Managing Tourism Logistics with Sustainable Development of Eco-Tourism

Nowadays, tourism has become a significant industry in Thailand’s economy. Tourism generates high revenues, as compared to the revenues from exporting. Managing tourism logistics is increasingly becoming a strategic tool to facilitate and promote to tourism destination. Koh Lan is a beautiful destination in Thailand today. It is a coral island just out from the beaches of Pattaya City, in Chonburi province, Thailand. However, ever-increasing tourism has created problems there related to the sufficiency of its infrastructure systems and facilities. These problems include growing demand on natural resources and an escalation of environmental pollutants. Further, these problems are pointing to an urgent lack of effective logistical planning and management. This study applies principles of logistics management to the tourism industry under the hypothesis that how to move tourists from Pattaya to Koh Lan more efficiently and effectively, including providing an effective transport networking system, would increase and support tourism on Koh Lan. A demand forecast for tourism into the next decade is statistically calculated in order to provide recommendations for the improvement of infrastructure systems and facilities. An objective is to design tourism logistics system to promote sustainable tourism in Thailand by examining an appropriate demand forecast model for tourism on Koh Lan. The results would be used for planning infrastructure systems and facilities, including strategies for transport networks and logistics systems to support the future growth. Data is collected from secondary and primary sources, e.g. questionnaire and in-depth interview. The questionnaire is distributed to 150 potential participants, with 128 questionnaires being returned, for 85.3 percent return rate. Validity and reliability are examined. The result shows that a time series would be an effective model for a demand forecast. It reveals that tourism to Koh Lan would double in the next decade. This result would be used for designing transport and logistics systems from Pattaya City to Koh Lan. Today, more than 1,500 trips a day by ferry and speedboats are used for tourist travel from Pattaya City to Koh Lan. Effectively designed infrastructure systems and facilities are required to support sustainable tourism on Koh Lan. Further, this study suggests that new and fantastic tourist facilities would be increasingly built on the island, underscoring the need for an appropriate plan for managing environmental pollution. Finally, this study points out that a reverse logistics system for garbage management would need to be effectively utilized. Rapidly increasing garbage is a problematic issue for logistics related to a sustainable, green, eco-friendly environment. This study concludes that strategic and integrated logistical management is necessary, with participation from all stakeholders.