While pessimistic or sensationalist stories about mass tourism continue to inform the narrativeabout tourism in Thailand, an important but less familiar story has emerged in the pastdecade, namely a successful effort on the part of non-governmental organizations (NGOs)and rural communities to promote community-based tourism (hereafter CBT) as a way ofcountering the drawbacks associated with conventional tourism in Thailand. Despite multiplechallenges such as geographical remoteness, national policies that favor large andwell-connected travel firms, and insufficient knowledge, financial capital, and managerialexperience, several rural communities throughout Thailand have nevertheless pursued aform of tourism that shifts ownership, benefits, and control toward members of the communityand away from external actors.In the literature on CBT, the question of success is a controversial one and dependslargely on one’s perspective and expectations. If success connotes great financial rewardsin absolute terms, the elimination of poverty, or escape from the vulnerability and insecuritythat characterize agricultural work, then one could argue that few communities in Thailandparticipating in CBT have proved successful. However, a different conclusion is reached ifone takes a less quixotic approach, wherein net gains in community benefits and significantcommunity participation in tourism determine the achievement of success. Likewise, allowingmembers of communities to make judgments about their own success, and to define
success on their own terms, casts efforts to facilitate CBT in Thailand in a positive light.
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