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Ecotourism management for sustainability in protected areas in Thailand

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posted on 2023-05-27, 00:07 authored by Chitapanya, N
Tourism is one of the largest industries in terms of employment. It has played a significant role in supporting many countries economies. Tourism, however, can harm the natural environment and cause problems such as biodiversity degradation, garbage and wastewater if tourism is inappropriately planned and managed. Over the past decade, there has been increasing in environmental awareness regarding the negative impacts of mass tourism on the environment. Sustainable tourism and ecotourism have become more popular among tourists and environmentalists and are believed to meet the requirement of sustainable development. These two forms of tourism can be defined as alternative tourism which emphasizes minimum impact on the environment, maintains natural resources and consider the well-being of local people. As ecotourism is based the natural areas, - and often take place in protected areas such as terrestrial and marine national parks. In Thailand, protected areas have long provided important natural resources and activities for visitor for education, tourism and recreation. This research examines ecotourism in five selected protected areas in Thailand and examines whether or not ecotourism will generate benefits to local communities and meet sustainability criteria. The methods used in this research comprise a review of the literature and document analysis. In doing the document analysis; two major related approaches were taken; thematic analysis and criteria-based analysis. These two approaches enabled richer insight into the content of documents than could be obtained using a single approach. The results of the research have shown that ecotourism in five selected protected areas can generate social and economic benefits to local communities in terms of providing employment opportunities and additional income. However, the study has indicated that \so-called ecotourism\" has negative environmental impacts in tourist destinations in the parks. The major problems in the five parks are wildlife and coral reef degradation and waste and wastewater disposal. These may decrease the quality of visitors' experiences. The results of this research have implications for protected areas in Thailand as a whole. Overall ecotourism in protected areas ecotourism is well-managed in terms of socio-cultural and economic factors. Nevertheless all related stakeholders such as park managers planners and local communities need to focus more on environmental impact and the more effective management is required in this regard"

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Copyright 2005 the Author - The University is continuing to endeavour to trace the copyright owner(s) and in the meantime this item has been reproduced here in good faith. We would be pleased to hear from the copyright owner(s). Thesis (M.Env.Mgt.)--University of Tasmania, 2005. Includes bibliographical references

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