Title: Governing sustainable ecotourism in Thailand: success or failure in legal perspective?

Authors: Thiti Waikavee

Addresses: University of Phayao, 19 Moo 2, Tambon Maeka, Amphur Muang, Phayao, 56000, Thailand

Abstract: Ecotourism has played some critical roles as a compromise tool in the conflict between industrial development and nature conservation in developing countries for decades. However, in Thailand, the term is simply used for the benefit of tourism enterprises to gain access to protected areas, community forests, and public lands. It was argued ecotourism nowadays transforms natural landscapes and contributes to local biodiversity losses. The paper studied trends in sustainable ecotourism from 2018 to 2021 and examined how the operators implemented the concept of sustainability. Outcomes are the spatial expansion of land use in ecotourism development caused to change in the natural landscape. Local governments lacked their local biodiversity conservation rules in public lands. The recommendation is to empower 'the Designated Areas for Sustainable Tourism Administration' as a key institution to drive the sustainable tourism national's policy. Operating ecotourism must be regulated to ensure ecotourism will be in line with responsible tourism.

Keywords: public land; sustainability; ecotourism; biodiversity convention; environmental governance; public participation; Thailand.

DOI: 10.1504/IJPLAP.2024.135203

International Journal of Public Law and Policy, 2024 Vol.10 No.1, pp.62 - 75

Received: 16 Jun 2022
Accepted: 29 Aug 2022
Published online: 02 Dec 2023 *