PRESS RELEASE:
Events in New York, Barcelona, Osaka, and Sydney place focus on promoting more sustainable, more inclusive, and more environment-friendly tourism activities with the event in Sydney particularly recognised for reducing plastic and the carbon footprint.
Bangkok, 7 September 2023 – The Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) successfully underlined its new direction towards high-value and sustainable tourism through four recent ‘Amazing Thailand Fest 2023’ events in New York, Barcelona, Osaka, and Sydney.
Ms. Parichart Boonclai, TAT Executive Director, Advertising and Public Relations, said “The Amazing Thailand Fest 2023 events underscored TAT’s ongoing commitment to drive the Thai tourism industry towards safe and sustainable travel. Testament to TAT’s responsible tourism direction were the event’s activities that had been conceptualised to promote more sustainable, more inclusive, and more environmental-friendly tourism experiences.”
The Amazing Thailand Fest 2023 was staged in New York on 3-4 June, followed by Barcelona from 30 June-2 July, Osaka on 21-23 July, and Sydney on 19-20 August.
The event in Sydney was particularly recognised for its responsible tourism activities, which corresponded with Australian travel behaviour towards more sustainable travel experiences. Key highlights included DIY workshops on upcycling plastic waste initiatives and the promotion of 20 low-carbon tour routes.
The Sydney event’s format also placed focus on reducing single-use plastic waste by providing water dispensers for exhibitors and visitors, using biodegradable food containers, and ensuring proper waste separation and disposal, as well as choosing stand decoration materials that could be reused and recycled.
According to event water solutions Wallop Water, the Amazing Thailand Fest 2023 in Sydney successfully reduced 758 single-use plastic bottles – equivalent to bottles needed for 500 litres of water – from the utilisation of 379 litres of water. This translated to the reduction of the carbon footprint from plastic bottle manufacturing of 493 kilogrammes, as well as reduction of 95 litres of petrol and 1,137 litres of water.
Ms. Parichart said “TAT will continue with our goal of making tourism part of Thailand’s commitment to promote low-carbon tourism and implementation of climate action for sustainability, and ultimately for Thailand to achieve high value and sustainable tourism growth.”
