Negotiating Social Responsibilities in Tourism

Set within today’s context of ‘heightened responsibilities’, where one is always urged to be a ‘responsible’ consumer, business or policy-maker, this research aims to address the academic and practical concerns over the ethical dimensions and possibilities of the tourism industry in Thailand. This includes, but is not limited to ‘responsibilities’ towards tourism development’s environmental and socio-cultural impacts. Adopting a geographical approach, attuned focus will be given to tourism-related corporations, tourists’, and locals’ perceptions of ‘responsibilities’, showing their complicity in the active production and consumption of ‘responsible tourism’ at multiple scalar levels. At the academic level, this thesis contributes to ongoing debates in geography and the wider social science arena about the importance of ethics and responsibility. Furthermore, through this empirical study, the complex and dynamic workings of responsibilities in tourism as enacted on the ground will have important lessons for policy makers and businesses alike to implement better (infra)structural conditions for the effective performances of responsibilities.