PATA Grand and Gold Award 2012 Winners

Environment7 Greens ConceptTourism Authority of Thailandwww.tourismthailand.org/campaign/en/www.tatnews.org/tat_news/3852.aspThe Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) and the Thai tourism industry are jointly pursuing greeninitiatives in an effort to maintain the delicate balance between tourism promotion and environmentalprotection to ensure long-term sustainability.Promoted under the 7 Greens Concept, the initiative aims to protect and preserve the environmentand restore environmental quality by raising environmental awareness. By promoting increasedCorporate Social Responsibility (CSR) it involves the active participation and support of all tourismstakeholders. These include state agencies involved in promoting tourism, private sector tourismoperators and tourism-related service providers, as well as public and non-governmental organisations,communities, media representatives and individual tourists, both Thai and foreign.The 7 Greens Concept include Green Heart, Green Logistics, Green Attraction, Green Community,Green Activity, Green Service and Green Plus.Various special events have been initiated including workshops, seminars and campaignsattracting over 1,300 participants in major cities nationwide. The events received extensive mediacoverage in print and online channels with TV, radio, billboards, social media and web sitecoverage.“TAT has demonstrated its leadership in the development of a comprehensive environmentalconcept for sustainable, green tourism in Thailand. By coordinating between the government andprivate sectors, press and academic institutes, it has gained the endorsement of a significantnumber of internal and external parties. These are concrete ways to bring sustainable tourism tothe travelling public, to ensure the long term protection of the environment, while also continuing tosupport the tourism industry” - Judge’s comment