Can Bangkok Go Green?

According to the plans laid down by the Commerce Ministry, Thailand is to be promoted to become one of the greatest hubs for retreat and wellness with organic hospitality centers, green hotels and several resorts. Thai hotel and resort operators, in the recent past, have actually branded themselves green hotels and resorts through massive investments in energy, waste-water management and waste management.

According to the plans laid down by the Commerce Ministry, Thailand is to be promoted to become one of the greatest hubs for retreat and wellness with organic hospitality centers, green hotels and several resorts. Thai hotel and resort operators, in the recent past, have actually branded themselves green hotels and resorts through massive investments in energy, waste-water management and waste management. This is according to the Commerce Deputy Permanent Secretary, Piramol Charoenpao.

 

However, these establishments can only be dubbed to be organic resorts and hotels through investment in and use of organic products purely developed from the local network. In Koh Samui, Chiang Mai and Phuket, there are but a few hotels which have gone truly organic at the moment. They offer their services to foreigners in most cases and they have emerged with some success. Piramol has said that the Minisrty should actually encourage many more operators to go organic as well. A report indicates that the Ministry will now work together with several other government agencies in a bid to ensure that there is an upgrade in the production standards applied in organic products product development and training. The Ministry intends to achieve this in period of 3 years. The systematic developments said here will actually help to create several opportunities for a unique franchise system that will help to generate more and more revenue for Thailand.

 

In foreign countries, wellness resorts charge a lot of fees. This will offer Thailand the opportunity to development its individual bank of knowledge on holistic health care. This could also help to expand its overall market segment. But according to Ms. Piramol, the main obstacle that is preventing Thailand from progressive organic development is the high and fluctuating cost of logistics and supply. She further said that the government of Thailand is working tirelessly with farm networks with a view to increase of supplies and organize about 4,000 communities which produce vegetables. This is aimed at supplying all the people with health problems without any difficulty. The government has also lately tried to promote the development of organic farming schools in a bid to increase the overall number of households and firms that are going organic. Over the past 3 years, the government has tried to boost up the level of organic supply coming from the neighboring countries in a processing bid. This is expressly aimed at making the country an organic farming hub. 90 percent of the organic produce from Thailand is basically supplied to other local markets whereas the other portion is left for export. This includes organic rice. According to The World of Organic Agriculture: Statistic and Emerging Trends report, farmland of about 218.7 million rai globally produced commodities that were worth over US$50.9 billion in the year 2008. It is projected that the market will grow by 50 percent each year. The EU, Japan, the US and Australia are some of the areas that which have the highest proportion of organic agriculture at the moment.