Assessing the status quo of sustainable tourism in Phuket
Fuchs, Kevin (2020)
2020
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Julkaisun pysyvä osoite on
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:amk-202004185296
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:amk-202004185296
Tiivistelmä
Sustainable tourism is an imminent term that is strongly correlated to the global age of increased mobility. This became further evident when examining publications concerning sustainable tourism combined with the general sentiment of international travelers. While there was an increasing interest in sustainable tourism, there was no research that claimed the current state of sustainable tourism in the mass-tourism destination Phuket in Thailand. Therefore, this research project aimed to close the identified knowledge gap accordingly.
On the basis of the identified knowledge gap together with the evident uptrend and general interest in sustainable tourism, the research purpose and motivation was formed. It further revealed that sustainable tourism at large received a great deal of attention in its current state and this research aimed to go beyond the common theme of sustainable tourism and conducted an in-depth analysis about the status quo in Phuket with regards to sustainable tourism and elaborate the current state of sustainable tourism in Phuket.
The research project was designed to conduct a case study with a focus group of industry experts in order to collect qualitative data. The qualitative data was used to conduct a thematic analysis in order to examine and analyze the current state of sustainable tourism in Phuket and subsequently answered the following research question: How do industry experts perceive status quo of sustainable tourism in Phuket?
The research and data collection was specific to Phuket and therefore the results of this research were not generalizable to other mass-tourism locations. Another limitation was the timing when the data was collected as it pertains to a period of steep economic recession that was driven by economic instability paired with the global fear of a novel coronavirus, i.e. COVID-19.
Four primary categories were identified through the analysis process that link to issues within the government related to policies and lack of accountability. Furthermore motivational factors from the stakeholders were identified. The theme of shortcomings formed the third category, which contained issues that need to be addressed in the future. Lastly, environment is the fourth category that referred to preservation of the nature as one of the most tangible assets that Phuket had to offer.
There is no one-size-fits-all solution and it is evident that the importance of sustainable tourism was recognized in Phuket, however the lack of accountability, leadership and consistency resulted into a high failure rate when initiatives were launched that aimed to improve sustainable tourism in Phuket. The findings of this study list recommendations that were split into short-term and long-term actions in order to tackle this problem.
On the basis of the identified knowledge gap together with the evident uptrend and general interest in sustainable tourism, the research purpose and motivation was formed. It further revealed that sustainable tourism at large received a great deal of attention in its current state and this research aimed to go beyond the common theme of sustainable tourism and conducted an in-depth analysis about the status quo in Phuket with regards to sustainable tourism and elaborate the current state of sustainable tourism in Phuket.
The research project was designed to conduct a case study with a focus group of industry experts in order to collect qualitative data. The qualitative data was used to conduct a thematic analysis in order to examine and analyze the current state of sustainable tourism in Phuket and subsequently answered the following research question: How do industry experts perceive status quo of sustainable tourism in Phuket?
The research and data collection was specific to Phuket and therefore the results of this research were not generalizable to other mass-tourism locations. Another limitation was the timing when the data was collected as it pertains to a period of steep economic recession that was driven by economic instability paired with the global fear of a novel coronavirus, i.e. COVID-19.
Four primary categories were identified through the analysis process that link to issues within the government related to policies and lack of accountability. Furthermore motivational factors from the stakeholders were identified. The theme of shortcomings formed the third category, which contained issues that need to be addressed in the future. Lastly, environment is the fourth category that referred to preservation of the nature as one of the most tangible assets that Phuket had to offer.
There is no one-size-fits-all solution and it is evident that the importance of sustainable tourism was recognized in Phuket, however the lack of accountability, leadership and consistency resulted into a high failure rate when initiatives were launched that aimed to improve sustainable tourism in Phuket. The findings of this study list recommendations that were split into short-term and long-term actions in order to tackle this problem.