Why It Matters

Over the past decade, Thailand’s travel industry has expanded quickly, bringing with it a range of environmental and social pressures. TOURLINK seeks to help the sector become more sustainable by offering capacity-building training for tour operators and their suppliers (hotels, transport companies, activity providers) while also establishing shared standards and an international certification that enhances market advantages and strengthens Thailand’s reputation as a leading destination for sustainable tourism.

By strengthening entire supply chains, the project will engage a wide range of tourism-sector MSMEs and address key Thai SCP priorities such as food processing and waste management. As a complementary focus ,it will establish and apply standards and guidelines to reduce food waste and avoid the use and improper disposal of plastics among tourism MSMEs and local communities. Consumer-facing awareness efforts will further ensure that the projects gain visibility across a wide range of stakeholders

Objectives & Approaches

The main project objective is to promote inclusive sustainable growth, to contribute to the economic prosperity and poverty reduction in Thailand, the development of a green economy and the transition towards a low-carbon, resource-efficient and circular economy. Specific objectives include:

• Adopt sustainable production and consumption (SCP) practices among MSMEs promoting less polluting and more resource efficient products, processes and services in the Thai tourism sector;

• Replicate previously demonstrated SCP practices throughout the supply chain of tourism MSMEs in a business-led approach and increasing access to green financing;

• Promote SCP practices in the tourism sector at national scale; 

• Increase awareness on SCP in the tourism sector, distilling knowledge from the project for replication in the Asian region; 

• Promote the economic value of SCP in the tourism sector interaction between MSMEs and finance institutions is facilitated; 

• Address sustainable supply chain management and facilitate the integration of MSMEs into the tourism supply chain through sustainability reporting, labelling and certification;

• Support sustainable consumption and consumer awareness on SCP specifically for tourists and international tourism agencies in Thailand;

• Support existing regional fora (e.g. ASEAN, Pacific Asia Travel Association, Asian Ecotourism Network) on tourism and SCP enhancing policy dialogue in Asia.

Duration of the Project

May 2020 - April  30, 2024

Focusing on Thai communities

Thailand has been a pioneer in community tourism and visiting local communities is often considered as a key highlight of a trip to Thailand. DASTA has developed a GSTC-recognised community tourism standard under which 100 communities have been certified. However, many of the local Thai communities which are currently included in the tours being offered through Thai-EU tourism supply chains are regular sightseeing villages, which would not be able to pass the current, high standard. With the TourLink project, the aim is to help raise standards in different types of villages and build awareness and capacity of tour operators and guides to work effectively and respectfully with Thai local communities, to offer safe, fun, sustainable local experiences.

Key Activities of Fair Tourism

Fair Tourism has undertaken several activities to support the communities team of TourLink:

Leading Role

• Conduct research on Thai tour operators’ needs for added-value experiences in communities;

• Conduct research on human rights issues and opportunities in Thai village tourism;

• Round table on human rights in Thai village excursions as a side-event to tour operator training. 

Supporting Role

• Establish and facilitate a Multi-Stakeholder Working Group on Communities in Tourism;

• Develop a minimum standard for responsible village excursions;

• Identify 30 Community Tourism villages with interest and potential to welcome European visitors;

• Help prepare September 2022 TOURLINK Training for Tour Operators and October 2022 TOURLINK Training for Professional Thai Tour Guides and Present Step in Standards for Tour Guides. 

Results

The TourLink Project created an impact in a lot of ways. Below, you will find the impact that was created by the activities that Fair Tourism was involved in:

• Training 250+ Thai tourism businesses on sustainability; 

• Delivering participatory research on DMC needs for Thai community tourism;

• Delivering unique, participatory research on human rights issues and solutions in Thai village tourism;

• Special focus on human rights of local tourism communities, specifically the Pandang (long-neck) women.

Interested in reading up on all the results of the TourLink Project? The official impact sheet of the project provides you with a summary of all impacts in several categories: Economic, Environmental, Social, Climate Benefits, Green Finance, Target Group Engagement, Policy Development, and Europe-Asia Cooperation.

What is TourLink

The Tourlink project unites the experience, expertise and energy of Thai-EU sustainable tourism pioneers: the European Centre for Ecological and Agricultural Tourism (ECEAT), Designated Areas for Sustainable Tourism Administration (DASTA), Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA), Thai Eco and Adventure Travel Association (TEATA), and Thai Hotel Association (THA)  to green the Thai tourism sector. This all-encompassing project is managed by Peter Richards and funded by the European SWITCH-Asia Program that aims to promote sustainable consumption and production (SCP) in Asia. More extensive information about the entire project can be found on the website of SWITCH-Asia.