ReportSustain (1) (1)

ICTM420: Sustainable Tourism Studies
“ Report: Hospitality and Sustainability Challenges ”
Submitted to:
Dr. Nadezda Sorokina
By:
1. Thanaporn Chaisrita 5481041
2. Chuenchit Poyen 5580928
3. Diyana Ngophaiwan 5780197
4. Nutchada Rakdee 5780537
Mahidol University International College
May 26, 2016
Trimester III Academic Year 2015­2016

1
Background
Tourism and environment have a complex relationship which involves many activities
and have ultimately environmental effects. Many of these can link to the construction of typical
infrastructure such as airports, roads, tourism facilities such as hotels, restaurants, and golf
courses. In this point, the rapidly increasing tourism has negative impacts on the environment
resources. However, tourism can also raise the awareness of the environmental values by
creating environmental protection, and conservation. In these days, it is the time for people to
care more about the environment and natural resources. Natural resources are dramatically
decreasing and do not have enough for people. Therefore, in this paper, we explain the
environmental impacts of tourism which is depletion of natural resources, the effects on the
business, the extent that tourism and hospitality contribute towards the issue, and also the journal
which relate with this issue.
The biggest environmental and social issue facing the hospitality in Thailand
Depletion of natural resources
All the essential energy and materials that we use in this planet, welfare of living beings
including humans are provided by nature. They are called natural resources. Everything becomes
resource except the used by humans to perform a function. Humans live in nature, and we
depend on the resources of nature. Natural resource is very important because it depends on the
sustenance and welfare of mankind. The utilization of water, soil, coal, electricity, minerals, oil,
gas, and nuclear energy are the main factor to develop nations. These resources have changed the
level of living standard of humans.
In recent days, the more tourism development, the more resources are scarce. Tourism
development can put more pressure on natural resources when it continues to increase and have
more consumption areas. The areas where resources are already lacking. Depletion of natural
resources is the important and the big issue which affects the tourism and hospitality in Thailand

2
(Camarda, 2003). Depletion of natural resource is also the utilization of a resource than it can be
refilled. The natural resources are commonly divided between renewable resources and
nonrenewable resources. It is considered as a resource depletion, if the use of these forms beyond
their rate of replacement (UNEP, 2016).
It is simply saying that our natural resources are not enough for people. In our current
global population is 7.2 billion , and this number has been growing. The earth’s total resources
are only benefit for 2 billion people at the current demand. Nowadays, we are using natural
resources than what is sustainable which is 2 to 3 times more the Earth’s natural resources. It is
obvious that the result is very negative and the number of resources are going down (The World
Counts, 2014). Therefore, depletion of natural resources has many negative effects on tourism
industry which are water resources, land degradation, Pollution.
Water resources
Water resources and especially fresh water is the important criteria natural resources that
the tourism industry generally overuses for many fields such as hotels, swimming pools, golf
courses, and personal use of the tourists. Moreover, in the world total water volume, only 2.5%
of fresh water, 70 % is frozen (The World Counts, 2014) . In this reason, it can result in water
shortages and also the degradation of water supplies, in addition to create the huge volume of
waste water. Furthermore, as we know, Thailand has known as the hot region. Because of this
issue, the tendency of tourists to consume more water when they are on holiday than they do at
home, and this amount can run up to 440 liters a day. Nowadays, golf courses has increased in
popularity and the number of courses has expanded rapidly. Therefore, they need the huge
amount of water every day, and this can cause in water scarcity (UNEP, 2016).Moreover,
Thailand has regularly suffered from flooding during the monsoon season , and it also droughts
in the summer even both in some particular areas. Hene, climate change is the new threat that
intensify the water resource tensions (Chitradon, 2009).

3
Land degradation
Due to the limited size of the lands, ​many lands experience a fast depletion of agricultural
land, which normally accompanies an increased demand for residential building, entertainment
facilities and industrial construction. This can cause problems which associate with the
geographical and natural ecosystem (Briguglio, 2014). The important land resources include
soil, forests, fertile. Fossil fuels, wetland, and wildlife has been affected for the increasing of
tourism industry. It results in the direct impact on natural resources, both renewable and
nonrenewable, in the supply of tourists facilities can be caused by the use of land for
infrastructure provision, the use of building materials, and for accommodation. Moreover,
forests frequently suffer negative effects in the form of deforestation caused by fuel wood
collection and land clearing (Chitradon, 2009).
Pollution
Air emissions, noise, solid waste and littering, releases of sewage, oil and chemicals,
even architectural/visual pollution. These problems have been increasing gradually, and they
cause many impacts on society. As Gebhart (2014) said that every year between February and
April, dry­season aridity and rising temperatures coincide with forest fires, agricultural burning,
and other sources of pollution to blanket Northern Thailand in a layer of smoke and haze.
Actually, not only air pollution, but also all pollution above that tend to increase slightly in each
year. However, the most important point is that all of them are caused by the tourism industry.
The impact on tourism and hospitality business
In today’s world, Tourism is one of the largest industries, and it has a very complex and
interdependent relationship with environment and society. Natural resource depletion and
environmental degradation are directly associated with tourism and hospitality businesses. In
other words, tourism development can put pressure on natural resources when it increases
consumption in areas where resources are already scarce. Although the tourisms’ activities have
negative impacts on environment such as water resources and land gradation, all of these can

4
reflectively affect the tourism industries as well. Water is one of the most significant natural
resources in tourism industry. As there are a lot of hotel and resorts in Thailand, water resources
are considered as the main issue that affects tourism and hospitality businesses. Tourism industry
normally overuses water resources for swimming pools, hotels, golf courses and personal use of
water by tourists (UNEP, 2016). By doing this, it can cause water shortages and degradation of
water supplies, and also generating a greater volume of wastewater (Sunlu, 2003). Therefore,
tourism not only causes water shortage, but also is directly affected by it. In addition, Thailand
has frequently suffered from droughts in summer. If the country does not have enough water
supply, this can have disastrous effects on tourism in the affected regions. For instance, in 2005,
severe drought in the Eastern Seaboard of Thailand led to a conflict in water resource allocation
among the tourism, agricultural, industrial, and domestic consumption sectors. It was very severe
that those sectors had to hunt for every drop of water from any sources they could find, including
shipping water by truck from near by regions (Chitradon, 2009). Water Shortage has been such a
serious environmental problem in Thailand, so people should find an effective way to solve the
problem. Besides water resource issue, there is another natural problem that Thai people should
not ignore, which is “Land degradation” According to Development of Methodologies for Land
Degradation (n.d.), Land degradation is a very important problem as it causes landslides, soil
erosion, flood and salinity. Landslide is one of the most dangerous issue which directly affects
tourism industry. In the northern of Thailand 2001, a lot of trees were uprooted in the upland
areas, and villages were under water and mud. Moreover, approximately 120 people died and
over 1,000 people were homeless, and many properties in affected areas all collapsed.
Obviously, land degradation has negative impact on many sectors, especially in tourism industry
because many hotels and resorts in Thailand are located around the mountain side. As a matter of
fact, Natural resource depletion and environmental degradation are actually associated with
tourism industry, so to prevent further affect, tourism and hospitality owners should manage their
business sustainably first, and then all these problems will be gone in the society.

5
The extent that tourism and/or hospitality contribute towards the issue
Unplanned and uncontrolled hotel development have contributed to depletion of natural
resources including water resources, land degradation and pollution in Thailand.
The first concern is water resources. As we know that tourists tend to consume more
water and energy when they are traveling than when they are at home. So, hotel consume a lot of
water. According to the survey from national statistical office of Thailand 2016, hotel size
150­200 rooms need 50,000 – 100,000 m3 per year which is equals to the amount of water used
by small province of 5,000 people. Water used by guest is not the main area of concern because
these water is easily treated and will not have a significant impact on environment. But the main
concern should be water used for laundry operation which contains chemicals that can cause air
pollution, toxic waste and sewage problems.
The second concern is land degradation. Hotels contribute to this problem by disposing
soil masses into the river which cause obstruction to waterways, building road and infrastructure
too close to the seashore or mangrove forest(Juthakorn,2018).The rapid development of hotel
industries cause the degradation of environment
The third concern is pollution. The main pollution that hotel causes are solid waste and
air pollution. For solid waste, the majority are food waste (40%) and paper waste (25%). The
amount of solid waste produced by hotels is similar to an amount of solid waste produced by
some average communities. The amount of solid waste is varying across hotel. Self­service
hotels and motels contribute less solid waste since they do not provide full­service restaurant. On
the other hand, full­service hotels contribute large amount of solid waste since they provide
on­site restaurant, meeting room and even convention. Plus, hotels in Thailand do not have to
worry about their large amount of solid waste too much because they can make money from
those waste. They can sell food waste to pig farm, most of solid waste like newspaper and
plastics to scavengers and they can just throw other remaining waste to garbage truck service
which costs them so little. For air pollution, Chloro­fluoro­carbons (CFCs) is one of the leading
gas that could harm human health and environment. And hotels contribute to large amount of
CFCs emission to outside atmosphere. CFCs from hotels is produced by Freon loss from

6
refrigerators, freezers, chillers, self­contained coolers, use of spray cans, fire extinguisher and
halon computer room protection, foam insulation, Styrofoam cups and packaging, emissions
from burning fossil fuels, boilers for generating steam, Gas­fired equipment in the kitchens, Etc.
Newspaper
Researchers Trisophon and Punyawadee (2003) stressed that “drastic deforestation and
resource depletion in Thailand has long been a recognized problem, drawing much attention and
activities from both government and non­ government organizations.” However, there still be the
moves that unlawfully invade into natural areas in Thailand. According to travel section in
Bangkok Post online website, public land in Khao Yai National Park in Nakhon Ratchasima, a
province in northeastern Thailand, have been encroached by several businessmen and political
figures which some of those lands have been turned into resort, resort and spa, and farm which
are the tourist attraction (Laohong, 2016). It can be seen that the powerful people have invaded
the forest area doing deforestation and turn those land into construction that run their business.
Moreover, not only the mountain areas or the forrest parts, but all so the islands, the beach, all
together with marin resources that have been used unsustainably. A popular tourist site for both
Thai and foreign tourist which be known as Koh Tachai in the Similan National Park, a natural
conservation area, in the southern part of Thailand will be close to all visitors since there has
been overcrowding and the degradation of natural resources and environment (Bangkok Post,
2016). It has been faced with the heavy tourism activities and the large number of tourists that
they should held along with food stalls and tour boats which lead the island to quickly
deteriorate. It is not only the island itself, but also the shoreline, the beaches and the coral reefs.
Furthermore, tourism can cause the pollution as other industry, in Thailand, particularly in
Bangkok. It could be in the form of air emissions, noise, solid waste and littering, releases of
sewage, oil and chemicals, even architectural/visual pollution. According to Fernquest (2011),
the Pollution Control Department mentioned about the air pollution in Bangkok that it has
reached the critical levels with the dangerous substances over three times the acceptable standard
in some areas which are the popular communities. In addition, people tend to travel more and
more these days. Bangkok is another destination and a must visit place if people came to

7
Thailand. Even worse, that Bangkok itself has already got much air pollution from the traffic
each days and as well the construction that seem endless. Even though tourism is such a great
source for major revenue for Thai people. However, the damage caused by tourism without
knowing or being observed is rapidly becoming apparent and is at beginning to be reflected in
monetary costs.
Conclusion
The biggest environmental issue facing the hospitality industry in Thailand is depletion of
resources which also leads to water resources problem, land degradation and pollution. Depletion
of resources affects tourist’s safety and the number of tourists coming to Thailand. Hotel
operation ,especially food waste and laundry operation, have a huge contribution to all of this
problem. And according to many recent news, there will be more and more problem regarding
depletion of resource happens, if there are no strong restriction toward the unlawful act of
harming environment.

8
References
Bangkok Post. (2016, May 16). Koh Tachai island off Phangnga closed indefinitely. Retrieved
from
http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/general/975145/koh­tachai­island­off­phangnga­clos
ed­indefinitely
Briguglio, L. & Briguglio, M. (2014). Sustainable Tourism on Small Islands. ​University of Malt​.
Retrieved from
https://www.um.edu.mt/__data/assets/pdf_file/0009/63864/sustainable_tourism_linomari
ebriguglio.pdf
Camarda, D. & Grassin, L. (2003). Environmental impacts of tourism . ​CIHEAM​. Retrieved
from http://om.ciheam.org/om/pdf/a57/04001977.pdff
Chitradon. (2009).Risk Management of Water Resources in Thailand in the Face of Climate
Change . ​Hydro and Agro Infomatics Institue​. Retrieved from
http://www.haii.or.th/wiki/index.php/Risk_Management_of_Water_Resources_in_Thaila
nd_in_the_Face_of_Climate_Change
Development of Methodologies for Land Degradation (n.d.). Land Development. ​IDD. ​Retrieved
from http://www.ldd.go.th/Efiles_project/ldd_plannig/welcome/index.html
Fernquest, J. (2011, February 2). Bangkok air pollution. Retrieved from
http://www.bangkokpost.com/learning/learning­from­news/219531/bangkok­air­pollution
Gebhart, G. (2014, March 26). Transboundary Pollution in Northern Thailand Causes Dangerous
Levels of Smog.​The Asia Foundation.​Retrieved from
http://asiafoundation.org/2014/03/26/transboundary­pollution­in­northern­thailand­causes
­dangerous­levels­of­smog/
Laohong, K. (2016, April 22). Resorts, politicians 'hold 17 deeds' on Khao Yai park land.
Retrieved from

9
http://www.bangkokpost.com/travel/tourists­and­expats/942521/resorts­politicians­hold­1
7­deeds­on­khao­yai­park­land
Juthakorn S. (Nov 28,1998). Environmental Management in Thai Hotel Industry. ​Urabn
Environmental Management.​Retrieved from
http://www.ucalgary.ca/ev/designresearch/projects/2000/cuc/tp/outreach/Environmental%20Mana
gement%20in%20Thai%20Hotel%20Industry.pdf
Sunlu, U. (2003). Environmental impacts of tourism.​CIHEAM.​Retrieved from
http://www.ciheam.org/
The World Counts. (2014). Consequences of Depletion of Natural Resources .​The World Counts​.
Retrieved from
http://www.theworldcounts.com/stories/consequences_of_depletion_of_natural_resource
s
Trisophon K., & Punyawadee V. (2003). ​A Systematic Approach to Assess Highland Resource
Management Options in Northern Thailand​. Integrated Assessment.
UNEP. (2016). Tourism's Three Main Impact Areas​.UNEP​. Retrieved from
http://www.unep.org/resourceefficiency/Business/SectoralActivities/Tourism/FactsandFiguresab
outTourism/ImpactsofTourism/EnvironmentalImpacts/TourismsThreeMainImpactAreas/tabid/78
776/Default.aspx