ABSTRACT
This chapter highlights some of the issues which underlie the negative effects of tourism on the natural environment in Thailand. It examines the likely longer-term impact of the laissez faire policies which appear to predominate in many areas of tourism resource ‘management’. An important feature of the tourism industry in Thailand is its close association with ecosystems which have proven to be of only marginal value for other forms of economic activity. The ownership of the infrastructure of tourism may be of crucial importance in determining the extent to which environmental degradation occurs or is tolerated. In seeking to understand why the natural environment is being allowed to become degraded by tourism, we might briefly dwell on the attitudes of the people who are most centrally involved in the industry.
