The Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) Headquarters, located in Bangkok, Thailand, has achieved Silver-level Sustainability Certification by EarthCheck, the world’s leading scientific benchmarking, certification and advisory group for the travel and tourism industry. The official certificate handover ceremony took place during the PATA Annual Summit following the meeting of the Sustainability & Social Responsibility Committee.
The team at PATA worked with guidance from EarthCheck to collect and collate operational data and information on its practices in order to be benchmarked against EarthCheck’s global sustainability standard. This important milestone follows PATA’s previous achievement of Bronze Benchmarked Sustainability Certification at the end of 2015. The benchmarking data addressed a wide range of issues, including water, waste, and energy use, risk management, community contributions and the use of paper, chemicals, and cleaning products. EarthCheck’s three-tiered rating of Bronze, Silver, and Gold status is built on the belief that effective scientific benchmarking puts rigour and transparency into business processes, benefitting all stakeholders in the long term.
PATA CEO Mario Hardy said, “Our team has worked tirelessly and have taken great measures to achieve Silver recognition. I am proud of our staff for committing to sustainability initiatives in our office and look forward to even more continued improvements by striving to minimise our use of water, energy, and paper, and by also reducing our waste. We wish to show our members and partners what environmental leadership is about, and encourage them to follow suit.”
Mr Stewart Moore, CEO and founder of EarthCheck, said that the Pacific Asia Travel Association is now recognised both in the community and business tourism industry as a sustainability leader. “PATA is the first Administration Office in Thailand to achieve this highly sought after recognition. In doing so, it is measuring its performance against best practices and making positive changes to reduce its environmental footprint and improve its social impact.” He added.
PATA is committed to treading lightly on the planet and has, over the years, taken steps to reduce its environmental impact. PATA empowers its members to leave a positive impact on the surrounding environments in which they operate by helping to strengthen the industry’s understanding of the issues that need attention, and by providing the resources to help tackle these issues. PATA encourages its stakeholders to promote its commitment to sustainability and social responsibility in the travel and tourism sector, and in their daily lives.
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About PATA
Founded in 1951, the Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) is a not-for profit association that is internationally acclaimed for acting as a catalyst for the responsible development of travel and tourism to, from and within the Asia Pacific region. The Association provides aligned advocacy, insightful research and innovative events to its member organisations, comprising 97 government, state and city tourism bodies, 27 international airlines, airports and cruise lines, 63 educational institutions, and hundreds of travel industry companies in Asia Pacific and beyond. Thousands of travel professionals belong to the 43 local PATA chapters worldwide. The chapters organise travel industry training and business development events. Their grassroots activism underpins PATA’s membership of the Global Travel Association Coalition (GTAC), which includes ACI, CLIA, IATA, ICAO, WEF, UNWTO and the WTTC. The PATAmPOWER platform delivers unrivalled data, forecasts and insights from the PATA Strategic Intelligence Centre to members’ desktops and mobile devices anywhere in the world. PATA’s Head Office has been in Bangkok since 1998. The Association also has official offices or representation in Beijing, Sydney and London. Visit www.PATA.org.
About EarthCheck
EarthCheck is the world’s leading environmental management and professional services group for the travel and tourism industry. Its flagship product, EarthCheck Certification, has helped clients in more than 70 countries realise over $500 million in operational savings while reducing their footprint on the environment.
EarthCheck believes smart business practice and sustainability go hand-in-hand. It focuses on productivity, profitability and performance as well as resource efficiency, eliminating waste and safeguarding the social and natural environment.
