An investigation of tourism impacts on rural communities : a study of Homestay Tourism in Thailand

Throughout Thailand there is a considerable pressure on communities to seek alternative forms of economic development. Tourism, as one of the major sources which has potential for economic growth, was introduced to rural communities in a form of homestay tourism. The Thai government has promoted a homestay scheme to a number of communities across the country as a tool for rural community development. The emphasis is placed on improving the quality of life of local people by using the resources which they already have as tourist attractions. With the growth of tourism in rural communities, it is inevitable that change has been brought to the communities as revealed in this study. This dissertation investigates the impacts of homestay tourism as reported by local residents in rural communities in Thailand. The research also developed a management framework which was adapted from the Limits of Acceptable Change (LAC) framework for homestay tourism in Thailand. Three homestay destinations in Thailand were chosen as case studies which display differences in numbers of houses for hosting tourists, tourism resources, number of years they have been in business and in approaches to tourism management and operations. However, what they share in common is the fact that the sites have been certified by the Office of Tourism Development (OTD) as reaching the standard of quality in terms of management, security, services, and activities for running homestay. In order to gain insights from the local residents regarding tourism III their communities, semi-structured interviews, focus group discussions and participant observations were the empirical research methods applied. These techniques were used to triangulate evidence and validate data. The findings showed that the homestay case studies have provided evidence of impacts arising from the development of tourism in the communities. While some impacts were caused by the relationships between the hosts and guests, others resulted from the communities' differing implementations of the OTD's management framework of homestay. This research also identified a number of actions which aim at policy-makers in central and local government bodies in Thailand.EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo