The survey of factors influencing sustainable tourism at patong beach, Phuket Island, Thailand

Abstract

This paper presents a study of the existing tourism situation at Patong Beach and the factors influencing sustainable tourism at Patong Beach. The objectives of this study are to analyze the existing tourism situation and explore the factors influencing sustainable tourism at Patong Beach using direct observation and questionnaire. One hundred twenty local people were asked their perspectives concerning impacts of tourism and people participation. Meanwhile, 120 tourists were interviewed on tourist attraction, accessibility, facility, and security/safety. According to data collection by observation, we found that the existing tourism situation is faced with problems, particularly, environmental, economical, and social. At the same time, the questionnaire data analyzed using the Likert scale found that local people agreed that tourism caused a high impact (x=3.87) and people participation was moderate (x=2.82), whereas data from tourist attitude showed that tourist attraction is highly competent (x=3.59), and accessibility (x=3.14), facility (x=3.07), and security/safety (x=3.10) are moderate. In conclusion, Patong Beach has high tourism competency but there are many factors influencing sustainable tourism as shown in the existing tourism situation (i.e., high impact of tourism). On the other hand, people participation is low. Finally, Patong Beach should be developed in the way of sustainable tourism development, people participation, and community-based tourism all together.