OBSTACLES TO THE IMPLEMENTATION OF TOURISM POLICIES AND REGULATIONS IN PHUKET, THAILAND

Tourism policy has increasingly become vital for many developing countries that wish to employ tourism for their regional and national development. To ensure its effectiveness, it is contingent on the process of policy implementation which is often a major barrier to success. Phuket, Thailand is chosen as a case study for policy implementation research due to its developing world context. As multi-sectors are usually involved, tourism policies frequently confront many challenges, especially in developing countries where shortages of qualified personnel and inadequate finance are regularly found. The nature of the policy process generally requires a clear structure and instruction with sufficient resources for a policy to be realistic.Issues of coordination, obedience and communication arise in the implementation process. Case study research was applied for this study as a source of rich data, so as to utilise multiple research methods for investigating the complexity of this natural setting. Semi-structured in-depth interviews are employed to gain data from a sample of affected stakeholders, which may total up to 35 interviewees. For this study, culture is a key issue for policy implementation in developing countries