An Empirical Study on Carbon Tracking for Thai Hotel Operation

Abstract

Thailand relies on the tourism industry as a major industry that can contribute to Thai business, jobs, and other tourism supply chains. Tourists’ demand focuses on significant areas in the megacity of tourist destinations around Thailand. The study focuses on carbon emissions by tracking hotel operations in Thailand. Data analysis shows how much carbon emissions are in three major tourism destinations in Thailand namely, Bangkok, Chonburi, and Phuket. The areas are coastal or seaside vacations in the tourism industry and are classified as megacities. Additionally, behavior changes in the hotel business can be observed by using the number of hotel establishments. The increasing number of rooms registered throughout Thailand. The observation found that the number of hotels in study areas has continuously increased for years. The increasing figures showed from 2,958 hotels in 2016 to 3,857 hotels in 2024 (TAT intelligence center, 2024). Converting to the number of rooms will be calculated along with tracking carbon emission by using average data from the Hotel Sustainability Benchmarking Index from Cornell Hotel Sustainability Benchmarking study (CHSB), in 2023 (Ricaurte & Jagarajan, 2023). The study measures the relative content of the number of rooms and carbon emission per room night (occupied room). According to the CHSB report, the tracking of carbon emissions shows a significant result in increasing trends in the operation of the hotels. The means figures of a kilogram of carbon dioxide emission equivalent (kgCO2) in 2023 showed that Bangkok is 123.7 kilograms per room night, Chonburi is 54.2 kilograms per room night and Phuket is 126.5 kilograms per room night. Furthermore, carbon dioxide emission tracking will be observed by rooms sold and occupancies in each area. The results in the study areas can be applied to all hotels in the whole country.