The World Happiness Report 2021 focuses on the effects of COVID-19 and how people all over the world have fared. The aim was two-fold, first to focus on the effects of COVID-19 on the structure and quality of people’s lives, and second to describe and evaluate how governments all over the world have dealt with the pandemic.
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It is vital private sector players step up their game to coordinate unified tourism recovery across the Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS) countries in the wake of change at Mekong Tourism Coordinating Office (MTCO), say regional stakeholders.
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Jens Thraenhart has decided to step down from his post as Executive Director of the Mekong Tourism Coordinating Office.
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The One Planet Vision for a Responsible Recovery of the Tourism Sector builds on the UNWTO Global Guidelines to Restart Tourism released by the Global Tourism Crisis Committee on 28 May 2020 with the objective to support tourism to emerge stronger and more sustainable from the COVID-19 crisis. The vision is shared by the members of the One Planet Sustainable Tourism Programme
and partner organizations.
This study was conducted amongst potential visitors to Europe, both first-time and repeat visitors, who intend
to visit Europe in the next five years. Findings of this study are therefore specific to this target segment and
need not necessarily apply to general outbound travellers from South-East Asia.
Tourism can be a source of foreign currency, a job engine and a catalyst for sustainable regional development, but it can also have a negative impact. In order to access its inherent potential, tourism needs to be managed with foresight.
Managing destinations plays a key role here. Because of their market relevance and size, destinations have the potential to be developed and marketed from a sustainable perspective.
That requires effective destination management organizations (DMOs), which can manage the destination and coordinate various tourism-related stakeholders.
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Kids in online classes can now join a video call with elephants and scientific experts in northern Thailand.
Redefining the term “trunk call,” Thailand’s Anantara Golden Triangle Elephant Camp & Resort has introduced complimentary field trips for schoolchildren learning from home while in lockdown. The new initiative builds on the success of twice-daily livestreams done by the resort in tandem with the Golden Triangle Asian Elephant Foundation (GTAEF), through which Internet users can admire rescued elephants walking in the jungle and taking a mud bath in the Ruak River. These showcases have garnered more than 5 million views since the start of the pandemic.
The latest livestreamed experience recalls the resort’s signature Walking with Giants experience, and callers will be able to see three-ton Asian elephants roaming the jungled surroundings of the property, located where the borders of Thailand, Laos, and Myanmar meet. The pachyderms will be accompanied by the mahouts and either a GTAEF veterinarian or biologist, from whom viewers can learn insights about the behavior of these majestic animals. Children will also have the chance to observe the elephants’ social interaction in their native habitat, and each virtual field trip is customized to meet the needs and curriculum of the students.
John Roberts, Group Director of Sustainability & Conservation at Anantara Hotels, Resorts & Spas, said in a statement, “Whilst this entertaining and educational experience is a temporary virtual substitute for educational institutions’ learning through exposure to nature and nature-based activities, it is the escapism and the enthusiasm that it affords young minds — some often trapped in challenging and confusing circumstances — that make it all worthwhile.”
The Golden Triangle Asian Elephant Foundation can organize these video calls as a complimentary experience for online school classes held during Thailand daylight hours. For more information or to reserve a spot on a live virtual field trip, get in touch by emailing jroberts@anantara.com or by calling 66-53/784-084.
Source: https://www.destinasian.com/blog/news-briefs/anantara-golden-triangle-now-offers-virtual-field-trips
In this report, we explore some of the key dynamics that lie at the heart of these transitions. And we ask how we can make active choices now that will transform our future prospects by embedding, at the heart of our strategies and plans, the realisation that a fundamentally different model is needed. A model that puts people’s wellbeing and planetary health first, as the overriding imperatives. Planetary health is not separate to human wellbeing. The two are intricately intertwined. In order to achieve the just, resilient and truly sustainable world we want we advocate a regenerative approach – enhancing the underlying capacity of all individuals, communities and ecosystems, to be healthy, to keep evolving, and fulfilling their potential.
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Inbound international tourism sector in Thailand says vaccines are a game-changer that allows for the reopening of the country and for quarantine requirements to be dropped.
Leading international tourism companies in Thailand have launched a campaign to reopen the country’s borders from 1 July 2021.
The #OpenThailandSafely campaign was launched 2 March with the support of over 15 major companies including YAANA Ventures, Minor Group, Asian Trails, Capella Hotels and Resorts, EXO and many others. [The full launch list is here]
The Open Thailand Safely campaign has laid out its arguments in a petition which will underpin a formal request to the Royal Thai Government to respond favourably to the rollout of Covid-19 vaccination programmes underway in Europe, USA and other Thailand tourism source markets.
The petition is open to anyone in Thailand or around the world who would like to see the country reopen.
The campaign argues that 1 July is an appropriate date for five reasons: the majority of citizens in many source markets will have been vaccinated by then; it gives time to Thai medical authorities to vaccinate both front line staff in hospitality settings in Thailand and/or vulnerable citizens around the country; it gives international travellers time to make travel plans and bookings; the date gives time to airlines, hotels, tour operators and others to start marketing and sales and get ready for tourism operations to commence; and it will take Thailand at least a year, and maybe longer, to return to the large numbers of international visitors that it had before the Covid-19 crisis.
To ensure the safe reopening of Thailand, the petition argues that “international tourists can be asked to satisfy any safeguards the Thai Government may require. This may, for example, include showing officially recognised proof of a Covid-19 vaccination from their home country, purchasing health insurance, showing proof of a negative Covid test within 72 hours of departure, and so on.”
#OpenThailandSafely was the initiative of leading Bangkok-based private sector travel companies YAANA Ventures, Minor Group and Asian Trails.
The CEO of YAANA Ventures, Willem Niemeijer [pictured right], said: “The 1 July reopening would be a strategic opportunity for Thailand to show a leadership role among Asian countries and prepare the way for a solid recovery of the Thai economy in 2022.”
In the coming days, the Open Thailand Safely campaign will also send the 1st July request to Thailand Prime Minister General Prayut Chan-o-cha, the Minister of Tourism and Sports, Mr Phiphat Ratchakitprakarn, and the Governor of the Tourism Authority of Thailand, Mr Yuthasak Supasorn.
According to the Bank of Thailand and official sources in Thailand, tourism, pre-Covid, was worth about 2.9 trillion baht (US$96.5 billion). Some 39.7 million international visitors in 2019 helped sustain up to 8.3 million jobs. However, arrivals fell to 6.7 million in 2020 making between two and four million people unemployed.
Meanwhile, destinations such as Seychelles, Maldives, Greece and Sri Lanka have either opened borders already or are in discussions to do so in light of successful Covid vaccine rollouts in their key source markets.
People can sign the petition for Thailand to reopen on 1 July at www.OpenThailandSafely.org.
For more information www.OpenThailandSafely.org.