“Good Tourism” in Thailand

“Good Tour­ism” des­tin­a­tions and places in Thai­l­and, and the travel & tour­ism stake­hold­ers in the South­east Asi­an nation who are keen to show­case their good, their bet­ter, and their best.

Award-winning Anurak ecotourism experience reopens in southern Thailand


Bamboo rafting is an activity available at Anurak Community Lodge in southern Thailand

Anurak Com­munity Lodge, an award-win­n­ing eco­tour­ism exper­i­ence in south­ern Thai­l­and, has fully reopened fol­low­ing two years of COV­­ID-related uncer­tainty.  The 19-unit nature retreat, which won the PATA Grand Award for Sus­tain­ab­il­ity in 2020, and is Trav­elife Gold cer­ti­fied, offi­cially reopens 1 August with room enhance­ments, a refreshed food and bever­age menu – includ­ing south­ern ‘jungle’ […]

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Thailand’s tourism elephants lose when pragmatism gives way to politics, ideology

June 1, 2021
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Fundraising livestreams are the best hope for unemployed elephants in Thailand. Pic supplied by John Roberts.

The best hope for Thail­and’s unem­ployed tour­ism ele­phants now are livestreams and the gen­er­os­ity of donors. As travel resumes, ele­phant expert John Roberts fears that loc­al polit­ics and act­iv­ist ideo­logy will con­tin­ue to be a bar­ri­er to optim­al out­comes.  It’s a “Good Tour­ism” Insight.  It is always fool­ish to gaze into a crys­tal ball and […]

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The PR challenge of opening Thailand safely to inbound travel & tourism

March 11, 2021
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Smiling eyes of a Bangkok taxi driver. Image by David Gillbanks

The COV­­ID-induced travel & tour­ism depres­sion has hit Thai­l­and hard. Ranked eighth in terms of inter­na­tion­al vis­it­or arrivals in 2019, Thai­l­and is the poorest of the des­tin­a­tions in the top 10. It is no won­der then that an industry-led pub­lic rela­tions cam­paign advoc­at­ing for a safe reopen­ing has emerged: #OpenThai­l­and­Safely. Head­ing up its mes­saging and […]

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Host communities are at the core of tomorrow’s sustainable tourism

January 28, 2021

Baan Talae Nok, Andaman Coast, southern Thailand

The post-pan­­dem­ic future of travel & tour­ism will be more com­munity-based than it has been, accord­ing to sus­tain­able tour­ism expert Eva Moss­berg. In this “Good Tour­ism” Insight, Ms Moss­berg points to the vil­lage of Baan Talae Nok in south­ern Thai­l­and for an example of how and why. “Humans are not per­fect decision makers. Not only are […]

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Anurak Lodge in Thailand wins PATA Grand Award for sustainability


Anurak Community Lodge staff

Anurak Com­munity Lodge’s green cre­den­tials secure the ‘best of the best’ award for oper­at­or YAANA Ven­tures. YAANA Ven­tures, the oper­at­or of Anurak Com­munity Lodge at Khao Sok Nation­al Park in south­ern Thai­l­and, has been awar­ded the 2020 Pacific Asia Travel Asso­ci­ation (PATA) Grand Award in the Sus­tain­ab­il­ity cat­egory. The win­ners were announced dur­ing the online PATA Gold […]

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