Economic Return from Related Tourism Business Surrounded Hot Springs Attraction in The Upper Northern Provincial Cluster, Thailand

Abstract

The objective of this paper was to study factors effecting the economic return of related tourism businesses surrounded hot springs attraction in the upper northern provincial cluster. Data was collected through in-depth interviews with 32 owners which opened the business at least 1 year, relevant managers or seniors’ staff with the requirement of at least 5 years business experiences. The researcher used the purposive sampling method to get the accurate information from the experiences key informants about related tourism businesses (any of spa, food and beverage, accommodation, community-based tourism and other business) close to Hot spring not more than 10 kilometers, had GPS and accepted to reveal the financial information of their own business. The interviews were recorded and the financial analysis of the net present value (NPV), the Internal Rate of Return (IRR), the benefit-cost ratio (B / C) and the payback period (PB) were scored and interpreted through content analysis. The best economic return business was the small cooperative spa, very small-sized private food and beverage and very small-sized private community-based tourism around Sankampang Hot spring; The cooperative group’s other business around Pong Duet Hot Spring; medium-sized accommodation around private Rungarun resort. In conclusion, most of the related tourism businesses causing the best economic return were either very small private businesses with 1- 5 employees around the co-managed Hot Spring or small cooperative businesses around governmental Hot Spring or medium-sized business around private Hot Spring.