ABSTRACT
The tourism industry has a great deal of appeal for many countries, including Thailand. The reason is because of anticipated economic benefits such as income and employment. With these benefits, tourism is considered to be the country's top major foreign exchange earner and has contributed to the development of infrastructure. Jenkins (1997) stated that tourism is a service industry and relatively labor intensive, which is very important in the developing world where employment needs are substantial. It is also noted that major consumers of international tourism are from the developed countries which have hard currencies. Hard currencies are very beneficial to the developing countries as they help balance a trade deficit and contribute to overall development objectives. At the same time tourism can contribute a positive improvement to the infrastructure, which will benefit residents. For example, the new airport in Sukothai, built for Bangkok Airways, caters to tourists visiting the old city, and at the same time it has improved commercial links and communication for the residents.
