Tourists' perceptions of wildlife and national parks in Northern Thailand
1993
Elliott, S. (Chiang Mai Univ., Chiang Mai (Thailand). Faculty of Science. Dept. of Biology)
Using questionnaires, 967 touristrs (490 foreigners, 477 Thais) were asked about their attitudess towares wildlife and national parks in northern Thailand. Both Thais and foreigners ranked wildlife conservation and protection of watersheds as more highly important functions of national parks than tourism and recreation. Most tourists throught that construction of tourist facilities such as roads and hotels should not be permitted within national parks. Tourists were prepared to pay high prices for guided day treks to see wildlife in their natural habitats. The mean price suggested by foreigners and Thais respectively were 371 baht and 321 baht to see elephants, 280 baht and 230 baht to see gibbons and 287 baht and 260 baht to see Thailand's largest flower. Doi Suthep and Doi Inthanon were the most popular parks in the North. The most preferred activities by visitors to these national parks were walking along forest trails and visiting waterfalls. Touring by motor vehicles was not very popular. More than half of visitors to Doi Suthep and Doi Inthanon were satisfied with exsting accommodation, transport facilities and walking trails, but most complained about the lack of information and facilities for viewing wildlife. Most visitors to both parks thought they had been spoilt by deforestation, pollution and tourism development to satisfy the demands of tourists, no development of roads or large hotels in national parks is necessary. Instead, tourism development should concentrate on providing better information and facilities for viewing wildlife (guided treks, hides, salt licks etc.) Forest restoration and garbage removal are also priorities.
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