1. OVERVIEW
PHIST is the first of its kind, an innovative event rallying the hotel industry and its stakeholders to discuss environmental sustainability and community benefit. Estimating 500 attendees, the event will be held the afternoon of 24 September 2018, with partners and other stakeholders also organizing affiliate events and meetings in tandem. The day will have a small exhibit hall and offer attendees a mix of short expert panels and quick topical talks, covering areas of destination development, ocean health and impacts, corporate hotel sustainability, community tourism, and global trends on sustainability and masstourism. In addition, longer, technical workshops and roundtables will be held to convene the wider audience of hotel staff. Speakers will be mostly from international organizations and their regional representation from outside Phuket, but all gearing their content on the discussion for Phuket to apply best practice and opportunity.
Organised by The Phuket Hotels Association and supported by the Thai Hotels Association, the Phuket Hotels Association is a non-profit organization with over 60 member hotels and resorts, comprising small boutique hotels to large luxury international chains who have joined together to promote Phuket as a destination, together with a number of important activities, each with its own working group of General Managers that oversee the following: Environment & Sustainability; Education and Destination Marketing.
2. BACKGROUND
Travel and tourism have grown immensely and will continue to do so. We are in a new paradigm where we must control tourism and not just promote it. Examples of extreme environmental degradation, overcrowding, and public outcry among residents are emerging across the world as tourism backlash. However, the increased awareness of travelers, business, and government together can work to scale solutions. In Phuket as well as other destinations in Thailand and the region, we now have a choice as an industry: either exacerbate the negative effects of tourism and risk losing market share, or leverage the opportunity for tourism to contribute to sustainable development, environmental protection, and collective impact for its local communities. The day will explore the challenges and opportunities for hotels to turn the negative into a
positive.
3. EVENT OBJECTIVES
- To create an innovative event rallying the hotel industry and its stakeholders to discuss environmental sustainability and community benefits
- To discuss topical talks, covering areas of destination development, ocean health and impacts, corporate hotel sustainability, community tourism, and global trends on sustainability and mass tourism
- To share content on the discussion for Phuket to apply best practices and opportunities
- To offer a green supplier exhibitor section by having green and alternative options to single-use plastic to our consumers
- To raise awareness and educate children in school level the concepts of reduce, reuse and recycle
4. TARGET AUDIENCE
Representatives of all stakeholders across ASEAN who are related and interested in sustainable development and social business should join the forum to meet, learn, share and discuss base on our regional issue such as
1. Hoteliers
To be a leader in the industry who promotes and builds awareness of Islands and Hotels sustainable development
2. Government Sector
To share and get the ideas for creating inspirational policy to boost regional sustainable development
3. Corporate sector
To win, manage and develop sustainable development for inclusive economic growth
4. Academic sector
To exchange knowledge, technology, and innovation for Islands sustainable development
5. Non-governmental organizations (NGOs)
To gather various opinions for pushing sustainable development concerns into decision-making process
6. Start-up
To obtain the innovative solutions and ideas for sustainable development challenges
7. Young generation
To be the active drivers of change and support long-term sustainable development
8. International media
To be a media leader who promotes and builds awareness of Islands and Hotels sustainable development
5. EVENT PROGRAM (DRAFT)
12pm Exhibitor Hall Opens
1pm to 2:30pm Concurrent Workshops and Roundtables
Workshop A: Reducing Food Waste and Food Cost
Learn about best practices and trends in reducing food waste in hotel kitchens through an initiative where World Wildlife Fund for Nature (WWF) and the American Hotel and Lodging Association (AHLA), with support from The Rockefeller Foundation, came together to work with the hospitality industry on understanding and reducing food waste. Through research and a series of demonstration projects with properties, innovative strategies were identified to engage staff, partners and guests in cutting waste from hotel kitchens. Participating hotels saw reductions of 10-38% in just 12 weeks. WWF will share its free toolkit and insights, alongside F&B Directors and Chefs from the region will share best practices and lessons learned. Cutting food waste in your hotel kitchen will protect the planet and fight hunger, while providing the ultimate guest experience.
Workshop facilitated by the World Wildlife Fund for Nature
Workshop B: It’s All About the Hotel Green Team
This workshop invites hoteliers currently participating or interested in forming or joining a Sustainability Committee or “Green Team”, the common best practice and first start for your hotel’s environmental and community actions. Participants will be invited to share their lessons learned and examples of successful programs as well as forms of structuring and managing the cross-functional green team, as well as getting buy-in for initiatives from the GM and rest of the staff.
Roundtable: Hotel Owners for Tomorrow Coalition
Limited to 16 participants, this moderated roundtable will bring together members and interested parties of the Hotel Owners for Tomorrow (HOT) Coalition, a grass roots initiative to engage hotel owners in sustainability discussions. This session will explore the current landscape of hotel owners are involved in sustainability in hotel development, acquisition, and renovation cycles. It will include discussions of the various types of entities involved in the process, identifying opportunities to bring sustainability to all discussions in a hotel project lifecycle.
Roundtable facilitated by Greenview
2:00 – 3:00 Press Conference
2:30 to 3pm Registration and Refreshments
3pm to 5pm PHIST 2018
Opening Remarks – Getting it Right Second Time Around
- Bill Barnett, Managing Director, C9 Hotelworks
- Eric Ricaurte, Founder & CEO, Greenview
Opening Speeches and Keynote Addresses
- Norraphad Plodthong, Governor of Phuket
- Weerasak Kowsurat, Minister of Tourism & Sports Thailand TBC
Building a Green Monster – Hotel101
- David Keen, CEO, QUO (Interviewer)
- Neil Jacobs, CEO, Six Senses Hotels Resorts Spas
Mass Tourism and Sustainable Growth – Mission Possible?
- Helen Marano, Executive Vice President of External Affairs, World Travel & Tourism Council, TBC
Hotel Sustainability – The Right Stuff
- David Barrett, Consultant Events, The Slate (Moderator)
- Jeff Smith, Vice President Sustainability, Six Senses Hotels Resorts Spas
- Michael Blanding, Regional Director Corporate Responsibility, IHG
- John Roberts, Group Director Sustainability and Conservation, Anantara Hotels & Resorts
- Eleanor Cunningham, Senior Engineering Manager Asia Pacific, Marriott International
- Marié Fukudomé, Director, Environmental Affairs Corporate Responsibility, Hyatt
Development, Building and Infrastructure – What Does it Take to Sustain Tourism on an Island?
- Eric Ricaurte, Founder & CEO, Greenview (Moderator)
- Ricardo Moreira, Managing Director, XCO2
- Dr. Lin Hao, Director, The Oval Partnership
Pat Satkhum, Senior Manager, MICE Capabilities Department, Thailand Convention & Exhibition Bureau or other senior official from TCEB
- Wouter Schalken, Senior Tourism Specialist, World Bank TBC
- Other Panelist TBC
Coastal and Marine Tourism – The Eye of the Storm
- Maggie Lee, Market Transformation Manager, WWF (Moderator) TBC
- Dr. Steve Newman, AVP, Group Sustainability Director, Group Director of Conservation, Director of Banyan Tree Marine Labs
- Other Panelists TBC
Community Tourism – Going Local
- Willem Niemeijer, CEO, YAANA Ventures
Phuket’s Future – Learning the Three R’s (Reduce, Reuse and Recycle)
- Kiranee Narabal, School Manager of Thalang Wittaya Kindergarten School, a part-time lecturer at Phuket Rajabhat Phuket University and Prince of Songkhla University, the founder of Unique
Organization Development & Consulting Co., Ltd (Moderator/Presenter)
- Marisa Sukosol Nunbhakdi, Executive Vice President, Sukosol Group TBC
- Other Panelists TBC
Ground Zero – How Can Phuket Make A Difference
- Anthony Lark, President, Phuket Hotels Association and General Manager & MD Trisara
- Kongsak Khoopongsakorn, President, Thai Hotel Association and Manager, The Vijitt Resort
5pm to 6pm Networking Cocktails
6. THEMATIC AREAS AND CONTENT
- Mass Tourism and Sustainable Growth will be a short talk presenting the current global discussion on “overtourism” and destination crowding, along with global data for hotels and destinations on current practices and a model that Phuket can adopt for catalyzing best practice
- Building a Green Monster will be a keynote interview with hotel chain CEO discussing how sustainable development relates to core business strategy of hotels and hospitality in general.
- Development, Building, and Infrastructure will be a panel discussion on development covering the aspects hotel design as well as the hotel’s development within its destination context of larger infrastructure and visitor flow needs. It will also address the current gap of sustainability being discussed when most important in a project life cycle of hotels, venues, and attractions.
- Oceans and Marine Tourism will be a panel exploring the aspects of tourism and hotel operations and supply chain where issues affecting ocean health can be addressed, including procurement, excursion operations, waste management, and traveler engagement in conservation, relating to key issues of plastics, sustainable seafood, and marine quality.
- Corporate Hotel Sustainability will be a panel discussion on how larger chains address global issues in local context, and how they roll out initiatives to actually walk the talk, and finally making it credible to guests, staff, and other important stakeholders. It will offer insight into the current trends, goals, and actions of hotel chains regarding environmental sustainability and social responsibility.
- Community will be a short expert talk on best practice adaptations to benefit communities through community-based tourism, dispersion, and local business vitality.
- Phuket’s Future will be a panel addressing the involvement of youth in education, hospitality, and tangible benefits for local communities, followed by an awareness launch involving Phuket’s youth in environmental awareness campaigns
WORKSHOPS AND AFFILIATE MEETINGS
- Reducing Food Waste and Food Cost will be a longer workshop for hoteliers to learn about tools and best practices to reduce food waste in the hotel kitchen, and relate the benefits to protecting the planet and fighting hunger, while providing the ultimate guest experience.
- The Hotel Green Team will be a longer workshop exploring the common best practice of a crossfunctional committee to roll out and improve a hotel’s environmental and community actions, with support of the General Manager.
- Hotel Owners for Tomorrow Coalition will host an invite-only roundtable exploring engagement of hotel owners in sustainability discussions in hotel development, acquisition, and renovation cycles.
- [Pending] Destination Planning Stakeholder Roundtable is an opportunity for chief executives of ministerial and industry bodies to engage with senior officials of the World Travel & Tourism Council, offering to bring their newly launched destination planning stakeholder roundtable discussions (pending confirmation and interest of senior government officials and industry bodies in Thailand)
- [Pending] Selling Sustainability for MICE will be an educational session covering the topic of green meetings, for attendees to understand the expectations of meeting customers, components of green meetings, resources available from the Thailand Convention & Exhibition Bureau, and the best practices in communicating programs to them to increase marketability and sales.
