Creative Tourism in Koh Samed: The Answer for Sustainable tourism?
Keywords:
creative tourism, sustainable tourism, Koh SamedAbstract
Tourism is very important to the growth of a country’s economy as it contributes tremendously to the overall revenue of the country. Koh Samed, Rayong province is one of Thailand’s key tourism destination well-known domestically and internationally.
Koh Samed faced many challenges in the past few years from the incident of oil spill at Ao Prao and the measures of the government to suppress zero-dollar tours from China resulting to the decrease of visitors’ arrival to Koh Samed compared to past years. Local people living in Koh Samed agree that the tourism of Koh Samed is facing a major problem of tourists’ perception toward Koh Samed. Many tourists’ only recognize Koh Samed as a beach. This case study is interested to find an alternative for Koh Samed as a creative tourism destination which will not only attract more tourists’ but also restore Koh Samed in a sustainable way.
This case study begins with a discussion of the new tourism model focusing on creative activities. The behavior of tourists has changed. Tourists are more interested in participating in tourism activities, in addition to visiting beautiful places. Then it will explore the potential of Koh Samed to become creative tourism destination by applying the composition of tourism management based on the concept of creative tourism management. Readers’ will understand the opinions of local people in the area as well as views of the tourists’. The result will response to the questions’ from analysts’ whether or not creative tourism in Koh Samed is a solution for the promotion of sustainable tourism in the island. If it is, what kind of creative tourism activities should it be?
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