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John Gray’s Sea Canoe wins Skål Club International Ecotourism Award
Andrew Wood
John Gray’s Sea Canoe received the Skål Club International
Ecotourism Award for Transportation at the 2008 Skål World Congress in
Taipei, Taiwan. In 1983, John selected human-powered sea kayaks with
which to explore tidal sea caves and remote tropical coastlines,
promoting alternative non-polluting marine locomotion.
 MD
of Sea Canoe, Thailand, John Gray (right) receives his award from Skål
Intl president, Phil Sims.
“The Skål Award is special because we did not apply,” said Gray, “but
were nominated by Andrew Wood, Skål Int’l Councilor-Thailand, thanks to
feedback from numerous Skål members who actually experienced our trips
since the formation of John Gray’s Sea Canoe in 2001.
“Our guides, many with 12 years or more seniority, are the true winners.
They capture our guests’ hearts and imagination day in and day out.
Guest comments praising our guides fill my inbox,” said the Caveman.
“The Skål award highlights their ongoing professionalism, including the
awards from our old company, which date back 13 years.”
Gray works from a broad-based environmental commitment. The University
of Leeds recently published his case study about Puerto Princesa,
Palawan, Philippine Islands. John lectures at Prince of Songkla
University - Phuket, writes feature stories/photos, promotes
conservation in on-going video appearances, writes a Phuket Gazette
environmental column - and constantly collects marine rubbish from his
kayak.
In 1976, the environmentalist co-founded and named “Keep The Country
COUNTRY”, a Honolulu, Hawai’i NGO promoting citizen-based planning on
Oahu’s North Shore.
In 1983, he founded Natural History By Sea Kayak, in Hawai’i, to promote
nature conservation via local enfranchisement. Over the next five years
Gray explored Fiji, Tahiti, Samoa, Rarotonga, Vanuatu and New Caledonia
by sea kayak. He then looked to Asia. Thailand’s official timeline lists
“1989 - John Gray formed Sea Canoe, an ecotourism venture, to show
tourists the southwestern limestone caves known as hongs.” Gray explored
Vietnam’s Halong Bay in 1992 and Palawan, Philippines in 1995.
For his 25 year anniversary, the lifelong waterman plans expeditions to
most countries in which he pioneered commercial sea kayaking with local
people. The schedule starts with a Phang Nga Bay clean-up trip on
Caveman’s 64th birthday - January 14, 2009. Reunion Island is the one
new “wild card”. Gray says, “It’s time for the Indian Ocean.”
Awards are nothing new to the Caveman. 1961 brought the Junior
Achievement President of the Year and New York Stock Exchange Annual
Report awards. Caveman conceived and hosted the documentary “Moloka’i’s
Forgotten Frontier” produced by Honolulu news anchor Gary Sprinkle and
videographer Mike May. The show won a 1985 Regional Emmy and a Teddy
from the US National Outdoor Writers Council for Best Environmental
Education Production. In Thailand, Gray’s former experimental ecotourism
company won six major awards in five years.
For more information, photo galleries and readings visit
www.johngray-seacanoe.com
US financial crisis to indirectly affect Thailand’s tourism
The financial crisis in the United States will indirectly affect
Thailand’s tourism since it has worsened economies of the countries from
which the greatest numbers of tourists visit, according to the Bank of
Thailand (BoT).
Kesarin Tansuwannarat, economist at the BoT Local Economy Division, said
in an article on “The US Financial Crisis: How It Affects Thai Tourism”
that some 10.5 million foreign tourists had annually visited Thailand
since the economic crisis eased in 2000.
The increased number of foreign arrivals had generated revenues of Bt
500-600 billion or 10 percent of the value of Thailand’s total exports.
In the past, the baht had strengthened so markedly that costs of
traveling locally had increased in the eyes of foreign tourists. This,
coupled with the ongoing unrest in the deep South and higher fuel
prices, had not reduced the number of foreign tourists in Thailand.
Last year, the number of foreign tourists visiting Thailand reached 14.5
million, while in the first nine months of this year, foreign arrivals
totaled 11.3 million.
The continued increase in the number of foreign tourists showed that the
Thai tourism sector remains strong and could survive in a midst of many
negative factors.
However, the US financial crisis has put economies of countries
providing the most tourists to Thailand into a slowdown or even into
recession.
They include the United Kingdom, Japan and the European Union, countries
where many tourists arrive from.
Since tourists from these countries are now earning less money and have
lost funds in investments and retirement plans due to the impact of the
US economic crisis, Thailand’s tourism sector now runs the risk of
slowing down.
More importantly, tourists from Japan, UK and EU are quality ones who
spend up to 4,000 baht per day because most prefer to stay at luxury
hotels, eat at restaurants, go shopping at premium prices, and take long
trips.
Once the number of foreign tourists from these countries declines, it
would definitely affect Thailand’s revenue earned from tourism. (TNA)
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