Adaptation Strategies to COVID-19 Crisis of Hospitality Business Operated with the Sufficiency Economy Philosophy During 2020-2021: Case Studies of Business Trained by the Porlaewdee Project

Abstract

The sufficiency economy philosophy is the philosophy which promotes sustainable development. It is one of the adaptation strategies to solve the problem of hospitality business in crisis situation, especially during the epidemic of COVID-19 which affects the hospitality business directly. The research aims to study the adaptation strategies in COVID-19 crisis of hospitality businesses which are operated under the sufficiency economy philosophy. The selected case studies are 11 hospitality businesses from The Porlaewdee project, which supports the sufficiency economy philosophy. The selected 11 hospitality businesses could be grouped to 3 types: hotel, resort, and hostel-homestay. The data about operation and adaptation strategies from the selected case studies were analyzed and compared to find the way for applying the sufficiency economy philosophy to hospitality businesses on this crisis situation.

The findings from this study are as follows: 1) Self-awareness and business share value are main reasons of applying the sufficiency economy to hospitality businesses. 2) During the normal situation, the hospitality businesses operate under the principle of moderate by focusing on doing business that is suitable for their goals and managing from their strength. In addition, hotels and resorts use various strategies from the principle of sufficiency economy than hostel and homestay 3) During the crisis, marketing and communication strategies play an important role to attract customers and increase revenue along with cost management strategy. This means the adaptation that focus on generating income and reducing expense according to the principle of financial immunity. Also, hotels and resorts use various strategies than hostel and homestay because hotels and resorts have more resources.

This research demonstrates that the sufficiency economy philosophy can apply to 3 types of the hospitality businesses by focusing on social and economic, especially business shared value. During the crisis, financial immunity should be focused. However, operating hospitality business based on moderation principles is the key to make flexibility during the crisis situation. These findings will be benefits to the entrepreneur who operates the hospitality business with the sufficiency economy philosophy and creates a sustainable hospitality business in the future.