Sustainable Agritourism in Thailand: Modeling Business Performance and Environmental Sustainability under Uncertainty

Ming-Lang Tseng, Chia-Hao Chang, Kuo-Jui Wu, Chun-Wei Lin, Bhuripan Kalnaovkul and Raymond R. Tan
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Ming-Lang Tseng: Institute of Innovation & Circular Economy, Asia University, Taichung 41345, Taiwan
Chia-Hao Chang: Department of Business Administration, Asia University, Taichung 41345, Taiwan
Kuo-Jui Wu: School of Business, Dalian University of Technology, Panjin 124221, China
Bhuripan Kalnaovkul: Department of Business Administration, Asia University, Taichung 41345, Taiwan
Raymond R. Tan: Chemical Engineering Department, De La Salle University, Manila 24001, Philippines

Sustainability, 2019, vol. 11, issue 15, 1-20

Abstract: This study aims to identify the causal attributes of sustainable agritourism in Thailand. Agritourism is a systematic approach based on farm diversification for tourism purposes. Agritourism is usually assessed with qualitative information. However, the assessment of agritourism attributes involves considering the interrelationships among the attributes. Prior studies on sustainable agritourism do not identify and address interrelated attributes using qualitative information. This study applies the Delphi method to identify a set of valid attributes. Moreover, this study applies triangular fuzzy numbers to transform the qualitative information into comparable values and uses a decision-making trial and evaluation laboratory to identify the interrelationships among the attributes in the causal model. The results show that sustainable business performance and rural economic conditions are the key drivers of environmental sustainability. This result suggests that the attributes that may potentially stimulate sustainable agritourism are the development and implementation of an agritourism-specific plan, the development of a local business value chain, and government-led tourism promotion.

Keywords: sustainable agritourism; Delphi method; triangular fuzzy numbers; decision-making trial and evaluation laboratory; triple bottom line (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (11)

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