How do the Hotels benefit from the Loy Krathong Festival?

Beautiful handmade Kratong, uses to express gratitute to the Water Goddess

Loy Krathong is an event to offer gratitude to the Water Goddess and it’s long been celebrated in Thai culture. Krathongs made of banana tree, decorated with banana leaf and flowers flows away the bad fortune guided by the candle lights, lighting up the rivers at night of the full moon. Ironically honoring the Water Goddess also severely damages our environment. Bangkok Metropolitan area alone collected 96,069 foam Krathongs in 2014. Statistics show that in 2012 Bangkok peaked with 131,388 krathongs. These foam krathongs roughly take hundreds of years to degrade therefore creating a threat to not only specifically marine life but also our ecosystems. People need to be aware of these facts when they go and celebrate Loy Krathong this year. Through awareness brings consciousness and consciousness then begins to shape people’s actions.

Before this holiday, the Thai government need to spread the message of how detrimental foam really is and hotels may also take the responsibility to spread the message as well. Many hotels in Bangkok that actually have a "green" certification are also adopting the distribution of foam krathongs. Hotels all over Bangkok invite guests to celebrate this day in numerous ways whether it's watching the spectacle with a nice dinner or floating krathongs in the pool. Regardless, hotels are often the first interactions tourists have with a foreign culture and it is important that their experience be one that is a responsible and lasting impression. Hotels could take the loy krathong celebration as an opportunity to not only raise awareness of their own staff, but as a strong signal to their customers of their genuine commitment towards sustainability.