BANGKOK, 29 September 2020: YAANA Ventures, the operator of Anurak Community Lodge at Khao Sok National Park in southern Thailand, has been awarded the 2020 Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) Grand Award in the Sustainability category.
The sustainability category was judged on measures that create a low-carbon, sustainable future for the travel industry and engage local communities.
Since opening in 2016, Anurak’s operation has been guided by an ethos of reducing, reuse and recycle. Anurak Community Lodge achieved Travelife Gold certification in 2019.
Guests and staff today are encouraged to save energy and water. Single-use plastic, Styrofoam and cardboard plates are banned. Plastic straws have been replaced with bamboo and metal ones. An onsite recycling station has been set up, along with a composting area. A greywater treatment filter system for laundry wastewater is in place.
Commenting on the PATA award, YAANA Ventures CEO and founder, Willem Niemeijer, said he and his staff were “immensely proud to have received the Grand award…it shows that a commitment to people, planet and profit is the way forward in the tourism business.”
