Research-based Knowledge in the Floating Market Tourism Promotion: Sustainability Dimensions of Economics, Society, and Environment

Abstract

          In the past, there have been a number of studies about the floating market tourism. Most studies are likely to examine single topics such as economical dimension in terms of marketing, motivation, factors for visiting floating markets, focus on community-based tourism or community participation. However, the studies examining and reflecting the overall picture of floating market tourism in terms of economics, society and environment is limited. This article, with a documentary study, has the objectives to 1) survey the preliminary information of studies in regard to the floating market tourism in Thailand by classifying them into major issues and 2) analyze and synthesize a body of knowledge in regard to the floating marketing tourism to provide a clearer picture of the development of floating marketing tourism in each dimension. This study collects data from academic database from TCI and Google Scholar as well as uses content analysis and descriptive statistics to analyze and present the data.

           According to the findings, it is was found that there are a total of 91 studies during 15 years. Among them, the highest proportion is qualitative approaches with 45%, while 27.5% are studies about local economy in floating market. Most studies are conducted in the central area with 69%. In terms of the analysis and synthesis of knowledge from the literature, this study classifies and synthesizes the body of knowledge into 3 dimensions of sustainability, namely, economics, society, and environment. The knowledge in each dimension may be the guidelines for further development of Thailand’s sustainable floating market tourism.