Why Thailand picked two communities for its first “Amazing Organic” trips

Numfhon Boonyawat

Ban Bang Rong, Phuket and Mae Tha, Chiang Mai showcase for local efforts to protect communities through organic farming and sustainability practices

As part of efforts to support the Organic Tourism movement in Thailand, the Tourism Authority of Thailand has been promoting “Amazing Organic Trip” routes around two communities – Mae Tha Organic, Chiang Mai and Ban Bang Rong Community, Phuket.

These two communities were present at the TAT booth during the 9th annual Sookjai Organic Fair, held at Suan Sampran, Nakhon Pathom, the last weekend of January every year.

TAT’s deputy governor for Policy and Planning, Numfhon Boonyawat, who has been assigned for the past three years to work on the Policy Lab, a project to promote Organic Tourism under the BCG Model, said TAT wanted to share their stories with the public “so that people can learn and live harmoniously with the nature”.

Numfhon Boonyawat: “We would like to wake people up to stop and think about the relationship between people and nature so that we stop exploiting our natural resources and support those who work on sustainable ways.”

She explained, “The BCG model was initiated by the government. It aims to apply the concepts of bioeconomy, circular economy, and green economy. In order to develop high value products and services that are eco-friendly, require less resource input, while conserving natural and biological resources.”

She said TAT had started with the two provinces because they are key destinations for both Thais and foreigners. Partners in the project include Thai Ecotourism and Adventure Tourism Association (TEATA), travel agent, Siam Rise and a golf reservation platform, Golf Digg .

Mae Tha, a model of organic farming in Chiang Mai. Credit: Mae Tha

“The cities are not known for sustainability as well as organic agriculture, but for overcrowding during long weekends and air pollution especially Chiang Mai which is affected by PM 2.5 every dry season. We would like to wake people up to stop and think about the relationship between people and nature so that we stop exploiting our natural resources and support those who work on sustainable ways.”

She said both Ban Bang Rong and Mae Tha Organic had faced similar problems of environmental exploitation. “Ban Bang Rong experienced imbalance of living caused by the concessions of mangrove forests while the people in Mae Tha Community suffered from chemical agriculture for years.

“They stepped up to protect their homelands by stopping the concessions and turning to organic agriculture. With the cooperation of the people in the communities, they set rules of living sustainably.”

She said that visitors, when in Ban Bang Rong, can pick pineapples which are registered as a GI product of Phuket. “The villagers will bring you on a local bus, “Po Thong”. You can also try making traditional local sweets, made of fresh coconut and palm sugar. You’ll taste local dishes made of fresh seasonal ingredients by local chef. Moreover, you can enjoy a less known island.

“At Mae Tha organic, a small village amid a mountain range, you can enjoy all organic products. Fresh and sweet baby corns, sweet potatoes, homemade tomato sauce and many more, of course they are all seasonal products so every time you visit, you will have a chance to taste variety of products.

“The villagers will take you to the Community Forest, the source of water for people of Mae Tha. You will understand how villagers work hard to protect their forest which is also the world asset. They will show you how they survive in the forest and cook a simple but tasty food from what they can find. Then at the common area of the community, local chefs will cook for you using local, seasonal vegetables. It’s simply delicious.”

She adds, “We use local dishes as a tool to encourage people to consume seasonal products because it reflects the richness of biodiversity. The more we consume seasonal organic products, the more organic cultivations happen. When we have more organic cultivations, the famers will reduce using chemical fertilizers. Insect predators and insect parasitoids will survive and the circle of life will go on. The environment will be recovered, eventually, we can keep the biodiversity.”

Numfhon said TAT had joined the fair to “continue promoting these two communities and to emphasise our endeavors to push sustainable tourism to the public with our theme concept “Organic Tourism, be good without efforts”.

Goat Farm in Ban Bang Rong Village, Phuket.
Credit: Tourism Authority of Thailand website.

“We believe that the target group of this fair was the same as ours, people who care for others and environment, so this was a very good opportunity to reach out to them. Moreover, we wanted to know how people react to our activity because this is a very good Voice of Customer (VOC) which is very important. We can monitor and adjust our work to meet the VOC and our goal accordingly.”

She sees positive signs around the progress of the Organic Tourism movement in Thailand. “The partners who have worked with us last year would like to continue their support to this project as well as the communities. In addition, this year, we might have new partners. Apart from that, Voice of customers via our social media platforms are positive too.”

The relationship between TOCA and TAT is symbiotic. TOCA works on the supply side by coaching and consulting with the private sector such as hotels, restaurant and farm owners on organic agriculture and its TOCA platform, where consumers can buy organic products direct from the farms. TAT works on the demand side to promote Organic Tourism and introducing the TOCA platform to the public via social media, mainly Facebook Amazing Green Thailand.

Numfhon said that TAT would continue working with partners “who have the same goals of sustainable tourism and those who realize that ‘sustainable’ is not a trend but beyond.

“TAT will continue to promote Sustainable tourism by creating a simple but understandable and attractive content to the audience. We would like to change the behaviors and people’s way of thinking. As a result we will see people consume more organic products as well as realize that their role is to protect and conserve the environment. We will have a bigger organic network and link to each other. We also try to make them understand what TAT is doing by setting KPIs by which we can monitor the progress of our works.

“Increasing the number of targeted followers to our Facebook ”Amazing Green Thailand”, as well as the growing number of shares and positive comments are our leading indicators to show we are heading in the right direction.”