Proceedings | Finance area | Year 2019
 

Residents’ Perceptions toward Overtourism in Urban Destinations: A Case Study of Bangkok, Thailand

by Chanin Yoopetch
  
  the 3rd International Conference on Tourism and Business in Bangkok, Thailand 27-29 August 2019

Abstract

Bangkok is a well-known destination in the tourism world. With continuous growth in the past several years, the number of tourist arrival has been constantly increased and the higher target number of international tourists were set by the Thai government, while the critical situations, such as the carrying capacity of the tourist destination and quality of life of the local residents, were directly affected and uncontrollable. In the current study, the author aims to investigate the factors of attitudes, perceptions, overtourism and supports for tourism. The research study was conducted with the data from local residents of Bangkok, mainly related to the fast-growing numbers of international tourists, including Chinese and Russian. For data analysis, structural equation modeling was used to analyze the relationship between attitudes, perceptions, and supports for tourism. Despite some problems arising from overtourism, the results of this research indicated that the residents had a positive attitude toward tourism and support for tourism. Furthermore, the discussions with the past literature showed the differences from the prior studies and cultural issues were raised to have the impacts for the support for tourism. Practical contributions for public and private organizations are included. Directions for future research were also discussed.

Keywords: overtourism, attitudes, residents perceptions, support for tourism, urban destination