An Analysis of Bangkok Tourism: Development and Sustainability

This essay provides a comprehensive overview of Bangkok's tourism industry, tracing its development from the 1960s to the present day. It examines the factors that have made Bangkok a top tourist destination, including its strategic geographic location, stable political environment, and unique cul...Read More

Running head: BANGKOK TOURISM
Bangkok Tourism
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Tourism has experienced a phenomenal growth in today’s world (Benavides-Velasco,
Quintana-García and Marchante-Lara 2014). With over 600 million of travelers travelling
annually, tourism industry is the largest industry in the world, with total revenue of near
about half of one trillion dollars per year and five percent of annual growth on an average.
There are several popular tourist destinations around the world and Bangkok is one among
them. Bangkok is one of the most famous tourist destinations located in South East Asia and
it is considered as one of the top ten most attractive cities in the world. This essay is going to
elaborate on how tourism has developed in this city and the various factors that is making this
place attractive to the visitors. It will also focus on the role of a specific hospitality industry
of Bangkok and its operations concerning its conferences, events, tour operations,
accommodation and restaurants. Furthermore, the principles of sustainable tourism that are
evident within the Bangkok are also discussed briefly.
Bangkok is very popular for its hospitality industries, both for leisure travel as well as
for business (McDowall and Lin 2015). One will never feel bored if he gets an opportunity to
explore this friendly and exotic city. In 1960s, the country Thailand became a major tourist
hotpot due to the Vietnam War. The stable political atmosphere of the country has attracted
many veterans and US soldiers for recuperation and rest. The other factors include the
favorable geographic position of the country, global mass tourism, which has increased
rapidly and the successful struggle with the natural as well as manmade disasters (Avraham
and Ketter 2016). Beside the support from the United States, Thailand has a very stable
political atmosphere and the Bangkok operated and functioned as a global air hub at the time
of Vietnamese war. Good geographic condition and position of the city itself brings many
demands. At the same time, the global economy has developed steadily with the passage of
years. People at that time used to have more money than ever before. With the same, the
technology and every other relevant condition are now improved to a great extent and this has

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increased the price of every single thing. During those times, people not only had time and
money but also they were able to travel often in cheaper and faster method. At present time,
the increase in demands has rapidly boosted the growth of Thailand’s hospitality industry,
which in turn has boosted the hospitality industry of Bangkok, one of the modern cities of
Thailand as well as the famous tourist hub. However, the country’s tourism industry is not a
five-day’s wonder. Tourism has grew stably in Thailand. From the year 1980 to 1987, the
tourist numbers has grown to 10% and by 2007, it was observed that the same had increased
to 360%. Today, not only the international tourists love to visit the place but the domestic
tourists, belonging from the other cities of Thailand too visits Bangkok and thus, the domestic
tourism too blooms well in the city. Meanwhile, the tourism industry in the country has not
grown so well smoothly without any obstacle. The people who love to travel in this place are
mainly attracted for its unique Asian culture. Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos too have opened
their markets of tourism with the passing of years and they are considered as the major
competitors of the Thailand hospitality industry. In order to attract more and more visitors to
visit the country, Thailand is continuously competing with these countries and hence in this
process it is enhancing and expanding its tourism industry as well. It has targeted the several
types of niche markets like the golf holidays and the medical trips. In the year 2000, as
Leonardo Dicaprio made his film shooting in the Maya Bay, it has become one of the major
tourist attractions in the country and that was probably one of the best as well as effective
advertising for the tourism industry of Thailand during that period.
The tourism industry of Thailand is one of the main economic sectors that is
accounting for about 6 to 7 percent of its total GDP. The revenue had reached 71 billion
dollars in the year 2016, with 65 billion dollars coming from the international markets and
rest from its domestic market. With the same, it has also been observed that the daily tourist

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spending has reached up to 5% per in 2017 and is expected to increase largely in the coming
years.
Bangkok is one among the top ten of the most attractive cities in the universe. It is a
mix city of new and old, traditional yet modern and classic yet trendy. Visitors all over the
world come to visit this city to experience the beauty of the Buddha’s smile. The tourism
industry of Thailand makes up around 6.5 % of the total GDP of the country. While seeing
the total number of visitors or tourists and the large range of tourist destinations as well as
hotels, one can easily expect a more substantial portion of GDP. However, specifically the
Bangkok tourism industry brings in very less sum of money when compared with the other
service industries present here. Nevertheless, as of 2008, the global visitors spent above 16
billion dollars and the average length of stay as per of 2007 was about 9 days. However, it
will be wrong to say that the tourism sector of Bangkok is completely dependent on the
foreign visitors, as the population of domestic tourists in fact dwarfs the total number of
international visitors but the domestic tourists spend less and their trips are also very short
than that of the foreign tourists. According to the report of 2007, the number of trips of local
tourists was above 83 million. It is expected that by the year 2020, the number of tourists in
Bangkok will increase to 40 million (Ramos, Untong and Kaosa-ard 2017). Most of the
visitors come from the Asian Pacific region and Europe. In addition that, the number of
tourists from the North America is also expected to increase up to 1.3 million.
Bangkok is one of the most contrasting, cosmopolitan and compelling Asian cities.
Over 10 million of people reside in this city and therefore it is a pulsating and steamy
metropolitan city with zero dull moments. Whether you are a spectator who is searching for
entertainments or are physically active, this city will offer a wide range of choices to your
surprise. The modern and multi storied shopping malls of Bangkok are shopaholic’s paradise.
One can find the finest fashion stores of the city, international brands, specialty stores, books

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shops, accessories stores and every kind of luxurious and designer lifestyle goods here. The
two most popular malls of Bangkok that attracts the tourists more than the rest others are
Terminal 21 and Siam Discovery. As described by one of the leading tourism sites, the
famous “The Emporium” is one of the most popular shopping malls situated in Bangkok
(Kuznetsova et al. 2017). The first three floors of this mall is completely dedicated to fashion
and trends.
With the same, the street food of Bangkok is really awesome. One could spend a
whole year eating every now and then and still never finish trying all of the great food that
this city has to offer. The vacation possibilities in Bangkok are endless. Right from the tourist
destination to popular malls, the city boasts with amazingly attractive visitors’ site with a
great architectural style. The top tourist spots of Bangkok are the Grand Palace, Wat Arun,
Wat Phra Kaew, Safari World, MBK Centre, Golden Buddha, Lumphini Park, Siam Park
city, CentralWorld, temples such as Wat Pho, Wat Saket, Jim Thomas House, Thonburi and
many more (Bangkok.com, 2018). The awe-inspiring temples of Bangkok, the bustling local
markets, the vibrant nightlife with vast attractive shopping malls are the major factors that are
making the Bangkok more attractive to the visitors (Leiper 2004). In addition to that, the city
also has two airports namely, the Don Mueang Airport and the Suvarnabhumi Airport; Sky
train; Metro rail and the river boat services that is adding to the attraction spots in Bangkok.
Whether you want a funky boutique or top shelf luxury, the hotel industry in Bangkok
offers something for every kind of travelers. Bangkok has well-developed hotel industry. A
powerful growth rate in its tourism industry has resulted in main investments in its hotel
industry, specifically in the end of the Bangkok market. In current days, most of the
investment opportunities present in the hotel industry could be found in the areas outside the
primary and main tourist hubs. Moreover, additional chances cn could be found in the
upcoming destinations like Koh Lak, Koh Samui and Krabi. The primary players in

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Bangkok’s hotel industry consists of Accor, Starwood, Marriott and InterContinental
(Kukreja and Batra 2015). The famous is the hotel of Accor, Novotel. It is most famous
among the tourists for its marvelous ambiance and management. It is of the economic hotels
of Accor. It is true example of worldly elegance, style and hospitality. It is an essential
stoppage for the travelers for business, events and social galas. Whether it is a board meeting,
or a car launch, a team building game at the beach or a striking gala dinner at a historic
temple ruin, each element of a meeting and event is carefully considered at Novotel.
The city has also developed domestic hotel groups and that too with a high degree of
several brand recognition like the Minor International, Centara Hotels and Resorts and the
Dusit International (Ongkasuwan 2015). With the same, a large range of regional as well as
domestic trade fairs is organized in Thailand all round the year. During many of these
exhibitions, Netherlands Embassy conducts several events, like the Holland pavilion and the
networking event.
Sustainable tourism refers to the form of tourism, which provides social, economic as
well as environmental benefits by the knowledgeable management of the tourism resources
(Jamal and Camargo 2014). The long-term sustainability is gained without losing the natural
values and local cultural identity (Weaver and Lawton 2015). The TAT (Tourism Authority
of Thailand) and the UNDP (United Nations Development Program) has identified four
model communities that are under the project of ‘Follow the King’s Wisdom for Sustainable
Tourism’ in the memory of King Bhumibol Adulyadej (Chemnasiri 2013). These four model
communities are Ban Nong San, Bang Pong Huai Lan, Chanthaboon Riverside Community
and the communities around the Nong Yai Royal Development Project. There are several
evident of sustainable tourism in Bangkok. It maintains and promotes the social, natural and
cultural diversity and integrates the tourism operations with the strategic activities and plans
at both the local and natural levels. The tourist operators of the city avoid overusing and

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reducing the waste while consuming the tourism resources. They also ensure that the local
people gets the opportunities for developing the tourism operations. In addition to that, it is
also observed that the they promote the local business by making use of locally made
products. Near about every hotels in Bangkok, they provide proper staff trainings in order to
improve the quality of personnel as well as to enhance the standards and quality of city
tourism.
Bangkok is a city, which is rich in culture, tradition and religion as well as with a
slight touch of western as well. It is fantastic place with an unlimited array of things to see
and to do here. The city of Bangkok is thronged by the tourists from all round the nations,
who come for variety of reasons. From the above discussion on development of tourism
industry, it is observed that Thailand has faced numerous adversities throughout its history
and so is Bangkok. The city is recognized as one of the major tourist destinations of the world
for its low cost and high quality treatment with an increasing number of hotels gaining global
accreditation. The future of the city is very bright than even before.

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References:
Avraham, E. and Ketter, E., 2016. Tourism Marketing for Destinations with Negative
Images. In Tourism Marketing for Developing Countries (pp. 67-82). Palgrave Macmillan,
London. (book)
bangkok.com. (2018). 10 Best Tours in Bangkok - Bangkok Most Popular Tours. [online]
Available at: http://www.bangkok.com/tours-top10/ [Accessed 28 Jan. 2018]. (website)
Benavides-Velasco, C. A., Quintana-García, C., and Marchante-Lara, M. 2014. Total quality
management, corporate social responsibility and performance in the hotel
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Chemnasiri, N., 2013. The development and promotion guidelines of organic farming for
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pp.54-60. (journal)
Jamal, T. and Camargo, B.A., 2014. Sustainable tourism, justice and an ethic of care: Toward
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