One resort in Thailand offers a luxurious beach getaway that focuses as much on sustainability as it does on sand and surf.
The Six Senses resort on the island of Samui is among a growing class of resorts looking to make the travel industry more environmentally friendly. As its website states, "Six Senses Samui has always been at the forefront of sustainability, carefully considering the effects that operating systems, materials and purchasing policies have on the environment."
@spicymoustache We enjoyed several days in a sustainable haven at @Six Senses Official Samui. Every detail is meticulously crafted to reduce Six Senses' environmental impact, starting with the resort's Farm on the Hill which minimizes environmental footprint by converting waste into wealth from compost to charcoal. Each property has an organic garden, which provides the resort's kitchens with fresh herbs, vegetables and fruits as well as a range of ingredients for their spas, with 56,298 kilograms of organic vegetables produced and served in their restaurants. Also have a strong stance against single-use plastic, with 1.8 million plastic bottles avoided by refilling their own drinking water, substituting straws with lemongrass stems and removing all single-use amenities inside of your room amongst many more sustainable touches to your stay. #lowwaste #ecofriendly #sustainability #sustainabletravel #traveltiktok #travel #fyp ♬ original sound - SpicyMoustache
The resort's initiatives include a robust composting system, on-property produce and dairy farming, energy-efficient air conditioning, beach cleanups, tree plantings, and more.
TikToker Spicy Moustache (@spicymoustache) posted a video sharing the details of his stay at what he called the "sustainable haven."
It's a place, he says, where "each detail is meticulously crafted to reduce Six Senses' environmental impact." From platters of locally sourced foods to a coop of clucking chickens, an abundant garden, and plastic-free supplies, the attention to sustainability is clearly strong throughout the resort.
"Wow," one person enthused. "This looks like heaven!"
The tourism industry contributes approximately 8% of the world's planet-warming pollution each year, per Sustainable Travel International. While much of this occurs during air travel, hotels are notorious for being wasteful as well, from supplying single-use plastics in their amenities to discarding massive amounts of food waste. Hotels around the world generate around 300,000 tons of waste each year, according to research published in the journal Tourism Critiques.
For all of these reasons, the movement toward sustainable tourism is growing. One study by Hotel Tech Report in 2021 found that 81% of travelers said they planned to choose a sustainable accommodation option in the following year.
Six Senses takes what the Spicy Moustache video describes as a "strong stance against single-use plastic, with 1.8 million plastic bottles avoided by refilling its own drinking water, substituting straws with lemongrass stems and removing all single-use amenities inside of your room amongst many more sustainable touches to your stay."
He also admires the resort's fully circular food source, its Farm on the Hill, which "provides the resort's kitchens with fresh herbs, vegetables and fruits as well as a range of ingredients for their spas, with 56,298 kilograms of organic vegetables produced and served in their restaurants." He even visits the resort's mushroom farm before showing off the traditional Som Tam papaya salad that he handpicked in the garden.
"This is absolutely amazing!" one commenter said.
For travelers who want to take it one step further than sustainable stays, regenerative tourism seeks to leave a net positive climate-related impact from travel. It does this by, as a recent Forbes article reported, "actively seeking to restore and regenerate the environment, cultures, and communities impacted by tourism … promoting biodiversity, supporting local economies, and fostering cultural exchange and understanding."
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