Ecotourism SMTEs Opportunities in Northern Thailand: A Solution to Community Development and Resource Conservation

Abstract

SMEs have become a core component of Thailand's economic development strategies, including tourism initiatives. Small and Medium Tourism Enterprises (SMTEs), with an emphasis on ecotourism and community-based tourism, play a vital role in rural and regional transformation, as these places change from primary to tertiary-industry-based economies. In northern Thailand in particular, a growing number of indigenous communities have been turning to ecotourism as an alternative to expanding their commercial agriculture. However, while tourism has become an important source for generating economic benefits of foreign exchange income, employment, government revenues, private sector growth and infrastructure development, the tourism product in most destinations has begun to deteriorate both culturally and environmentally. It also caused conflict of interests among stakeholders, as over 70 per cent of revenues are in the hands of private entrepreneurs. This begs the question of how to operate tourism that can really be a sustainable solution to the development of initiatives in the region. With a view to answering this question, this paper presents the perceived impacts of ecotourism on host destinations in northern Thailand and identifies how to implement ecotourism successfully by combining the philosophy of ecotourism with the commercial presence of SMTEs in a destination.