Sustainable Tourism Development: Analysis of Impacts and Strategies

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of sustainable tourism development, focusing on Thailand as a case study. It examines the benefits to various stakeholders, including tourists, the government, and the community, while also addressing the advantages and disadvantages of public-private partnerships in tourism planning. The report delves into the coordination of tourism development at national, local, and community levels, exploring interactive planning systems and their importance. Furthermore, it assesses the economic, social, and environmental impacts of tourism, highlighting the significance of sustainability in ensuring the long-term viability of the industry. The analysis includes a discussion of the triple bottom line and the influence of sustainability practices within the tourism sector. The report emphasizes the need for environmental protection and social responsibility to ensure that tourism benefits both current and future generations.

Running head: SUSTAINABLE TOURISM DEVELOPMENT 1
Sustainable development
Name
Institution

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Sustainable development
Task 1
1.1 benefit to stakeholders
The tourism industry is one of the leading sources of income to the Thai Land government.
The country provides comfort and adventure to the tourist with many sources of adventure.
Cities such as Chiang Mai and Bangkok are very appealing destinations. In spite of their appeals
to customers, there has been increasing concern as to the impact of tourism and tourists activities
on the stakeholders who includes the society and the environment (Del, 2014). The tourists
expect to derive excitement and joy from visiting the country, failure to which they would
choose a different tourist destination. The government expects to derive growth from the fees
that is charged on such tourists as well as their spending while in the country. Equally, the
citizens expect to enjoy good services as a result of the government using the revenues collected
from the tourism sector in the provision of services (Compton, 2010). They also intend to realize
increased sales when such tourists purchase their goods and services. Equally, the firms are
expected to realize improved performance as a result of economic growth and development,
stimulated from revenues generated in the tourist sector. At the same time, there is an
expectation in the society that it will gain from tourism, as the tourists needs to reward them for
using its natural and acquired heritage (Cohen, 2013). The environment also deserves to be
protected if tourism will be sustainable in the long run. Thais have to cope with the social
cultural changes in the society emanating from tourism where elements such as sex tourism have
been a huge cost to the morals of the society (Compton, 2010).

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1.2. Advantages and disadvantages of public and private sector partnership in tourism
planning
The public private sector partnership refers to a relationship that exists when the
government and the private sector comes together to carry out specific project. This is mainly
done on the bases of agreed sharing of risks and tasks. Each party in such a scenario retains its
identity as well as responsibilities (Bredeson, 2012). This has been ongoing in many countries in
cases such as infrastructure where the government I initiates such projects but they are eventually
executed by the private sector. The same could be replicated in the tourism sector (Feldman, &
Miller, 2014).
Advantages
It allows transfer of risk to the party that is best suited to handle such risk. For instance,
the government is better suited to identify tourists who should be allowed to the country or not
and those who poses risk to national security, using its intelligence resources, something that the
private sector may not posses (Feldman, & Miller, 2014). In Thailand, the government
establishes the policies while accommodation and services to tourists is mainly carried out in
private sector facilities e.g. hotels. The government provides public sites to such tourists
including beaches, although hotels near such beaches are privately owned (Harrison, 2011).
The government has a massive financial capability to develop long lasting structures that
are capital intensive and hence, it may provide capital for development and only engage the
private sector in provision of labor, where the private sector bears high level of efficiency in
utilization of such resources as compared to the public sector (Hardy, Kingston, & Sanders,
2010).

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The private sector enjoys high level of skills and skill improvement of skills among
employees as compared to the public sector whose main focus is the bare minimum. By
including the private sector, various private entities are brought on board. In their efforts to boost
competitiveness, they end up cutting on the cost of operations while at the same time delivering
care in their organizations in a better manner as compared to other competing firms. This
increases efficiency in allocation of resources in the country (Bishop, & Robinson, 2010).
The private sector is better poised to provide an outstanding travel experience in Thailand
in its efforts top woe more customers and increase its profit levels. Such profit motive largely
lacks in the public sector. The national treasury is also relieved the financial burden and can now
direct its resources to other areas as opposed to tourism sector (Johnson, & Reath, 2012)
Disadvantages
Mistrust is likely to emerge whenever one or more partners enter into a contract of
production. There is fear that while one party may execute its tasks, the other party may derail
implementation of its part slowing down the entire project (Cohen, 2013). For instance, in
Thailand, the private sector, in search of profits would condone issues such as sex tourism. This
may be against the policies of the public sector where such a move is viewed as a social vice
(Feldman, & Miller, 2014).
There exists culture gap between the manner in which the private sector executes
its operations and the way in which the public sector executes its operations.
The public sector is based on policies and institutions that have been in place over the
years. This implies that it may not always be easy to change such rigidities and hence the private

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sector may feel derailed by the slowness in which activities are being executed in the public
sector. This may limit optimal execution of activities in such institutions (Dutta, & Liang, 2009).
The interest of the staff in the public sector differs significantly from the interests of the
staff in the private sector (Creswell, & Plano, 2011). The staff in the public sector has more
guarantees to keep their employment irrespective of their level of performance as compared to
those in the private sector where performance measurement is efficiently enforced (Bishop, &
Robinson, 2010).
Task 2
2.1 Tourism development
National level
In different countries, the coordination of tourism development starts at the national level.
In Thai land, it is the national government that coordinates all the activities that are related to
tourism. The tourism ministry ensures that the policies that are adopted by the government in the
country are supportive of the tourism sector. This is important in ensuring that the tourism sector
is promoted in the industry and is supportive of the entire economy. The national government
indentifies national features that attract tourists to the country. The national government is the
overall policy development body in the country. In Thai land, tourism policies are developed at
national level. It is coordinated by Tourism authority of Thailand and the ministry of tourism
(UNWTO, 2016).

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Local authorities
The local authorities identify the resources that are available in their areas of jurisdiction.
It is these resources that mainly act as a source of attraction to the tourists. The local government
strives to protect and promote such resources including culture, wildlife and monuments among
other factors that promote attraction of tourist to their areas of jurisdiction. The local government
is closer contact with the beauty of the local environment as compared to the national
government. The local government is better placed to access resources and knowledge in such
jurisdictions. They are in a position to expose individuals to the country’s most memorable
tourism sites. The local government also looks forward to generating income at the local levels
through park fees and other funds generated through other tourism activities. Through
investment in tourism, the local government not only generates revenues from such markets but
also ensure that such tourist destinations are sustainable in the long run. As a result of
decentralization of Thailand, local governments are also expected to promote tourism in their
respective areas.
Community level
The community acts as the guardian of the national heritage. They are custodians to the
unique music, culture and traditions of such people as well as language, a key source of tourist
attraction. They thus expect returns when such resources are utilized by tourists
2.2 interactive planning systems in tourism
In the field of system thinking, interactive planning has gained a lot of prominence. This
is based on the fact that people achieve more when working together as compared to their
individuals’ outputs when working separately brought together. As a result, interactive planning

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has been identified as one of the most effective methods that are employed in planning processes.
Regardless of the industry, type, duration and size, projects contain activities that are often
interrelated and interdependent. Not only is the project affected by activities within the same
discipline, but also by activities in other disciplines. There is a need for the relevant stakeholders
to be given an opportunity to participate within the project. Multi level planning requires that the
panning process be integrated at all levels of the organization. The organization should ensure
that the team leaders as well as decision makers in such organizations have clear understanding
of the importance of interactive planning. In Thailand, multi stakeholder approach to tourism is
adopted where both national level and local authority stakeholders are involved in the
coordination of tourism in the country under the ministry of tourism.
2.3 impacts of tourism
Tourism has many social economic and environmental impacts on the destinations in
which they are carried out.
Economic impacts
Tourism results to cash inflow into an economy. This has the potential of promoting
economic growth and development in such countries. When tourists visit countries they spur
economic growth and development. They create market for goods and services offered by
diverse individuals and organizations including services delivered by firms in the hotel and
hospitality industry. GDP growth and income levels are the key measure that would indicate
whether tourism is positively affecting the economy or not. According to the Tourism Authority
of Thailand, The Thai economy derives 7% of its gross domestic product from tourism. This is
approximately 16 billion US dollars (UNWTO, 2016).

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Social impacts
Tourism has the ability of influencing the social operations of the society. For instance, it
may end up introducing new cultures to the society, encouraging change of lifestyle especially
among people who live in areas that are highly frequented by tourists. It may also result to
improved standard of living of communities that provides entertainment and other natural
heritage respires to such tourists. In some cases, it has been linked to the vice of prostitution
within the society. This result to the erosion of the society’s culture and convictions of what is
good and what is bad. The social impact on tourism on the society may be assessed by the
changes in culture in the organization as well as the well being of individuals around the cultural
and other tourist attraction sites. Living standards may also be compared to living of standard of
people in other areas. Thailand has been characterized with various forms of tourism with sex
tourism contributing significantly to the growth of tourism sector significantly.
Environment
Tourism encourages environmental conservation, since without the sites of tourist
attraction it would be difficult to attract them. Nevertheless, there have been allegations of
environmental degradation as a result of tourism (Bishop, & Robinson, 2010). Damping food and
non food materials in game parks and other areas may result to contamination of the animals
living there. Equally, high number of vehicles navigating their adventurous ways in the parks
may also result to soil erosion. Environmental performance may be measured using parameters
such as reduction in bon emissions. The Thai government is committed to wards the war against

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global warming sand sustainability of natural heritage, according to the Tourism Authority of
Thailand (UNWTO (2016).
Task 3
3.1 Sustainability
Sustainability ensures that tourists enjoy watching and experience heritage in countries
and also ensure that the same experienced could be felt by future generations by securing the
environment. Organizations both private and public are thus expected to pursue the triple bottom
line. The Tourism Authority of Thailand has been in the fore front in the promotion of traditional
events that attracts tourists. Often, presenters of traditional events such as music get rewarded by
tourists, making tourism socially sustainable (Spinoza, & Runes, 2015).
3.2 influence of sustainability
Sustainability measures influences the extent to which an organization takes care of its
operations as well as that of its other stakeholders including the society and the environment.
Sustainability plays a major role in ensuring that the tourist destinations are well secured and
promoted. It prevents degradation of such destinations, increasing their attractiveness to
customers in the future. The standards of certification as adopted in Thailand includes provision
of services with safety, sustainable management of natural resources and conservation of
Thailand social heritage.
3.3 planning, managing and organizing
Planning
 talking stock of tourist attraction sites

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 Assessment of current measures towards sustainability
 Assessment of intervention needs in an effort to ensure that all gap would be filled
 Identification of sustainability measures such as environmental an wildlife
conservation, security of tourists as well as cutting of emissions
Managing
In management of sustainability, there is need to adopt impact based sustainability
measures. These measures ensure that the performance of the organization in terms of
sustainability could be easily benchmarked. Spending on rehabilitation of tourist destinations and
influx of eco friendly customers needs to e assessed. Reduction in carbon emissions would also
be assessed as well as the assessment of the extent to which the locals feel that they benefit from
insurance activities. In Thailand, the locals show cases their natural heritage and culture in the
industry. They are involved in entertainment of tourism using such things as music and showing
them monuments and other destinations as tourists’ guides. They thus end up benefiting directly
from such engagement besides the government spending on the fees it receives from the visiting
tourists.
Organizing
Having a clear sustainability agency in the country would allow coordination of
operations in such countries. Adequate number of staff members should also be identified and
taken through the necessary training. The Thai government has employees at the national and
local government tasked with serving the ministry of tourism and meeting tourists needs in
partnership with the private sector.

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Task 4
4.1 conflict of interest
In tourism industry, conflict of interest occurs when individual persons pursue self gain
as opposed to collective gain of all stakeholders. For instance, game rangers may opt to condone
poaching as long as they gain from it. To resolve this problem, the need for top level monitoring
of implementation of sustainability measures should be carried out. There have been limited
instances of conflict of interest in the Thailand tourism industry (UNWTO, 2016).
4.2 demand and supply
Demand and supply is affected by the sustainability measures adopted by tourist
destinations. For instance, eco sensitive tourists are likely to prefer visiting destinations that has
sustainability as part of its strategies and one that has tangible sustainability measures. Equally,
the country, if inclined towards sustainability wills only socially and environmentally responsible
tourists to the country. This will end up influencing the level of supply and demand of tourists in
the country.
4.3 enclave tourism
Enclave tourism limits tourists to one geographical location. In particular, it limits the
tourists from visiting other regions. This may be more so encouraged by the local government
who expects all the resources intended for use by the tourist to be used in that particular region.
Under ethics of common good, this is unethical as it is aimed at benefiting the stakeholders in the
tourist destination without considering potential the need among tourists for variety of
experiences that they derive from such tourist destinations (Aristotle, 2015). Under the Kantian

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ethics, people should do to others the way they would demand to be treated by them. In this case,
stakeholders are unlikely to demand being confined to one tourist site when they tour a country,
as they would seek variety, and hence the move is unethical. Enclave tourism is thus unethical.
Thai land does not practice enclave tourism as tourists are allowed to access all free tourists
suites and paid sites as long as they make the right payment. Thai tourism lapse of ethics is thus
not tied to enclave tourism but other practices such as adoption of cultures from, the west that
aren’t in line with the traditional moral standing of the Thai people (UNWTO, 2016).
5. current issue, future trends and recommendations
5.1 current issues
The Thailand tourism industry is expected to grow, relying more on tourists from Asia as
opposed to the west, the traditional source of tourists to the country. This has come as tourists
from other countries such as china seek alternative tourist destinations such as Thailand as
opposed to China. Sex tourism is expected to continue playing a major role in promoting Thai
tourism sector in the future. Thai land is expected to remain one of the main source of tourists
attraction ion the coming future, something that has propelled its economy to levels above those
of other countries in south east Asia including Indonesia
In China, the current trend is that of inbound tourism where individuals are visiting
destinations within china. China is a very big country the size of a continent and hence, people
are focusing on discovering new places within the country. While the tourism efforts in china
will result to increase spending within the country, in Thailand, tourism will result to increased
flow of foreign funds as visitors from other countries direct their funds to the country. This is