Sustainable travel: tourism operators reducing or ending plastic use, and taking other steps to safeguard the environment
- Companies and communities that make a living from attracting tourists to Asian beauty spots are taking steps to reduce their impact on the environment
- Many are striving to end their reliance on single-use plastic, while others are working to safeguard or restore coral reefs
The tourism industry has a huge role to play in protecting and preserving the environments it encroaches on. Scenes of once-pristine beaches strewn with waste and translucent waters peppered with plastic have forced the companies and communities who make a living from tourism to take action.
With this month being Plastic Free July, we throw the spotlight on some of the organisations taking steps to safeguard the environment.
1. Banyan Tree Samui
The Thai islands of Koh Samui, Koh Phangan and Koh Tao have in recent years introduced bans on smoking and littering on beaches, feeding marine life, waste water dumping, anchoring or fishing on coral reefs, walking on the seabed, and seaside construction. Meanwhile, tourists are banned from bringing plastic bags to another island, Koh Samet.
Banyan Tree Samui is the country’s first resort to be awarded Gold Certification by international tourism advisory group Earthcheck. Housekeepers use cloth bags instead of plastic ones, its restaurant uses wooden and bamboo utensils, and most plastic bottles have been replaced by glass bottles.
It also operates a coral regeneration project, and offers guests the opportunity to go snorkelling and learn first-hand about the conservation work. banyantree.com
2. Six Senses Hotels Resorts Spas
Six Senses intends all its resorts to be plastic-free by 2022, and has announced other marine conservation initiatives. It has pledged to introduce sunscreen that is coral-reef safe at all its properties by September 2019; oxybenzone and a related chemical widely used in skin care products, including sunscreen, cause widespread damage to corals, according to research by the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
Anna Bjurstam, wellness pioneer at Six Senses, says: “We undertook extensive research in selecting the best products on the market that are not only good for the land and ocean, but good for us too.” sixsenses.com
3. Awei Pila, Myanmar
Having only recently opened up to tourists, Myanmar’s southern Mergui Archipelago boasts the type of untouched, postcard-perfect beaches that are becoming hard to find. The tourism businesses operating in the islands are playing their part in ensuring the area remains untainted by visitors.
Hidden on the remote island of Pila, Awei Pila recently partnered with Ocean Quest Global, a Southeast Asia-based organisation that works to protect coral reefs, in a campaign to clear the area of lost or abandoned fishing nets, known as ghost nets.
Over four days in May 2019, an international group of volunteer divers recovered 300kg of nets, traps and lines left in the ocean by Mergui’s fishermen and sea gypsies. A similar clean-up is set to take place this autumn. memoriesgroup.com
4. Treeline Urban Resort, Cambodia
Since it opened seven months ago on the banks of the Siem Reap River, Treeline Urban Resort has been championing sustainability in the city that serves as the gateway to the Angkor temples complex. As well as holding litter-picking and environmental-awareness events, it is on its way to becoming the country’s first plastic-free property.
All rooms are free of single-use plastics; takeaway food containers are made from compostable palm leaves and environmentally friendly cardboard, while minibar items, coffee and sugar are stored in glass jars.
To mark Plastic Free July, the resort has teamed up with local organisation Plastic Free Cambodia to host the latter’s fifth anniversary party. As part of its larger environmental plans, it aims to transform the city’s riverside into a vibrant, clean and leafy public space.
Treeline founder and local architect Hok Kang wants to redesign a riverside promenade to reflect the sacred significance of the river, which flows from the waterfalls of Kulen Mountain, around the Angkor temples and through the city before emptying into the Tonle Sap Lake. treelinehotels.com
5. Akaryn Hotel Group
In June this year, Akaryn achieved its goal of ending the use of single-use plastic at all six of its hotels, which are spread across Thailand. Its newest property, Akyra TAS Sukhumvit Bangkok, was the first hotel in Asia to open without any single-use plastic in its rooms, restaurants or bars.
The group operates immersive environmental initiatives for guests; at Aleenta Hua Hin Resort & Spa, guests can help rangers at nearby Hkao Sam Roi Yot, Thailand’s first marine park, by planting mangroves to help reafforest its delicate ecosystem. akarynhotelgroup.com
6. Etihad Airways
Airlines are playing their part in reducing plastic use. Based in Abu Dhabi, Etihad recently announced plans to reduce single-plastic usage by 80 per cent by 2022.
In May 2019 it introduced compostable cutlery, edible coffee cups made from natural grains, and reusable stainless-steel cutlery. One month later plastic packaging was removed from 41 items, reducing the airline’s yearly use of single-use plastic by 17 tonnes.
Look out for more stories from SCMP Lifestyle this month about sustainable living.
