Good Travel with Marriott Bonvoy brings meaningful travel to six destinations in Thailand through local collaborations in 2023

Marriott International presents Good Travel with Marriott Bonvoy in Thailand to bring more meaningful travel experiences to guests. The program gives guests the opportunity to make a positive impact while connecting with local communities and the environment on a deeper level. Available at close to 100 destinations in Asia Pacific, Good Travel with Marriott BonvoyTM is introduced to nine hotels across six provinces such as Phuket, Krabi, Phang Nga, Surat Thani (Samui), Prachuap Khiri Khan (Hua Hin) and Chiang Rai. 

“One of our core values at Marriott is to Serve Our World and Good Travel with Marriott BonvoyTM is a true testament to this promise,” said Jakob Helgen, Area Vice President, Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia & Myanmar, Marriott International. “Working together with like-minded partners, we curate awareness-building and action-oriented experiences to support our local communities in addressing some of the most pressing social and environmental issues they face. Travelers today are looking for more meaningful ways to travel, and our program is well-positioned to answer that call.”

Good Travel with Marriott BonvoyTM offers curated experiences that focus on three distinct pillars: Environmental Protection to support the resiliency of the natural environment due to environmental degradation, pollution, and climate change; Community Engagement to support local communities through cultural education or volunteerism; and Marine Conservation to restore and preserve marine ecosystems and species.

In Thailand, Marriott collaborated with local experts from NGOs, tourism associations, and provincial authorities, such as Love Wildlife Foundation, Phuket Hotel Association and Hua Hin Municipality, to ensure the experiences have an authentic impact on local communities. Experiences range from visiting elephant sanctuaries, helping to rehabilitate the Blue Swimmer Crabs population and promoting the importance of wearing a motorcycle helmet for road safety, to name a few. 

Thailand is one of the most popular destinations in the Asia Pacific, welcoming  8 million travellers to date, and is expected to receive 30 million travellers, or by the end of this year.  The enforced pause during the pandemic gave nature-based tourism hotspots a temporary reprieve, forcing industry stakeholders to rethink their direction for tourism and find the right balance between development, nature conservation, and the social and economic welfare of communities. According to a 2023 report from World Travel and Tourism Council and Trip.com, 69% of travelers seek sustainable tourism, with younger generations looking to explore new destinations in ways that maximize positive impact on places and communities. As Thai authorities expect at least 30 million inbound tourists this year, there is confidence in a strong recovery led by sustainable travel. 

Guided by the company’s sustainability and social impact platform, Serve 360: Doing Good in Every Direction, Good Travel with Marriott Bonvoy™ reaffirms Marriott International’s commitment to doing good in the communities where it operates.

Motorcycle safety is one of the most important issues facing children

Many kids in Hua Hin still travel to and from school by motorbike, but few wear helmets. Often the reason for this is simply that they don’t have a helmet to wear.

Statistics make it abundantly clear that helmets save lives. There are a significant number of accidents that cause young people's lives simply because they did not wear the helmet.

In an effort to address this alarming issue, the ‘Helmet Painting for Kids’ event is a fun way of educating our guests –both adults and children and helping to save young lives. Through this campaign, we hope to improve road safety for the children in our community.

Join the “Helmet Painting for Kids”
In partnership with Hua Hin Municipality, we invite our guests to participate in the Helmet-painting activity to raise awareness about the importance of wearing a motorcycle helmet and road safety.

Guests are invited to join Helmet Painting for Kids takes place at Kids’ Club once a week. Moreover, we also held an annual Helmet for Kids event in which guests will be invited to join Hua Hin Highway Police and Hua Hin Tourist Police along with local schoolchildren in an hour-long interactive lecture and activities including promoting road safety and helmet-painting. This program is key to inform our valued guests of why, how, and when they can be a part of something honorable during their stay. Once the activity is completely done, guests will receive a certificate and entitle to enjoy complimentary mocktails.

Taking part in this activity is both educational and fun. Adults and children alike can explore their artistic side and let themselves go with a brush and some paint. After donating these helmets, our guests can feel great pride and honor for taking part in something meaningful.

Encouraging road safety with hand paint helmet

Motorcycle Helmet Painting for kids activity offers guests a knowledge about road safety while helping children in need to get the helmet.

Guests will walk away with new awareness about road safety and how important it is to help promote this initiative to their communities. It is also rewarding to be able to help children in need, knowing they may be part of saving children's lives on the road.

This improves Hua Hin’s awareness regarding road safety and decreases the number of severe accidents since wearing a helmet has an effective role in protection against head injuries. Within 5 years, we managed to donate over 2,000 helmets for schoolchildren and educated the needs of road safety.

The helmet painting is designed to educate and give back to local children in need, providing the knowledge and basic security on the road.

To learn more, please visit https://marriottbonvoyasia.com/goodtravel.