A Strategic Plan for Integrated Sustainable Creative Tourism Development in Bangkok Thailand

Abstract

The objectives of this research are 1) to study the potential of Bangkok metropolis in developing integrated sustainable creative tourism, and 2) to create strategic plan to develop creative tourism in Bangkok. The research uses mixed strategies-the qualitative as the main research while the quantitative as a supporting one. The qualitative research tools are: community-study checklist, tourism-resource audit checklist and structure, in-depth interview and focus group. Qualitative data are collected from 32 key informants coming from public sector, private sector, general public as well as the tourist sector. Data are verified and analyzed with triangulation and content analysis. A questionnaire is used to collect data from 400 respondents. The statistics used in this research are percentage, mean and standard deviation.

 The findings reveal that 1) the 4 potentials of Bangkok are diverse tourism resources, sustainable management, people participation and green awareness activities to develop sustainability. 2) The vision of this strategic plan is to develop Bangkok to become a world outstanding creative tourism destination with 4 unique selling points (positions) in 4 brands, namely Brand No.1: visit Bangkok, a smart green city of South East Asia; Brand No.2: visit Bangkok, a city of creative economy, business center, entertainment, arts, music, sport, food, health and medical hub; Brand No.3: visit Bangkok, a 24-hour vibrant multi-cultural city and Brand No.4: visit Bangkok, "the City of Angels"