Accommodation management for integrated sustainable tourism management

Abstract

This research was aimed at defining accommodation businesses' crises and management guidelines, by adapting the concept of participatory action research model or PAR model, for 25 accommodation entrepreneurs in Ubolrat district, KhonKaen province, Thailand. Data collocation was investigated from questionnaires, site surveys, in-depth interviews, and brainstorming with the accommodation owners and key policy-makers at district and provincial level. The research results indicated that the root cause of the declining tourism situation at the site was due to the owners' use of low-price strategy for their business competition which seriously affected the accommodation standards and tourists' satisfaction. Therefore, to solve both accommodation businesses and tourism problems sustainably, all entrepreneurs decided to establish and take part in an accommodation club in the district; i.e. set up accommodation standard guidelines and business networking strategy.