Vol. 11, Supp. 1 (2015), 103–128
Abstract
This paper provides an assessment of tourism development in the Isan region by taking Ubon Ratchathani as a unit of study. Porter’s Diamond model is applied to gain insight into a clear perspective on the economic development of regional tourism in a competitive market. The findings indicate the low advancement of tourism development in Ubon Ratchathani because of cultural constraints, low quality of factor conditions, lack of coordination in the tourism value chain, low cooperation between the public and private sectors, and a low level of sophistication in demand conditions. This might facilitate the decision-making process of policy-makers and related parties to strategically plan and develop regional tourism, contributing to the quest of the Thai government and the Isan tourism sector to properly manage tourism in order to achieve a more competitive position at the national and international levels.
Author’s bio
Nara Huttasin is currently a lecturer in the Department of Hotel Management, the Faculty of Management Science, Ubon Ratchathani University, Thailand. She has a Bachelor and Master’s Degree in Business Administration at Chiang Mai University. She also reads for a Master’s Degree in International Leisure and Tourism Studies in the Netherlands in 2005, and completed her PhD at Tilburg University, the Netherlands.
Hans Mommaas is a full professor of leisure studies at Tilburg University and the Leisure Academy in Breda, The Netherlands. He is also an invited professor of cultural management at the University of Antwerp, Belgium and director of Telos, Brabant Centre for Sustainable Development, Tilburg, The Netherlands. As a member of the advisory board of the ministry of environmental affairs, he has been actively engaged in advising the Dutch government on regional and leisure development.
Luuk Knippenberg is a senior researcher and lecturer at Radboud University Nijmegen, The Netherlands. His research focuses on ethics, social and institutional aspects of sustainable development and corporate social responsibility. He is interested in regional development in the Netherlands and Thailand. In Thailand, he has been adjunct professor at Ubon Ratchathani University.
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