Ngalung Kalla in Sumba, Indonesia

Asia’s hospitality industry is facing a culinary crisis. Climate change threatens staple crops, global supply chains remain unstable and expensive, and rising guest expectations are adding pressure. These combined challenges demand urgent solutions.

In a nutshell, the way Asia eats and how hotels and restaurants serve food must change.

At the recent AST webinar, Breaking the Chain to Save It: How Asia’s Hospitality Can Fix Food Systems, three leaders showed what change looks like on the ground:

• Peggy Chan, Executive Director, Zero Foodprint Asia (ZFPA)

• Andrew Dixon, Founder & CEO, Nikoi and Cempedak Islands

• Bjorn Low, Co-founder & Chief Urban Farmer, Edible Garden City 

Their message was clear. To help create more sustainable food systems, the hospitality industry must address both ends of the chain: upstream and downstream.

Upstream focuses on food production: what we grow and how we grow it. Downstream is about processing and consumption: how food is transported, packaged, and served, and managed to minimize waste. Both ends must work together, driven by collaboration, data-backed metrics, and guest experiences that build trust and transparency.

How can sustainability evolve from a series of isolated efforts into a unified mission championed by every member of your team? 

This question was at the heart of our recent webinar, where Dimitri Syrris, Founder & CEO of Baotree, and I explored how to transform sustainability into an inclusive, shared responsibility within hospitality operations.

We discussed why this approach is more critical than ever for the hospitality and travel sector and shared actionable insights, compelling examples, and innovative tools to help professionals create a team-driven sustainability roadmap.  

How can travel and hospitality businesses move beyond vague claims and superficial eco-labels to tell stories that are authentic, impactful, and verifiable?

The webinar Beyond Greenwashing: Enabling Verifiable Storytelling in Sustainable Travel which AST co-hosted with Dimitri Syrris, Founder and CEO of Baotree wasn’t just another discussion about being “eco-friendly.”

We explored how storytelling, backed by data and human connection, can turn sustainability efforts into meaningful stories that build trust and inspire action.

This recap covers the key takeaways, including solutions to common sustainability communication challenges, frameworks for structuring stories, and tools to help your business craft narratives that matter.