World Heritage Sites and Domestic Tourism in Thailand

Abstract

This study examines some of the tensions inherent in the mobilization of UNESCO World Heritage Sites for tourism in Thailand, set against the imperatives of conservation management. The authors look at two cultural sites (the Historic City of Ayutthaya and the Historic Town of Sukhothai) and one natural site (the Dong Phayayen-Khao Yai Forest Complex). They focus particularly on domestic tourism emanating from the urban middle class in Thailand, which has contributed significantly to the recent rapid growth of domestic tourism in Thailand and for which cultural and natural heritage sites have a particular attraction as tourist and excursionist destinations. The authors consider both the ways in which metropolitan-generated physical development brings pressure to bear on heritage sites and how rapidly changing lifestyles, consumption and leisure patterns and cultural values serve to redefine the use made of and attitudes towards national heritage.

• heritage
• tourism
• middle class
• Thailand
• UNESCO

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Michael J.G. Parnwell

Author details: Professor Victor T. King and Professor Michael J.G. Parnwell (corresponding author) are with the Department of East Asian Studies, University of Leeds, Leeds LS2 9JT, UK. E-mail: [email protected].