Realizing the obstacles that hotel business owners often face due to the closer relationship between environmental management and hotel business development, the Senate Sub-Commission on the Study of Laws which are Obstacles to Tourism Industry recently offered a useful advice for individuals or companies who wish to engage in hotel business in Thailand as follows:

1.It is very important for all individuals to first recognize that hotel business mainly depends on environmental resources. Good locations are not only difficult to find but are also strictly controlled by laws, rules and regulations, such as those of building control, town planning, environment and public health.

2. In Thailand, the Environmental Impact Assessment Report (EIA Report) is what the environmental law requires a project owner to conduct if the owner wishes to construct a hotel with 80 or more rooms. Under the EIA Report process, the project owner must hire a juristic person authorized by the Office of Natural Resources and Environmental Policy and Planning (ONEP) to conduct the report. As a benefit, the project that has undergone an environmental impact assessment study will be able to respond to all relating environmental issues. Then, the project owner can utilize the suggestions received after the report submission to help develop the project.

3. As for hotel projects with less than 80 rooms, even though the EIA Report is not required, it is highly recommended that interested hotel owners seek advice from a competent environmental consultant in order to avoid potential environmental problems such as a collapse of beach or destruction of sea animal’s habitat nearby (whose existence helps attract tourists) due to the hotel development,.

4. Being non-governmental professionals, not only do environmental consultants conduct the EIA Report, but they are also able to provide environmental consultations to project owners in every aspect. Since before the project initiation, the consultants can answer questions such as what the relevant laws, rules, and regulations to be considered for running the project in a certain area are, whether there are any natural resources to be utilized to attract customers. The consultant can also help the owner plan the construction by advising methods to best conserve the surrounding natural resources both while constructing and running the hotel, since to the owner, surrounding natural resources are like breadbaskets.

5. As for the EIA Report process, hotel project owners are recommended to have environmental consultants involved since the location selection period. Later on, when it comes to the construction design, the consultant can recommend the architect on important environmental restrictions while studying the environmental impact at the same time to ensure that the project goes according to the environmental standard and to also clarify and speed up the EIA Report.

6. To select a competent environmental consultant is not a difficult task. Project owners may wish to request for the list of registered environmental consultants from the Environmental Impact Evaluation Bureau (EIEB), Office of Natural Resources and Environmental Policy and Planning (ONEP) 60/1 Soi Pibunwattana 7, Param 6 Road, Bangkok 10400, Tel. +66 2 265 6500 or visit their website at http://www.onep.go.th/eia.

Information provided by the Senate Committee on Tourism

Source: http://www.tourismthailand.org/news/content-2217.html