Tourism Cooperation between China and Thailand: Opportunities, Challenges, and the influences on Sustainable Tourism Development

Abstract

The current study aimed to explore the opportunities of tourism cooperation between China and Thailand; the challenges of tourism cooperation between China and Thailand and how the tourism cooperation makes sustainable development in tourism industry. The qualitative method is adopted in this study and interview are conducted. Fifteen participants from the government, travel agency, other tourism companies (offices in Thailand/China) would be recruited. The research questions are answered the themes which are resources maximization (resources exchange, knowledge sharing, shared market), tourism economic recession (disruption of tourism, low inflow tourists, low spending power), and providing better service (high quality of management, meet the demand of tourists, high performance of tourist experience).The findings of this study show that there are opportunities for resource optimization, service improvement, and sustainable development in China-Thailand tourism cooperation. The study highlights the need to address the challenges of tourism recession, tourism disruptions, low tourist inflows and low spending power to ensure the sustainable development of the tourism industry. In addition, with high-quality management, meeting customer needs, and efficient tourist experience to provide better services, so as to achieve sustainable development of the tourism industry.