NAHA – Red Planet Japan recently brought together local communities and hotel partners on Okinawa island to remove rubbish from the picturesque Bibi beach. The third of its kind for Red Planet Hotels, the beach clean-up is a continuation of the company’s efforts across the region, and underlines the brand’s mission for cleaner oceans and coastlines.
Offering a unique subtropical climate in Japan, tourists throng to discover the nine UNESCO World Heritage sites and abundant coral reefs in Okinawa. Breaking records for both Japanese and foreign visitors year after year, Okinawa saw growth of 1.5% and 11.5% in domestic and international tourists, respectively, in 2018. The prefecture anticipates welcoming 12 million visitors by 2021, driven primarily by increasing air links between Naha Airport and major East Asian cities.
The Bibi beach clean-up attracted 159 volunteers who share environmental concerns and, especially, alarm over increasing plastic pollution. The participants included Red Planet’s local partners, travel agents, suppliers, and Happy Terrace, a local community group supporting children with developmental disabilities.
“Responding to environmental threats is an immediate priority for the travel industry – pollution and humankind’s impact on the planet must concern us all. Each player in the travel and hotel sector must play a role in ensuring the sustainability of the ever-increasing tourism industry. Guests, especially millennial-aged travellers, are increasingly mindful of worsening pollution, and a hotel’s social and environmental effort matter to them,” said Red Planet’s Director of Operations for Japan, Mika Umemura, adding “Red Planet has set ambitious green goals, including removal of all single-use plastic from its hotels. At the same time, we seek to regularly contribute to environmental clean-up efforts such as the well-attended Bibi beach initiative.”
The Okinawa beach clean-up is part of the sustainability goals established by Red Planet earlier this year, and is the latest in a series of such initiatives organised by the hotel group. Red Planet has undertaken beach clean-ups in Thailand, Indonesia, and the Philippines.
| For more information or high-resolution photography, please contact: | |
|---|---|
| Aline Massart | |
| Vice President Marketing | |
| Red Planet Hotels | |
| Tel: +66 2 613 5818 | |
| Mobile: +66 80 453 2570 | |
| E-mail: aline@redplanethotels.com |
About Red Planet Japan, Inc.
Red Planet Japan, Inc. is the JASDAQ-listed Japanese operation of Red Planet Hotels Limited. The company commenced operations in Japan in August 2013 with the opening of Red Planet Okinawa Naha, followed by the opening of Red Planet Tokyo Asakusa in 2015. Red Planet Nagoya Nishiki subsequently opened in October 2017. In June 2018, Red Planet opened Red Planet Sapporo Susukino South, its first property in Sapporo. Red Planet Sapporo Susukino Central and Red Planet Hiroshima are currently under development and are expected to open by 2019 and 2020, respectively. The company’s newly established joint venture intends to acquire another 5 development sites by mid-2019. Red Planet Japan has also acquired its parent company’s Thailand-based operations and development sites in Bangkok, Thailand and Manila, Philippines, with three hotels sequenced to open by 2020. The Company is listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol 3350.
About Red Planet Hotels
Red Planet Hotels, founded in 2010, is a privately-owned regional hotel group focused on Asia’s expanding budget hotel sector. The company owns and operates 30 hotels in Indonesia (7), Japan (5), the Philippines (13), and Thailand (5) for a total of 4,779 rooms. 14 additional hotels, comprising 2,669 rooms, will open across Japan, Thailand, and the Philippines in 2019 and 2020. These hotels will open using Red Planet’s robust and scalable technology platform, providing both advanced reservation software, ensuring a fast and efficient booking process, and local attraction guides for customers. Red Planet comprises a stylish budget hotel offering, with all its properties centrally located and equipped with high-speed Wi-Fi. Red Planet’s companies based in Jakarta (Red Planet Indonesia - PSKT:IJ) and Tokyo (Red Planet Japan - 3350:JP) are listed on the Indonesian and Japanese stock exchanges, respectively. For more information, please visit: www.redplanethotels.com