Guidelines on Sustainable Tourism Development of Ko Samui

Abstract

The two objectives of this study were to (1) examine levels of components of Ko Samui’s sustainable tourism development; and (2) offer guidelines on the development of Ko Samui’s sustainable tourism. This study employed a mixed-methods design with quantitative data collected by questionnaires with 398 residents, whose houses were registered in Ko Samui City Municipality, and 80 tourists, and statistically analyzed by percentage, mean, and standard deviation, and qualitative data collected by in-depth interviews with 16 individuals, including government officers, community leaders, and entrepreneurs, and analyzed by content analysis. Results: (1) on the levels of components of Ko Samui’s sustainable tourism development, the components were rated high overall, and by dimension, the ranking from high to low included development of tourism conscience, development of tourism markets, development of tourism resources, development of environmental education at tourist sites, development of tourism businesses, and development of community participation in tourism; and (2) on the guidelines on sustainable tourism development of Ko Samui’s, the guidelines included the first guideline on the development of tourism resources by improving tourist sites’ landscapes and creating and issuing compliance regulations for tourists, the second guideline on the development of tourist sites’ environments by systematically maintaining cleanliness and managing waste, the third guideline on the development of tourism businesses by campaigning for entrepreneurs operating businesses with environmentally friendly practices, while not destroying nor degrading natural resources, the fourth guideline on the development of markets by diversifying products and services to attract tourists, the fifth guideline on the development of participation by relevant sectors jointly identifying root causes of problems, planning, operating, making decisions, and monitoring and evaluating tourism operations, and the last guideline on the development of conscience by creating media, such as manuals and pamphlets, that cultivate tourism conscience.