Potential Study of a Thai Border Market as a Creative Economy-oriented Market

Abstract

        Thailand’s economy is based on tourism. The geographical characteristics of Thailand is defined by its four neighboring countries, resulting in the occurrence of border markets operating in terms of foreign trading, commodities exchanges, cross culture and identity transfer. Statistically, there are fewer foreign tourists. Thus, the creative economy should be studied to increase the number of foreign travelers. In the pursuit of developing a creative economy, the research emphasized the potential of border communities. It investigated the resources in the communities to develop border markets for all groups of travelers. Finally, this study selected border markets having potential, developed guidelines, and made recommendations for physical development. Data collection was defined in broad criteria, based on the definition of tourist destinations (Mill and Morrison, 2012). In-depth guidelines based on the five "characteristics of a livable city" were also determined in selecting markets that could be developed into creative economy-oriented markets. Hence, the research team selected only 4 potential border markets out of 19 studied border markets.