Risk & Crisis Management in Tourism Sector:
Recovery from Crisis
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5.3. Case Study 3 – Thailand (Desk Study)
5.3.1. History and Development of Tourism in Thailand
Thailand has been popular with tourists since early in the 20th century, thanks to modernisation
of the economy towards the end of the 19 th century. Measures included an ‘open door’ policy
which encouraged foreign investment through tax holidays and other incentives to create the
essential infrastructure of international standard hotels and tour programmes. Early on, the
industry was given legitimacy amongst Thais by the royal family who not only travelled
throughout Europe and thereby gained an understanding of the modern tourism industry, but
also took seaside holidays in their own country, which gave momentum to the domestic tourism
industry.
From around 1960 Thailand implemented export-oriented growth strategies and emphasised
tourism in order boost foreign exchange reserves. The Tourist Organization of Thailand was
established in 1960 and worked to develop the country’s international image through
introducing laws and campaigns to promote Thailand as a safe and secure place.
Thanks to strong policy measures by government tourism authorities in the 1970s and 80s, the
offer soon diversified into attractions and activities based on Thailand’s cultural and natural
resources and on its urban assets, which provided good-quality shopping and entertainment
opportunities. The Tourist Organization of Thailand was reformed as the Tourism Authority of
Thailand (TAT) in 1979 and began a successful campaign of marketing the diversified tourism
offer, starting with ‘Visit Thailand Year’ in 1980; international arrivals topped 2 million for the
first time in that year. A further ‘Visit Thailand’ year was launched in 1987, against giving a
significant boost to arrivals, with a 24% increase over the previous year (TAT online, n/d).
By the 1990s Thailand had emerged as a key player in the expanding tourism industry of
Southeast Asia (Kontogeorgopolous et al, 2015). Tourist arrivals rapidly increased. In 1996 it
received the second largest number of tourists in Southeast Asia (after Malaysia), with over 7
million international arrivals, and was the 3rd largest tourism earner in Asia (after Hong Kong
and China). By then, in geographical terms, tourism had spread from Bangkok to Phuket (in the
south) and to Chiang Mai (in the north) and from these regional hubs into more places including
Chiang Rai and the so-called ‘Golden Triangle’ in the north, and a variety of beach destinations
in the south such as the Phi Phi islands, Khao Lak, and Pattaya.
In common with other Southeast Asian destinations, by 1990 Thailand was losing its reliance on
the traditional source markets of Europe and North America as people from the emerging
economies of East Asia started taking holidays abroad in greater numbers. By the mid-1990s
tourists from Malaysia, Singapore, Japan, South Korea, China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan formed
two-thirds of international arrivals. In 2016, 28% of international arrivals were from China (9.3
million out of 33.2 million), and by 2020 it is expected that visitors from the Asia Pacific region
will account for over 75% of international visitors. See Table 5.3 for international visitor arrivals
and receipts from tourism.