Sustainable tourism experts gather in Chiang Mai

The Global Sustainable Tourism Council‘s Asia-Pacific Conference will gather the industry experts together in Chiang Mai from February 27 t0 March 2, 2019.

In this interview, we ask Roi Ariel, GSTC’s General Manager, about the conference highlights, speakers, and sustainable tourism insights.

Roi has worked with UN-ESCAP (United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific) researching green growth, and on sustainability issues with PATA (Pacific Asia Travel Association). Before his move to Asia, Roi worked with Friends of the Earth in Israel as the Green Economy Initiative Advisor.

🌱 Join 2019 GSTC Asia-Pacific Conference in Chiang Mai (27 February – 2 March).

What is GSTC and why was it created?

The Global Sustainable Tourism Council (GSTC) was created jointly by United Nations agencies and prominent international conservation NGOs to develop global standards for sustainable travel and tourism. It also created tools to verify legitimate claims of sustainable businesses while fighting against false claims (“greenwashing”).

The GSTC Criteria are based on four pillars of sustainability: sustainable management, social and economic practices, cultural respect and conservation, and the natural environment.

GSTC does not directly certify. However, we are very much involved in certification as we offer accreditation to those organizations that do certify, and we provide the GSTC Criteria as the global standards that are used for certification.

GSTC also offers a Sustainable Tourism Training Program, available to anyone working in tourism; Destination assessments; and other support to destination managers and tourism policy makers.

Everything we do is based on the GSTC Criteria.

Who is the conference for and what is the purpose of the event?

The 2019 GSTC Asia-Pacific Conference will bring together international and domestic tourism stakeholders involved in the development and promotion of sustainable tourism, including public sector agencies, hotels, tour operators, academia, development agencies, NGOs, consultants, and more.

The Conference will address the following themes:

1. Smart Destination Management

Destination Managers are increasingly applying new technologies to assist them with many aspects of their complex jobs in managing tourism destinations. “Smart Destinations” refers to data-driven decision-making and management of destinations.

2. Quality Tourism: Delivering Sustainable Quality Experiences

This track considers both industry (businesses) offering more sustainable or responsible product as well as public sector destination managers doing the same.

3. Tourism Protecting Wildlife

The business of travel can either provide protection to wildlife by funding activities that create incentives for residents and governments to enforce protection laws and ethics, or it can cause much harm to wildlife. We want to foster the former and avoid the latter.

What are some of the key speakers who will be presenting?

We organized a line-up of superb speakers, who will share their insights on sustainable tourism topics in Asia-Pacific, including:

Mr. Weerasak Kowsurat – Minister of Tourism and Sports, Thailand
Dr.Chuwit Mitrchob – Deputy General-Director, DASTA
Janice Lao – Director of Corporate Responsibility and Sustainability, The Hongkong and Shanghai Hotels
Lee Poston, Communications Director, WWF Greater Mekong
Hazel Quek Xue Fang – Senior Executive, Corporate Responsibility, Hilton
Martin Heng – Accessible Travel Manager & Editorial Adviser, Lonely Planet
and many more…

Why did you choose Chiang Mai, Thailand for the location?

Chiang Mai, the former seat of the Lanna Kingdom, is currently Northern Thailand’s main tourism hub of with an international airport and good domestic and international connectivity. It is the country’s fifth-largest city.

Chiang Mai is both a developed destination and a developing destination.

In 2017, the city was named ‘UNESCO Creative Cities on Crafts and Folk Art’. Creative tourism is one of the main focuses of Thailand’s Designated Areas for Sustainable Tourism Administration (DASTA), a long term GSTC Member that puts to use the GSTC framework and is the sponsor of the conference. Therefore, Chiang Mai is the perfect host for the 2019 GSTC Asia-Pacific Conference.

What are some of the key challenges of sustainable tourism in Southeast Asia?

International tourist arrivals in Asia-Pacific totaled 323 million last year. With Thailand alone reaching 35 million, many popular destinations are strained to the breaking point. This is one challenge in Southeast Asia we will address in the conference.

As tourism demand continues to grow, a key aspect of preventing “overtourism” at iconic locations while still benefiting from strong demand, is to disperse visitors to more secondary and tertiary destinations.

In that context, one of the main question is whether these “emerging destinations” can benefit from that economic growth without damaging the quality of life of residents and their culture and self-identity?

We aim to offer practical suggestions for civic leaders and businesses on how to develop the right mix of products and services to attract the type of appreciating visitors, and how to manage our community and businesses in ways that protect our lifestyle and culture. All of this requires planning and collaboration between the public sector and local businesses.