Tourism Destination Development in Thailand Destination Development Tourism Tourism Destination Development in Thailand Chalermpat Pongajarn Chalermpat Pongajarn Propositions 1. Tourism destinations are multiple, heterogeneous and dynamic. (this thesis) 2. It is much more difficult to sustain a tourism destination than to create one. (this thesis). 3. The nature of economic models makes them only valuable for forecasting short term development. 4. .Actor-network theory teaches us to appreciate things around us. 5. The number of tourist arrivals is an insufficient indicator for tourism growth. 6. A PhD thesis is the joint result of the work of the PhD candidate, the supervisors and coffee machines. Propositions belonging to the thesis, entitled Tourism Destination Development in Thailand Chalermpat Pongajarn Wageningen, 1 December 2017 Tourism Destination Development in Thailand Chalermpat Pongajarn Thesis committee Promotor Prof. Dr V.R. van der Duim Personal Chair at the Cultural Geography Group Wageningen University & Research Co-promotor Dr K.B.M. Peters Assistant Professor, Cultural Geography Group Wageningen University & Research Other members Prof. Dr J.S.C. Wiskerke, Wageningen University & Research Prof. G.W. Richards, Tilburg University Dr R. Lie, Wageningen University & Research Dr E. van Maanen, NHTV Breda University of Applied Sciences This research was conducted under the auspices of the Wageningen Graduate School of Social Sciences. Tourism Destination Development in Thailand Chalermpat Pongajarn Thesis submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of doctor at Wageningen University by the authority of the Rector Magnificus Prof. Dr A.P.J Mol, in the presence of the Thesis Committee appointed by the Academic Board to be defended in public on Friday 1 December 2017 at 11 a.m. in the Aula Chalermpat Pongajarn Tourism Destination Development in Thailand 123 pages PhD thesis, Wageningen University, Wageningen, the Netherlands (2017) With references, with summary in English ISBN 978-94-6343-798-1 DOI https://doi.org/10.18174/423967 Acknowledgements Doing PhD is like taking a road trip. I have been confused, petrified, made mistakes, lost my way, and I was very happy when I found my way back in 2017. During my trip I realised that I couldn’t do this all alone. Without support I would have never survived this long and winding road. Although I do not think that I can mention all of my supporters here, there and everywhere, I will try my best. First of all, I would like to thank the Commission of Higher Education of Thailand and Naresuan University which gave me a ticket to ride on this trip. There have been multiple actors who contributed to my works in various ways. I would like to thanks all my colleagues; Arjaan, Iulian, Zull, Clemens, Meghann, Chin Ee, Trista, Maartje, and all my African teammates, who provided criticism and encouragement. I also would like to thank Alexandra helping me with the final touch. Of course, I would like to thank Keen and Carla: without them, I would have been lost. I would like to express my gratitude to P. Jatuporn and his mom, P. Pray, Pai, Kung, and especially Jack, my old friends, for all the help during my field work. I also would like to thank all informants who became part of this thesis. Being a PhD abroad has not been easy at all. With a little help of my friends, there was always a taste of honey on a dark day. Therefore, I would like to thank The Thai – Wageningen family for all the time we spent together, especially Kees and P’ Waew, our ‘godfather’ and ‘godmother’ who have taken a good care of me from the first day in Wageningen. Thank you P’ Sayam, P’O+, The Smeets, Plub & Aof, Noon for being my back up, as well as the Champouret, Sarn, Mong, Im, Anupol, The Set, P’ Tan, P’ Pam, Pla-o, Pookpick, P’ Pai, P’ Good, the Hagedorn, Panya,P’ Ying, P’ Nim, Aoeng, Net, Sun, Earth, Ham, Pair, Jan, Jug, Pleece, Joy, Book, P’ Tony, P’ Pom, Sa, Kwan, Boyz, Boat, Pang, Aom, Nong,Fai, Pam, Paul, Lum, P’ Nu, Ohm, Mo, and Tom+. I would like to extend my gratitude to many more people and things, but will stop here. All my loving goes to my family in Thailand, who always had an unconditional faith in me. Last but not least, I would like to give credits to my supervisors. I am so lucky that I had Prof. René van der Duim and Dr. Karin Peters as my supervisors. I have seen how much efforts they did put in their supervision. I still remember the day that I decided to take the path of a scholar. But I now know that there is still a huge room for improvement, both in personality and knowledge. Therefore, I would like to thank my supervisors as well as all the other heterogeneous actors that took parts in constituting this thesis. Wageningen, October 2017 TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER 1: Introduction ........................................................................................................ 1 1.1 Thailand as a tourism destination .................................................................................... 1 1.2 Tourism studies and Thailand .......................................................................................... 3 1.2.1 Studies on particular types of tourism in Thailand ................................................... 4 1.2.2 Studies on impacts of tourism .................................................................................. 4 1.2.3 Studies on tourism destinations ................................................................................ 5 1.3 The application of actor-network theory to tourism studies ............................................ 5 1.4 Research objectives and research questions .................................................................... 6 1.5 The structure of this thesis ............................................................................................... 7 References ............................................................................................................................ 9 CHAPTER 2: Theoretical Framework and Methodology ....................................................... 13 2.1 Introduction ................................................................................................................... 13 2.2 ‘Destination’ as a concept .............................................................................................. 13 2.2.1 Economic geography approach .............................................................................. 13 2.2.2 The marketing-management oriented approach ..................................................... 16 2.2.3 Socio-cultural approach .......................................................................................... 18 2.2.4 Discussion .............................................................................................................. 19 2.3 Actor-network theory; a socio-material approach ......................................................... 21 2.3.1 Implications of using ANT to study tourism destinations ...................................... 22 2.3.2 Materiality .............................................................................................................. 23 2.3.3 Multiplicity ............................................................................................................. 24 2.4 Methodology .................................................................................................................. 25 2.4.1. Three case studies .................................................................................................. 25 2.4.2 Data Collection ....................................................................................................... 26 2.4.3. Data collection methods ........................................................................................ 28 2.4.4 Credibility, transferability, dependability and confirmability ................................ 29 References .......................................................................................................................... 31 CHAPTER 3: Tourism development in Thailand .................................................................... 37 3.1 Thailand ......................................................................................................................... 37 3.2 History of tourism development and tourism policy in Thailand .................................. 38 3.2.1 Early development .................................................................................................. 39 3.2.2 Thailand as a cultural, natural, and historical destination (1960 - the late 1990s) . 39 3.2.3 Thailand as a diverse tourism destination (the 1990s - the present time)............... 42 3.3 Inbound and domestic tourism ...................................................................................... 45 3.3.1 International tourism .............................................................................................. 45 3.3.2 Domestic tourism ................................................................................................... 46 3.4 Conclusion ..................................................................................................................... 47 References .......................................................................................................................... 48 CHAPTER 4: Reading Postcards: Multiple Enactments of Tourism Destinations ................. 51 The case of Pai, Thailand ........................................................................................................