Quality Tourism in Thailand: Towards Sustainable Tourism or Further Wealth Concentration?

Alexandre Veilleux () and Bruno Sarrasin
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Alexandre Veilleux: Department of Political Science, Université de Montréal, Montréal, QC H3T 1J4, Canada
Bruno Sarrasin: Department of Urban and Tourist Studies, Université du Québec à Montréal, Montréal, QC H2X 3X2, Canada

Tourism and Hospitality, 2025, vol. 6, issue 1, 1-19

Abstract: In its long-term vision for tourism development (2017–2036), Thailand has chosen to focus on the development of quality tourism, which is supposed to enable sustainable tourism development and a more inclusive sharing of tourism-generated revenues. However, the use of the term “quality tourism” remains conceptually unclear, and the means by which quality tourism will enable a more inclusive sharing of wealth remain ambiguous. Taking the tourist island of Phuket as a case study, we question how quality tourism has materialized on the island and how it has affected the configuration of power between large international hotel chains and local hotel operators regarding tourism development. Guided by a critical political economy framework and based on a qualitative methodology involving triangulation of data collection among official documents, semi-structured interviews, and participant observation, we argue that quality tourism in Phuket, although justified as a form of sustainable tourism, is more akin to luxury tourism. This has led to greater concentration of wealth among large hotel chains and real estate groups who have taken advantage of quality tourism-related policies to boost their portfolios at the expense of local stakeholders.

Keywords: quality tourism; sustainable tourism; luxury tourism; wealth concentration; Thailand; Phuket (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Z3 Z30 Z31 Z32 Z33 Z38 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
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