YAANA Ventures, the operator of Anurak Community Lodge in Khao Sok National Park in southern Thailand, has won the 2020 Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) Grand Award in the Sustainability category.
Twenty-three PATA Gold Awards were announced in September at a virtual awards ceremony. Three “best of the best” Grand awards were given for marketing, human capital development, and sustainability (one each).
The climate change/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 has been guided by an ethos of “reduce, reuse and recycle.” Anurak Community Lodge achieved Travelife Gold certification in 2019.
Deluxe Green Bungalow at Anurak Community Lodge
Guests and staff at Anurak Community Lodge 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 grey water treatment filter system for laundry wastewater is in place. Water from that system is being used on the Rainforest Rising project, Anurak’s project to return two rai (3,226 sqm; 0.8 acres) of former palm oil plantation beside the lodge to indigenous lowland evergreen forest by 2023.
Willem Niemeijer the CEO and founder of YAANA Ventures, 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.”
George Newling-Ward, Anurak Lodge’s manager, added: “Here at Anurak we see the forest, the surrounding environment and natural habitats as the lifeblood of our community; hence all our efforts to preserve the local way of life and the abundant nature that surrounds us.”
Aerial view of the surroundings
Bamboo rafting
A video showing an overview of Anurak’s environmental credentials can be viewed here. The overall Anurak travel experience can be viewed here.
More information: anuraklodge.com. The full list of 2020 PATA Gold Award winners is here.
