Tourism :Blessings for All?, Journal of GMS Development Studies, Vol. 3, pp. 1-24

Abstract

Tourism is particularly important in developing countries, such as the Mekong countries, usually forming a more significant component of gross domestic product (GDP) than in developed countries. However, it relies to a large extent on natural resources and cultural capital that are in the public domain. The returns from tourism in the Mekong countries exhibit varying degrees of leakage from the host countries. Apart from Thailand, such leakage has been estimated variously at 3–40%. Domestically retained value added is high despite employment of foreign executives and equipment imports. The proportion of retained value added is shown to be 92% of total tourism revenue in Chiang Mai, Thailand, where the distribution of tourism income among the participating industries is also shown. Case studies in Thai villages show that while tourism offers opportunities in rural areas, it worsens the income distribution pattern in rural societies. However, Thai residents in general perceive the main benefit of tourism to be spreading the fame of Thailand—national pride rather than income—and almost all persons interviewed thought net impact would be positive. Nevertheless, while much tourism relies on social capital, profits from tourism do not seem to be returned to communities to enhance that social capital. Indeed, it is argued that tourism is involved with too much public capital—social, cultural, and environmental—to allow it to be regulated entirely by the market. While benefits accrue to a few people or groups, costs are borne by the general public and taxpayers who are not direct beneficiaries of the tourism industry.