ABSTRACT
The Asia-Pacific region is the world’s fastest growing tourism area in terms of visitor arrivals. Thailand is one of the countries in the Asia-Pacific region that has experienced tourism growth since the first Thai tourism plan was set up in 1976 at the end of the third National Economic and Social Development Plan (NESDP) (1972-1976). Even in the years after the financial crisis of 1997, the number of international tourist arrivals increased from 7.22 million in 1997 to 7.76 million in 1998 and up to 10.80 million in 2002. In 2002, the tourism industry became the top foreign currency earner when compared to other industrial sectors such as computers and parts, electronic components and textiles (Tourism Authority of Thailand, 2002). The year 2003 was the first time that the number of tourist arrivals to Thailand decreased-to 9.70 million because of the outbreak of bird flu in Asia.
