Rural Tourism Management Accroding of Suffi ciency Economy Philosophy in Thailand

Abstract

In Thailand, community-based tourism has been used as an important tool for economic revitalization and poverty elimination in over 150 rural communities both in a remote and an urban fringe area, which is associated with the philosophy of “suffi ciency economy” applied in agricultural practice in terms of “suffi ciency economy agriculture” and the national campaign titled “One Tambon One Product (OTOP).” It is assumed as a model for sustainable rural tourism development in rural Thailand, which has never been evaluated its performances in overall. Tourism has
played a signifi cant role to economy by attracting foreign revenues of about four billion baht a year. Tourism also leads to the expansion in some linkage industries such as hotels, restaurants, transportation, retail and souvenir stores and so forth.