The impact of political instability on tourism: case of Thailand (original) (raw)
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Political Stability: Country Image for Tourism Industry in Bangladesh
2011
The development of tourism industry in Bangladesh suffered various obstacles such as ongoing political chaos, dependency on foreign capital and the unplanned growth that neglects rural poverty. These factors prevented tourism industry from taking off. Thus, this paper focuses on the relationships between tourism and human-caused phenomena by examining the impacts of political instability on tourism development in Bangladesh, the effects of political violence on destination image, crisis management, and recovery marketing efforts. The main objective is to provide a better image for future tourism industry in Bangladesh.
Although tourism crises have received increased attention in recent years, there has been a lack of research into coinciding crises and their effects on tourism. Correspondingly, there has been little theoretical work done on their nature, interaction and dynamics. In this article, we seek to redress this, and extend the study of tourism crises by looking at antecedent crises of different orders that interact and escalate in ways that damage tourism. As a case of this, we discuss the situation in Thailand from 2007 to 2009, and explain how two different orders of antecedent crises - an economic meltdown, and an escalating political crisis - interacted to form an acute and complex mega-crisis, which ultimately facilitated the spectacular occupation of Bangkok's two main airports by the opposition to the government in November 2008; this in turn completely disrupted, and provoked a sharp and prolonged drop in, tourist arrivals to the country. Through a discussion of this case, we raise some important theoretical issues regarding the development of tourism crises generally, most notably the analytical importance of human agency within unfurling antecedent crises. Keywords: tourism crises; coinciding crises; Thailand; sociology of tourism; airports
POLITICAL INSTABILITY AND ITS EFFECTS ON TOURISM
Tourism today is second only to oil as the world's leading export commodity, accounting for global earnings of more than $300 billion, or nearly 25 per cent of total world GNP (Poirier 2000, p30, cited in Dieke, 2000). Over the last two decades, tourism has proved to be the world's fastest growing economic sector, with average growth of 7.1 per cent per year in arrivals and 12.5 per cent in receipts (Poirier 2000, p30, cited in Dieke, 2000). So tourism should be seen as a major industry and a boost to the economy generally through the results or 'flow on' of the multiplier effect in tourism (Elliott 1997). Despite these statistics, apparent growth tourism in many countries falters when confronted with various political instabilities that cause to distract development in tourism. This exploratory paper, which is part of an ongoing major research project, will examine how tourism can be used as a tool for political and ideological goals, how tourism reform occurs by the industry of particularly politically troubled nations, how tourism can be moulded by the political purpose, and the impact political instability has upon the healthy operation of tourism.
Tourist Attitudes toward Traveling in Thailand after the Political Demonstrations and Protests
Journal of Management and Sustainability, 2012
The objective of this research was to explore tourists' practices in Thailand duringthe demonstrations in terms of security, information and tourists' perceptionsabout the political problems. The study was limited to the Bangkok area, which is surrounded by many important institutions including the main international airport, Suvarnabhumi, which was shut down by the protesters. Using a random sampling process, the respondents were 200 male and female tourists of various nationalitieswhowere presentduring the demonstrations. Responses were gathered in tourist areas such as Bangkok, Sukhumvit, Kaosan Road, Suwannaphumi Airport, and Silom Road. The findings showed that the demonstrations have short-term negative effects on tourism but no long-term impact; most respondents stated they were willing to come back to Thailand. However, they did suggest Thailand could improve in terms of providing information to people, tourism security and regaining political stability to bring backthe imageof apeaceful country. Significant relationships were found between the demonstrations and tourists' feelings. Implications and recommendations are provided for tourism businesses in Bangkok as well as for the entire tourism industry in Thailand.
The effects of socio-political context on Tourism
EuroMed Journal of Business
Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine the effects of tourists’ perceptions of political and economic instability and risks of terrorism on their intentions to travel to countries associated with various risks. Design/methodology/approach A total of 648 Greek, Israeli and Portuguese students completed a questionnaire focusing on their perceptions concerning factors that shape their travel decisions. Findings The findings showed that among tourists from Greece and Portugal, the experience of economic crisis and the salience of economic and political hardships mitigated their intentions to travel to destinations with similar problems. These factors had no effect on Israelis, who have not experienced such problems in their country. Frequent terrorist incidents diminished the intentions of Greek tourists to travel to destinations marked by terrorism, such as Israel. Thus, different factors affect tourists’ travel-related decisions in each of the three countries. Originality/val...
The impact of political instability on a fragile tourism product
Tourism Management, 1998
Turkey who rely upon tourism to contribute to their economies. Downturns in these economies can only exacerbate the problems in a vicious circle. The reader is introduced to the more recent causes and the threats occurring in the area.
A contextual typology for the study of the relationship between political instability and tourism
International Journal of Tourism Policy, 2010
This paper endeavours to shed some new light onto the political dimensions of tourism, by contributing and enhancing understanding of the institutional dimensions of political instability and tourism. It aims to show, specifically, that tourism often is the result of politics, that it is inextricably intertwined sometimes with national politics, and often with international politics, social and environmental impacts, and thus has a direct and indirect influence, which cannot be ignored. To this end, at a first step a working definition of 'political instability' will be provided so as to facilitate the process of reviewing and critically assessing the extant literature. At a subsequent step, a contextual typology for the study of the relationship between political instability and tourism is developed. This typology has as its major objectives • to assist the categorisation and analysis of the relevant literature • to enable future researchers to empirically apply an analytical approach that it will delineate the basic sources of variation of the various conceptual themes relating political instability and tourism.