Bangkok dreams of a car-free day
September 2, 2010 by TTRweekly Staff
Filed under News
BANGKOK, 2 September 2010 – Will the Tourism Authority of Thailand governor leave his car at home for day and take public transport to work?
Well along with Bangkok City officials, he is pushing for a car-free day in the city along with other measures to make the city a little more greener for tourists.
Bangkok City officials joined the Tourism Authority of Thailand, last Tuesday, to host a travel trade seminar aimed at building awareness on environment protection and ecotourism.
Deputy permanent secretary for the BMA, Taweesak Dechdecho and TAT governor Suraphon Svetasreni were presenters at the “7 Greens” seminar held at Amari Watergate Hotel.
Plans were outlined to promote green projects in five main locations including Bangkok, Pattaya Nakhon Si Thammarat, Chiang Mai and Phuket.
In Bangkok, the TAT governor talked about building awareness about global warming and promoting environmental-conscious tourism in Bangkok.
The governor endorsed plans to recruit the city’s residents to participate in “Bangkok Smiles with No Plastic Bags”, a proposed “Car Free Day” and “No Bag No Baht”. The slogans were not explained and it is highly unlikely the city officials have the clout to clear Bangkok streets of cars for an entire day. As for “No bag no baht”, that had everyone guessing to work out what was being bagged and what might earn a baht.
BMA, TAT, Thailand Environmental Institute, business operators and other related organisations signed a memorandum of understanding to create understanding of seven green concepts: Green Heart, Green Logistics, Green Attraction, Green Activity, Green Community, Green Service and Green Plus.
TAT governor Suraphon Svetasreni concluded: “Eco-tourism or green tourism is an alternative for environmentally-conscious travellers in the midst of global warming awareness. TAT aims to expand this particular segment and encourage all concerned sectors to participate in environmental rehabilitation.”
The 7 Greens project has been operational since 5 June 2009.
1. Every Thai should support this program not just the people in the travel industry.
2. Green awareness must be practised by the Thai as it is our individual social responsibility.
3. We would like to hear from the Ministry of Natural Resource and Environment how it is improving Thai green awareness in a practical way. It is the direct mission and responsibility of this ministry, isn’t it?
4. Regarding the reduction of plastic bags in Thailand, most of the supermarkets in our country should assist to reduce the use of plastic bags by selling the bags to their customers like developed countries do. This will ensure shoppers will carry their own bags to save costs.
5. When the development of Thai public transportation is complete(let say in the next decade), we hope the use of private cars will decline and hope for a better life. Let’s hope and pray for it to come true. Nowaday it is quite difficult to convince Thais to reduce their use of private cars.