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Supply‐side perspectives on ecotourism in Northern Thailand
Author(s) -
Kontogeorgopoulos Nick,
Chulikavit Kittinoot
Publication year - 2010
Publication title -
international journal of tourism research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.155
H-Index - 58
eISSN - 1522-1970
pISSN - 1099-2340
DOI - 10.1002/jtr.785
Subject(s) - ecotourism , tourism , intermediary , business , expansive , destinations , supply side , marketing , environmental resource management , environmental planning , geography , economics , commerce , compressive strength , materials science , archaeology , composite material
This study provides a supply‐side perspective on ecotourism by exploring the ways in which travel agents and tour operators in Chiang Mai, Thailand conceptualise, prioritise and furnish ecotourism. Although travel agents and tour operators serve as crucial intermediaries between tourists and destinations, the ecotourism literature has largely ignored the ways in which retailers and suppliers of tourism experience approach and define ecotourism. Using quantitative data gathered from 300 travel agents and tour operators, this paper illustrates that the conceptualisation of ecotourism among agents and operators in Chiang Mai is expansive, flexible and, in some ways, internally contradictory. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.