Law for Tourism Management and Development: A case study on establishing a Tourism Zone

Abstract

To establish a tourism zone is quite new for sustainable tourism management and development in Thailand. By enacted the new Act and gives the state authority to determine the extent of the area, establish a development plan and action plan, determine the agency or organization to authorize, revenue collection, local communities and local organizations must be involved in the management of the area, determine the incentives for investors. It also promotes and facilitates tourist travel and entrepreneurial activities in various forms which this type of tourism management is another strategy to add new tourism products into the tourism market. Currently, managing and supervising tourism such tourist, operators, are operated by state agencies, the Ministry of Tourism and Sports, through the applicable the Act, the Ministerial Regulation, and various tourism development plans. It is said that almost all tourism zone management is done through the management mechanism by the government agencies. People, communities, or local governments have only the right to offer their opinions to the agencies and to perform their duties in compliance with the Tourism Development Plan and the Tourism Action Plan setting by the State. Do not participate in any other legal administrative structure.

By the fact, establishing a tourism zone, it is a form of tourism management and development that emphasizes the promotion of stakeholder participation by jointly selecting and utilizing natural resources and cultural resources in the area to become a tourist selling point. These actions will help to define a tourism development plan and a clear tourism action plan. Relevant government agencies can quickly and accurately guide their travel needs. As a result, tourism management is truly integrated and consistent with the National Tourism Development Plan, upgrading in tourism from the cheap tourist destinations to become a sustainable tourist destination.

This study aims to:

1. To study the concept, legal theory and related sciences. meaning, elements, criteria in establishing a tourism zone and the legal status of the tourism zone.


2. To study the method, form and condition of administration and development of tourism zone, the organization responsible for managing the tourism zone. Principles and factors to be taken into account in order to determine the necessary measures for management, legal relationships between relevant government agencies and the law enforcement in the tourism zone.


3. To study the problems and obstacles in the establishing and management of tourism zones.


4. To find appropriate legal measures in tourism management and development.


5. To propose tourism management and development strategies by establishing the tourism zone to be more effective, with tourism zone as a mechanism to drive the tourism industry.

This study reveals that the establishing of tourism zone in Thailand is differences with other countries in many ways. Tourism zone is still not a new product or tourism product that can attract tourists. It is only the way to manage the tourist attractions. The lack of clarity in the rights and duties of the stakeholders in managing the tourism zone are the main issues. And is not to achieve the objective of the National Tourism Policy Act 2008, to help maintain, restoration and in line with the National Tourism Development Plan. Therefore, the participation in management in the tourism zone of ​​stakeholders is most important as it should be clearly stated in law from the process of establishing the area however, at present, people and communities have the legal right to offer their opinions only, although the designation of tourism development will have a direct impact on their livelihoods. Due to the delimitation of the tourism zone may affect the rights or restriction of certain rights of the person.

It can be said that the establishing a tourism zone is determined by the government alone. Because of the opinions and requirements arising from the hearing process may not be taken into account. This may lead to the disapproval of the community in the area that has been declared a tourism zone, as well as the good cooperation from various sectors. Past performance in establishing a tourism zone is often determined by the geography or location of the tourist attraction. Although tourism development is defined by the use of cultural resources or resources but it is the definition or delimitation of tourism zone which does not reflect or cover all dimensions. The management is administered by the Board, most of the chairmen and directors are government officials who do not have a non-core tourism mission and assign or add this mission to the government officials to manage tourism alone, expected to be too heavy and difficult to accomplish while the tourism business community in the zone lacked concrete participation in the management and development of tourism. In addition, the main source of income for the administration and development of the tourism zone is the budget support, no way to generate revenue from other channels. Therefore, traveling or doing business in the tourism zone is no different from traveling or doing business outside the tourism zone.

In the end, I has suggested that the amendment of the National Tourism Policy Act BE 2551 (2008). It should be amended by increasing the legal rights and duties of the community and tourism business operators in the tourism zone to become one of the tourism development and management committees, participating in the planning process of tourism development, tourism planning, tracking and evaluation. This is to ensure that all forms of tourism zone are truly participatory. There should be the sanctions and penalties for government agencies that do not follow the development plan, incentives for tourist and investors, determining the tour guides in the tourism zone. There should be no redundancy of the law, with the abolition of some current laws. This is to solve problems and promote tourism. It also adds value to tourism destinations and develops into sustainable tourism.