Case Study On International Tourism System Of Thailand

Tourist Visitation Analysis

According to WTO (World Tourism Organization) defines that tourism as “travelling and staying at particular place for not more than one year for the purpose of business, leisure or for other purposes”. Tourism is of two type i.e. domestic and international tourism. When people visits in the same nation for above mentioned reasons for not more than one year is known as domestic tourism whereas when people visit out of their nation for the same reason mentioned above is known as international tourism. In this report, international tourism and its related aspects will be discussed with regards to the Kingdom of Thailand. It is one of the most visited countries by tourists for numerous reasons. Tourism is a major sector for the economy of Thailand and in 2016, contribution of tourism sector was approximately 18% to the GDP. While, it has been evaluated that tourism sector contributes approximately 10% to the world’s GDP.

The Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) holds all the power in relation with controlling and monitoring the activities in relevance with the tourism industry. TAT promotes Thailand across the globe as “Amazing Thailand”. Under this report, various aspects in relation with the international tourism will be discussed including the statistics regarding average number of visitors in the country in a year along with the major attractions of the country which attracts people to visit Thailand. In relevance with this, satisfaction and motivation theories will be discussed in relation to the tourism system which attracts visitors to visit Thailand. Further, issues and challenges related to the tourism and the destination development at Thailand along with the negative and positive impacts of tourism activity over Thailand. The last phase of the report will conclude identification of 4 policies for Thailand through which outcomes in relation with sustainable tourism could be attained.

Thailand is one of the most visited countries across the globe and as per the research it has been found that in 2016, approximately 32.5 million foreign tourists visited Thailand. Major reason behind this is the attractions of the country such as crustal blue beaches, wide range qualitative food, and best luxurious hotels. Thailand is all types of tourists which include from budget tourists to the high spending tourists because in this country, everyone finds its interest as per their budget. Thus, Thailand has attained an effective place in the most visited places across the globe (Çakmak, Lie & Selwyn, 2018).

Factors Attracting Tourists

Apart from the attractions, Thailand’s culture and history is another major factor for tourist attraction. Following are some attractive places in Thailand which motivates tourists to visit Thailand:

• Erawan Falls
• Ao Nang
• Floating markets near Bangkok
• Hua Hin Beach
• Prasat Hin Phimai
• Khao Yhi National Park
• Mu Ko Ang Thong
• Ko Phi Phi
• Phang Nga Bay (Fang, Yin & Wu, 2018).

Apart from these places, there are numerous other places which are included in major attractions for Thailand tourism. TAT has collaborated with Anushka Dandekar (Indian Actress) as the brand ambassador to promote Thailand tourism across the globe. Main motivation for tourists to visit particular place is attraction, adventurous things and accommodation, infrastructure and support from local community are some of the effective factors in relation with promoting Thailand Tourism. Apart from this, tourists visit a particular place with high expectations and if these expectations get fulfilled, number of repeat visitors increases. Iso-Ahola’s theory of motivation states that people gets motivated towards a particular destination due to personal seeking, interpersonal escape, personal escape, and interpersonal seeking. With regards to the motivation of tourists in relation with visiting a destination, they seek for satisfaction in relevance to their purpose of visit in various aspects. These aspects relates to the food, accommodation and other attractions of the place. Thailand is famous for all types of tourism i.e. for leisure and for business as it has several relevant aspects in relation to these types of tourism. Due to these reasons, Thailand attracts number international tourists every year and thus, it stands on the 4^th place in terms of adventure value and on the 7^th place in terms of cultural heritage across the globe (Horner & Swarbrooke, 2016).

Thailand is one of the largest tourist destinations and it has become one of the favourite choices in terms of holiday destination for almost all age groups. Millions of foreign tourists visit Thailand every year and the major reason behind is the number of attractions and numerous of activities for all types of tourists. Apart from this, Thailand welcomes every type of tourist i.e. economical as well as for premium tourists as they have appropriate activity as per their requirements (Inkson & Minnaert, 2018). Following issues are faced by Thai tourism industry along with the challenges in destination development:

• High global warming is leading to reduce coastal line and it is one of the major factors which is affecting Thai economy (Liu, Li & Parkpian, 2018).
• Illegal exports of fish are affecting tourism industry along with Thai economy and it is also affecting sea bodies.
• Over development of Ko Phi Phi is starving the coral reefs of sunlight and smothering the surface in pollutants.
• Increase traffic is affecting air quality due to high number of visitors and this is also affecting to rapid urbanisations (McDowall & Lin, 2018).
• Thailand is known as the god’s creation destination and the rapid construction of hotels and resorts are damaging the natural ecosystem of the country.
• Due to large number of visitors every year in Thailand, usage of natural resources has been increased and this is hampering natural beauty along with the lives of local public.  
• Waste management is another crucial factor which is affecting destination development.

Apart from these issues, major challenges faced by the Thai tourism industry are inherent globalisation and development processes. Tourism sector is segregated into various parts and it includes hospitality i.e. hotels, resorts and travel services. However, tourism industry also gets affected due to various issues and challenges. Some of those issues are climate change, health and wellness, resource depletion, etc. Major issues faced by tourism industry of Thailand are due to high number of visitors although, it is also benefiting the economy but the reality is that it is also affecting natural ecosystem and culture heritage of the country. Due to these factors, TAT is also facing various challenges in relevance with development of tourism industry (McLeod & Croes, 2018).

• Carbon and other emission: Tourism sector alone is not the only factor for emission of green house and other harmful gases, development of international travelling industry is the major contributor for the emission of these harmful gases and this is a sub category of tourism industry. This is increasing air traffic and ultimately contributing carbon in the air (Moore & Donaldson, 2016).
• Energy consumption and wastage of water: Due to number of sectors involved in the tourism industry, consumption level of energy is bit high especially in the hotel industry. In relevance with providing appropriate and luxurious services to its guests, consumption of energy in hotel industry is high. Energy consumed per room and the start rating of hotels is correlated with each other. Extra amenities provided luxurious hotels consume extra energy in relevance with satisfying guest’s needs. Apart from the energy, there is high consumption of water and along with the consumption, there is high wastage of water resources have been analysed. This has become the major cause for high global warming (Mostafanezhad & Promburom, 2018).
• Contribution to local economy and job creation: Developed countries promote its tourism industry aggressively as it is the great source of income for their economies. Along with contributing towards economy, it is also a major source of job creation.
• Disposition of waste: Waste management is another big factor which is affecting tourism industry and destination development in Thailand because due to high number of visitors, natural resources including water, energy, etc. are consumed to the maximum level which is affecting natural ecosystem and local lives of people (Mowforth & Munt, 2015).
• Due to high number of visitors and one of the most visited countries across the globe, TAT is not able to focus over restoration over the cultural heritage and historical monuments. It is necessary to restore the major attractions so that sustainable tourism related objectives could be attained. But TAT is not able to perform its actions to restore its monuments which are affecting the destination development (Muangasame & McKercher, 2015).
• Restoration will take certain period of time and till then whole country needs to face certain challenges such as increased traffic on roads which ultimately affects the lives of local public.

Issues related to Tourism and Destination Development

Every activity has both positive as well as negative impacts and as tourism is based on season and the impact of tourism apparently occur after time. There are three major categories of impact and it is common for all industries, following are the positive and negative impact of tourism activity on Thailand:

Thailand is one of the hottest tourist destinations in the globe and in the last year Thailand saw more than 39 million foreign tourists for business and leisure purposes. Thus, it could be said it is one of the largest tourist destinations across the globe. Every visitor has its own choice regarding visiting particular place. Ancient architecture, varieties of cuisines, warm hospitality, and cultural heritage are major reasons for Thailand’s popularity across the globe. In terms of economy, Thailand tourism industry contributes almost 18% to the GDP. Apart from this, it generates various job opportunities which ultimately enhances purchasing power of local public and enhances the standard of their living (Pongajarn, 2017).

• Contribution towards GDP
• Enhances standard of living of local public
• Increases job opportunities
• Motivates to enhance infrastructure
• Approximately USD 85.2 billion towards overall GDP
• Increases foreign investments
• Visitor exports (Quinn, 2018).

These factors states that numerous positive impacts are linked with tourism activities over Thailand economic conditions. Growth in GDP, rise in infrastructure, creation of various job opportunities, increase in exports and investment from foreign companies are major attractions for the Thailand’s economy in relevance with the tourism industry.

• Huge spending over private costs
• Increase common economic cost of the economy
• Quality of life of local public gets affected
• Property and other environmental aspects gets affected
• Huge investment in promotion of tourism activities
• Environment issues increases (Sharpley & Telfer, 2015).

Thailand is one of the favourite destinations for all age groups as it has numerous activities for all segments of the people. Country hosted millions of tourists in last year. Thus, it could be said that high number of tourists will lead to critical ramifications which could lead to affect natural ecosystem along with the cultural heritage of the country (Timothy, 2017).

• Enhanced awareness regarding environment
• Various policies and procedures have been developed in order to reduce issues and challenges related to environment. Penalties have been imposed by the Thailand government on defaulters of the policies.
• Measures adopted by the Tourist Authority of Thailand to preserve natural habitat and heritage of the country (Tverijonaite, 2017).
• Policies formulated to restore the biological diversity and wildlife of the country.

• Impact over costal line due to increased global warming is the major negative impact of tourism activities.
• Illegal exports of fish and drugs dealing are hampering society as well as natural habitat of the country.
• Increase in air traffic
• Improper waste management is the factor for degradation of environment
• Environmental system is affecting due to high number of visitor
• For making luxurious hotels and resorts, natural beauty of the god’s creation destination is being destroyed (Wattanacharoensil & Schuckert, 2016).

However, government bodies along with the Tourism Authority of Thailand are taking appropriate measures to ensure the natural ecosystem. In relevance with this, authorities have imposed penalties on defaulters of the policies. Along with this, government is also taking appropriate measures to spread awareness amongst the public in relation with environment sustainability amongst the local as well as foreign tourists so that they could take care for the environment.

Tourism industry has contributed towards various sectors of the Thailand. In relation to the growth of economy, job creation, increased revenues for the local businesses, increase in quality of life along with raising the standard of living for local people, etc. have been contributed by the tourism industry in Thailand. These factors have a positive as well as negative impact over the society which is as follows:

• Due to major attractions, Thailand is being popular amongst the world’s visitors and to serve them in more appropriate manner, government bodies along with Tourism Authority of Thailand is focusing over remote areas’ development. With the help of local communities, TAT is developing these areas by building attractive infrastructure so that more benefits could be attained from the tourism industry along with making attractive accommodation facilities by building hotels and resorts in remote areas (Zaidan & Kovacs, 2017).
• With the increased tourism activities, scope and opportunities for local public have been increased in various aspects. Apart from this, local public is also learning various measures to improve tourist’s satisfaction in order to gain positive outcomes. Local public of Thailand is moving towards development as they are sharing knowledge with different people and it is widening their horizon which helps them in personal development.
• With the help of governmental programs, local public along with tourists are becoming aware regarding negative impact of tourism activities over society as well as environment, this is making them to act as proactive in relation with preserving ecosystem. Apart from this, various creative measures have been created by local public to preserve infrastructure for attracting more tourists (Kovacs, 2018).

• High tourist traffic is affecting culture and lives of local public
• With the large number of visitors, foreign companies are attracted towards Thailand and this leading to exploiting interest of local businesses.
• Growth in tourism industry is vulnerable to terrorist attacks which could damage the natural habitat and culture of the country (Bennett & Dearden, 2014).

• Government bodies and TAT had imposed policies in relation with developing public relations and marketing the tourism attractions along with marketing roles of local administration so that Thailand could be showcased as the globally recognised destination across the globe.
• In relation with providing quality services to the visitors, government promotes inter-agency cooperation. This has also increased quality of the personnel in relevance with meeting with the growing demands of the visitors.
• Government has also adopted promotional and marketing strategies to promote the tourism of Thailand in order to boost up the revenues from tourism industry.
• Enhancing standards for safety and security of tourists to make them feel safe in Thailand. Apart from this, policies have also been made to promote sustainability of the environment.
• Along with ensuring the interest of tourists, government has also made policies in relation with the local public and local business so that their interest could not be exploited (Mason, 2015).

Positive and Negative Impact of Tourism Activity

Conclusion

From the aforesaid information, it can be concluded that the tourism sector plays significant role in economic development of particular place. Along with the economic development, impact of tourism is on various other sectors of the country. In this critical case study of tourism impact on Thailand, various significant factors have been discussed. Along with the issues and challenges of the tourism impact have been discussed in relevance with the tourism industry of Thailand has been discussed. Various negative and positive impacts have also been considered in this report along with the policy implications by government to enhance the tourism sector of the Thailand.

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