The Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) recently teamed up with The Cloud to host Amazing Green Fest 2024 at Paragon Hall in Bangkok. The events formed part of the TAT’s commitment to responsible and sustainable tourism that positively impacts society, economy, culture and environment. Held from 15 to 18 August 2024, Amazing Green Fest 2024 was TAT’s first ever carbon-neutral event, accredited by the Thailand Greenhouse Gas Management Organization (TGO).
“The event underscores TAT’s vision to accelerate Thailand’s tourism ecosystem to sustainability, promote economic value, and maintain biodiversity of natural resources,” said Ms. Thapanee Kiatphaibool, TAT Governor. “This corresponds with Thailand’s 20-year National Strategy for competitiveness enhancement and the 13th National Economic and Social Development Plan, Milestone 2, to develop Thailand as a sustainable quality-orientated tourist destination,” she added.
Ms. Thapanee also highlighted areas for improvement in the current tourism paradigm, noting that “we need to become less reliant on the number of tourists and prioritise more on quality tourists with high purchasing power, long-stay preferences and environmental responsibility. Additionally, we need to shape supplies, elevate sustainability standards, and promote ‘hidden gems’ destinations to better balance the distribution of tourism income across the length and breadth of the country.”
Amazing Green Fest 2024 has been designed to support this development process, by raising awareness of environmental conservation and responsible tourism practices nationwide. A key theme of the activities, along with the ultimate aim of sustainable tourism generally, is ‘meaningful connections between people and nature’.
According to Mr. Changnoi Kunjara Na Ayudhya, who is the Managing Director of The Cloud, “Amazing Green Fest 2024 is purposely designed to create a community for sustainable tourism enthusiasts to exchange new experiences through storytelling. We want to motivate people to discover new meanings of sustainable tourism that can be applied in everyday life.”
The festival featured six main zones, each focusing on a different aspect of sustainable tourism. This included Green Tourism, Green Business, Green Learning, Green Food, Green Playground and The Cloud Sharing Space. For tourism businesses in particular, TAT used the festival to present a number of key themes and developments: Sustainable Tourism Goals (STGs), which have been developed and implemented in line with the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs); the STGs STAR Rating System; the Amazing Organic project; and the BCG and Happy Model tourism routes.
