foreign.

The Thai tourism industry firmly believes that efforts to protect and preserve the environment are consistent with Thailand’s quest to achieve sustainable tourism.

“The growing concern worldwide over global warming and climate change has led to dramatic changes in consumer attitudes, travel seasonality and other travel patterns and trends,” notes Ms Sasi-Apha Sukontarat, Executive Director of TAT’s Product Promotion Department.

“It is influencing individual choices regarding travel destinations, the length of trips and other factors such as the availability of environmentally-friendly modes of transport and environmentally-responsible service providers,” she explains.

“With an ever-increasing number of well-informed and discerning world travellers looking to significantly reduce their carbon footprint by opting for environmentally-friendly travel and tourism related products and services, the adoption of a green agenda for Thailand ensures that the destination and the Thai tourism industry retain international competitiveness. By keeping pace with the latest trends in global travel, this strengthens Thailand’s global image as a dynamic and relevant ‘brand.’”

By embracing green initiatives, the Thai tourism industry is communicating its stand and positioning the Thai kingdom as an environmentally-responsible player on the world stage. The Thai tourism industry has voiced strong support for global efforts to minimize and offset the effects of global warming which are causing severe climate change in various parts of the world.

“As the national tourism organization (NTO), TAT recognizes the significance of these shifts in lifestyle preferences and travel trends. It has therefore launched a concerted effort to promote environmentally-friendly and energy-saving tourism programmes and travel packages designed to create as little negative impact to the environment as possible,” says Executive Director Sasi-Apha.

TAT’s Green initiatives for Thai tourism consist of four key elements:

	The implementation of the Seven Greens concept (outlined below)
	The creation and development of a database of environmentally-responsible tourism operators and service providers offering green or environmentally-friendly tourism products and services. (Raising the local and international visibility and awareness of these green tourism operators and service providers falls within TAT’s tourism promotion mandate.)
	The development or selection of green tourism destinations that are positive role models
	The organization of meetings, conferences and educational seminars on tourism in this new era

TAT’s Seven Greens programme provides a conceptual framework and establishes practical guidelines for carefully balancing tourism promotion and a healthy, sustainable environment. It facilitates the formation of strategic partnerships and provides a cooperative framework for the implementation of green initiatives in the following seven areas.

TAT is working in collaboration with all stakeholders in the Thai tourism industry to chart an appropriate course and clearly identify the individual roles and responsibilities to be undertaken by each entity. This means developing jointly an integrated industry plan to promote tourism activities that reflect respect for the environment and place greater importance on the conservation of natural resources. This will help to significantly reduce the forces that contribute to global warming and precipitate drastic climate change.

TAT together with partners in both the private and government sectors will ensure that the implementation of the initial phase is successfully completed during a three-year pilot period from 2008-2010.

EXAMPLES
Green Logistics Green Destinations Green Communities Green Activities
Green Service/Green Accommodation

GREEN DESTINATIONS
Thailand’s Pollution Control Department recently introduced star-ratings for beaches around Thailand.