One initiative was for the resort to filter its own drinking water to provide to guests so as to reduce the impact of single-use plastic bottles – a common problem on tourism-driven islands.
“I made a calculation that we could reduce the use of plastic bottles by around 15,000 per year. So, we switched to glass bottles,” he said.
“At the beginning, we were afraid that the guests might not like the glass bottles because we produce the drinking water ourselves. But the guests were so happy with what we did.”
Soon, the resort plans to install solar energy cells to provide clean energy as well as to expand its farm-to-table dining offerings with food grown on site.
The chief executive of Koh Mak Sub-district Administrative Organisation, Nohn Suvachananonda, said that he envisions the island as a place of escape.
“When the world is so developed, there will be a group of people who want to come back to nature. We see that Koh Mak answers what this group needs. They can come to experience the real life of local people and the way of traditional living,” he said.
He added: “I always tell my friends to come to Koh Mak and to ‘live a retro lifestyle’. You can come back to the slow life with the sea, the air and food.
“But we aren’t going backward. We do conservation but do development at the same time.”
Source: CNA
