Rethinking Sustainable Tourism Management: Learning from the COVID-19 Pandemic to Co-Create Future of Krabi Tourism, Thailand

Pimlapas Pongsakornrungsilp (), Siwarit Pongsakornrungsilp, Akawut Jansom and Sydney Chinchanachokchai
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Pimlapas Pongsakornrungsilp: Center of Excellence for Tourism Business Management and Creative Economy, Department of Tourism and Professional Chef, School of Management, Walailak University, Nakhon Si Thammarat 80160, Thailand
Siwarit Pongsakornrungsilp: Center of Excellence for Tourism Business Management and Creative Economy, Department of Digital Marketing, School of Management, Walailak University, Nakhon Si Thammarat 80160, Thailand
Akawut Jansom: Center of Excellence for Tourism Business Management and Creative Economy, Department of Digital Marketing, School of Management, Walailak University, Nakhon Si Thammarat 80160, Thailand
Sydney Chinchanachokchai: Department of Marketing, College of Business, The University of Akron, Akron, OH 44325, USA

Sustainability, 2022, vol. 14, issue 18, 1-18

Abstract: Despite negative consequences from the COVID-19 pandemic, there are certain positive effects from this crisis including the restoration of natural resources. Using the institutional theory framework, this paper aims to explore how sustainable tourism management can be applied to manage recovered natural resources after the COVID-19 crisis. Qualitative research in the form of in-depth interviews, focus group interviews, and observations was conducted to demonstrate how Krabi tourism stakeholders could collaborate among themselves in order to sustain recovered natural resources after the COVID-19 pandemic. Informants of the study are Krabi tourism stakeholders; i.e., tourism business owners and managers, members of tourism associations, government officers, CBT members, that are recruited by purposive sampling method. This research has shed light on how tourism stakeholders can co-create tourism policies to respond to sustainability issues using the institutional process. In order to develop a successful sustainable tourism management plan, we propose that the plan should consist of three aspects—environmental, social, and economic. The findings from this research offer benefits to tourism stakeholders around the world for reshaping sustainable tourism management in order to take care of magnificent tourism resources after the COVID-19 outbreak.

Keywords: institutional theory; sustainable tourism; COVID-19; tourism stakeholders; sustainability; pandemics (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

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