Luxury hospitality group, Banyan Group which was established three decades ago in 1994 began on the foundations of regenerative tourism. Its flagship luxury resort, Banyan Tree Phuket, was built on a rehabilitated tin mine site, and it is well known across the sector for pioneering sustainable hospitality. Editor Felicity Cousins asked Dr Mark Watson SAVP, Group Director, Sustainability & Impact Banyan Group about the group’s latest Sustainability Report, Scope 3, guest attitudes and changes for the future.
Q: Have you seen your guests push the sustainability agenda – what sort of experiences are guests looking for when they are staying in a hotel with purpose?
MW: Yes, we do see sustainability becoming a defining standard in hospitality — where luxury today is less about exclusivity and opulence, and more around alignment with personal values and meaningful use of time and money.
We’re seeing growing engagement in our Stay for Good programme, where guests get to take part in local activities that emphasise environmental stewardship and community engagement. These include coral reef restoration in the Maldives, sea turtle releases in Thailand, mangrove planting in Indonesia, and working alongside farmers and engaging with local communities in China. Each experience offers guests an opportunity to give back to the host communities and environment, while learning more about the destinations they visit.
As we model responsible tourism, our hope is that these experiences will spark curiosity among our guests to learn more about and start incorporating sustainable practices into their daily lives.
Q: How does the Group balance luxury and sustainability?
MW: Sustainability has always been a core pillar of the Group and our founding mission of ‘Embracing the Environment, Empowering People’ continues to guide us in our business operations and decision-making to this day. We approach this by designing and operating sustainable spaces and modelling responsible practices that aim to safeguard the environment and create opportunities for our host communities.
We see our guests as active partners and essential in our sustainability journey. Their attitudes and actions towards energy use, water consumption, waste and food choices, for example, can collectively make an impact on our destinations. So, our role here is to build spaces and operate in ways that allow our guests to make a more informed, sustainable choice, without compromising luxury.
Also, our Green Imperative Fund (GIF) funded by guest donations and dollar matching contributions by our resorts allows them to contribute directly to environmental and community-based projects that benefit the destinations they visit.
Q: Is Scope 3 the biggest challenge in the years ahead when it comes to carbon emissions, or are there other challenges you are concerned about?
MW: Scope 3 presents a genuine opportunity for us to rethink what luxury hospitality really means, and to focus on a better way of doing business — one that puts purpose and regenerative practices at the core.
It’s more than just a technical category of emissions. It’s the reality of accounting for everything that happens beyond our doors — how our guests travel, what we serve on the plate, the products we buy, how our buildings are built, and so on. It matters because we can’t solve the climate crisis in isolation and most of these emissions aren’t directly under our control. They sit across supply chains, transport networks, and industries that move at a different pace.
I previously worked in the airline industry for many years and was part of a change that came from within the sector to tackle emissions, at scale, together, with governments and civil society. That’s where I feel we need to go in the hospitality sector — we must work together, across geographies and across business models, if we’re going to address the wider decarbonisation challenge.
It isn’t just the carbon numbers and the sector’s share of emissions — it’s the gap between ambition and action. It’s about our shared commitment to do better, through deeper partnerships, smarter design, and the boldness to rethink what’s possible in hospitality.
Q: When will single-use plastic be eliminated from your operations? The Banyan Group’s Sustainability report shows a 5.9 per cent decrease in single use plastics per occupied room but many hotel groups have already stopped using single-use plastics.
MW: We’ve made good progress and at the same time we also recognise that there is always more we can do. Right now, we maintain a focus on accountability and transparency around our progress — we’re actively working on reducing waste at source, engaging guests and associates in sustainable practices for low-waste travel, and supporting local innovations that align with sustainability goals of the destinations we operate in. When I look across the Group, there are examples of excellence and innovation — and we know we need to, and will do, more.
We’ve had success with our on-site water bottling plants in some of our hotels and resorts in supporting the reduction of single-use plastic and glass water bottles, and are looking to expand more of such facilities. The focus is now on creating systemic change and better circular processes at scale.
Q: What are your goals for reduction in emissions intensity for 2024-2025? Will it be more than the 5.7 per cent reduction over 2023-2024?
MW: We’ve set targets to reduce our emissions by 42 per cent against our 2022 baseline by 2030 and our goal is to continue working towards that. Supporting this, we have been driving key initiatives across the business, including the installation of on-site solar panels to harness renewable energy and implementing energy-efficiency upgrades across our properties.
In addition, we have set comprehensive sustainability KPIs for our teams across the entire business, one of which includes reducing the CO2 impact of our operations, ensuring that our associates support and actively contribute to achieving the Group’s overall decarbonisation plans.
Q: What is your aim for waste diverted to landfill for the period 2024-2025?
MW: For waste management, our target is for 5o per cent of our waste to be diverted from landfill by 2030. In 2024, we have already seen 28 per cent of waste diverted from landfill through comprehensive waste reduction efforts. To achieve this, we work alongside local governments, communities, and private sector partners to pilot solutions across our destinations—from waste separation and composting initiatives within our properties, to supporting local circular economy efforts.
Q: The 2024 Sustainability Report also says: “Our priority is to further align with international frameworks such as ISSB and TCFD, ensuring that our stakeholders have access to clear, decision- useful sustainability insights.” How are you changing your sustainable data collection and reporting to align with these frameworks?
MW: This is top of mind, as regulatory and disclosure frameworks are evolving rapidly, and our approach is to anticipate such changes and be ready for them, so we have been actively tracking, and reporting on areas such as climate risk in accordance with TCFD since 2023 — but the work started well before this. We see changes as opportunities — for sustainability to be a lens for decision-making.
We’re making three key shifts. Firstly, we have strengthened how we collect environmental and social data across all our properties using third party platforms designed for our needs, and we’re now refining aspects of this to ensure that what we track is relevant and can be used to inform decision-making at the Group level.
Next, a laser-focus on materiality and ensuring that our reporting reflects how we are addressing the most relevant risks and opportunities—especially those related to climate and biodiversity.
Third, we’re focused on bringing finance and sustainability together, building a clearer bridge between sustainability metrics and business performance, so decision-makers—from our board to investors—can see how sustainability risks, like climate impacts, affect long-term value.
It’s an on-going journey, and we are confident that the approach we’re taking will enable us to run a smarter, more resilient business.
Q: What are your thoughts on alignment across the hospitality sector when it comes to sustainable certifications?
MW: Certifications can and do have an important role to play — but they’re not the full story. In the hospitality sector, there’s a growing push to align on what ‘sustainable’ actually means, but we’re still seeing a complex landscape of logos, checklists and rating systems. Guests are rightly becoming more discerning, and they want transparency, not just another badge on the wall. At the same time, guests and travel platforms need a point of reference through which they can benchmark and as a one component of a brand’s commitment to sustainability, hence the growth of certifications.
At Banyan Group, we’re supportive of rigorous, science-based frameworks—and at the same time, we’re also cautious about certification fatigue. For us, alignment shouldn’t just be about ticking the same boxes across the industry—it should be about shared ambition. That means focusing on what really moves the needle—carbon reduction, biodiversity protection, local livelihoods—and backing that up with data and action, not just audits. Ultimately, certifications should be a means to build trust, not a substitute for it.
Q: Is there still time for industry to contribute positively to responsible travel?
MW: Absolutely — we believe in this wholeheartedly. The hospitality sector has a duty to our host communities to steward the destinations we invite our guests to explore, and we carry the responsibility to leave a lasting, positive impact.
Banyan Group’s sustainability journey began more than three decades ago with a belief in the power of travel as a force for good. It is with this conviction that we continue to push for clear and open dialogues, be transparent about our progress in delivering long-term value, and share our stories authentically—from our re-wilding projects that have restored native ecosystems, to our Seedlings programme that provides education and employment opportunities to local communities. We’ve seen firsthand the positive impact that our business can bring when sustainability is embedded across business operations and decision-making.
To read the 2024 Sustainability Report click here.
Sustainable Hotel News asked Dr Mark Watson these questions in early July 2025.
Banyan Tree rebrands and commits further to sustainable roadmap