Case Study: “ETHICAL TOURISM IN THAILAND: A PRACTICAL GUIDE ”

Executive summary:
Ethical tourism means thinking of the impact of the tourist activities on the
environment, local people, and the local economy. In this case study, the following are the
ethical issues that are going to discuss: (1) Unspeakable abuse behind elephant tourism, (2)
Poverty in Thailand, and (3) Overdevelopment of tourist destinations.

The Problem
It is a pity to note that elephants are used in the tourism industry for entertainment
activities such as rides, shows, elephant washing, selfies, and observation. Because of the
great demand for ethical tourism, the majority of captive elephants are experiencing
widespread and lifelong cruelty, living in severely inadequate conditions (World Animal
Protection, 2020 reports).
The lack of economic progression in Thailand greatly affects its citizens, the reason is
the rise of poverty. Despite the booming tourism industry, the low economic growth and
falling incomes among both rural farmers and urban businesses give rise to the poverty
level. The low minimum wage offered by the national government contributed to the problem
of poverty.
The uncontrolled overdevelopment of tourist destinations in Southeast Asian regions
has created a major environmental problem on waste disposal that led to the damage of
natural ecosystems.

The Solution
The government should prevent captive breeding of elephants and the intake of wild
elephants for commercial use. For strict purposes, a law should be passed to ensure a
minimum standard of living conditions and treatment of the animals.
To ensure every single citizen of Thailand is free from poverty, the government must
continue to invest in economic development and produce innovative jobs for vulnerable
populations. By raising the country’s minimum wage, only then can we all be free from the
difficult conditions to bear that poverty produces.
. The governments of the Southeast Asian region should pass a law before
environmental degradation will reach its alarming levels in many of its tourist destinations.
Because of the overdevelopment of the tourism industry in these places, resort owners failed
to provide facilities for proper sewage treatment, improper solid waste disposal, and the
dumping of plastic are diminishing marine resources that are vital in supporting tourism
activities.
Background:
Elephants in Thailand are considered their national animal. As of today, there are
3,000 to 4,000 elephants in Thailand. Many years ago, elephants are taught to clear heavy
woods and cross rivers to construct bridges. After a logging ban in 1989, despite its good
motives, the majority of logging elephants landed a job in the tourism industry. However,
elephants that are used in tourism such as circus-like acts as well as carrying tourists around
their backs can lead to severe spinal injury, thus leading to infection if not treated. Despite
the booming tourism in Thailand, poverty can still be seen as a result of the low minimum
wage of 305 baht a day, or equivalent to Php 464.00. Due to the fast development of its
tourist destinations, it has made living costs and expenses of the local populace higher
making life not easy to live for many Thais. On the other hand, the overdevelopment of
Southeast Asian islands has become a huge problem, particularly in the Gulf of Thailand. In
Thailand’s Koh Phangan, mountains of waste are spiraling every Full Moon Party where
partygoers are numerous. Worst plastic materials are mostly littering both the land area and
the sea. This is one of the causes in Koh Tao, Thailand why rare turtle species are
decreasing in numbers due to plastic waste consumption.

Case Evaluation: Isolate the sections of the study you want to focus on. In it, explain why
something is working or is not working.
Early in the 20th century, wild elephants were around 300,000 in the forest of
Thailand while 100,000 elephants were domesticated or captive. The banning of illegal
logging due to landslides and flash floods led to clashes between the human and elephants
population. As ivory and trophy hunting issues got combined, the Asian elephant's
population dropped to the point where it was classified as an endangered species on the
IUCN Red List in 1986. (Elephant Hills Tented Camp, 2021). Taking care of elephants is not
easy work as elephants consume 200 kilograms of food each day. Thus, elephant trainers or
mahouts find new ways to earn money which leads them to travel to large cities like Chiang
Mai and Bangkok where the most tourism industries and profitable entertainment are seen.
This is where the elephant tourism industry was born. Having elephants in Thailand’s
Tourism Industry greatly attracts tourists and economic growth. Despite these booming
industries, riding atop an elephant is considered unethical since elephants are suffering from
spine injuries because of this work. In addition, elephants that offer riding, paintings, or
circuses have undergone unspeakable abuse just to get to where they are now. Baby
elephants are beaten (The Koh Samui Guide, 2017). Because of this, certain actions must
be taken to ensure the safety as well as conservation of elephants.
Although Thailand’s tourism industry is full of lively activity, yet poverty level is quite
high and the living condition is not good for some of the populace. This is due to the low
minimum wage offered by the national government of Thailand. The effect of rapid
development in almost all of the town’s tourist destinations made the living cost higher for
the local populace. To meet both ends, Thais serving in the tourist facilities are dependent
on the tips given by the tourists to them to augment their daily income.
The overdevelopment or overtourism of islands into tourist destinations would
create a major environmental problem of disposal and pollution, the destruction of nature,
and the distress of local populations. It increases the amount of waste that may lead to
damage to natural ecosystems. This happens when some tourist resorts empty their sewage
and other wastes directly into water surrounding coral reefs and other sensitive marine
habitats such as species of turtles that are diminishing in size from eating plastic waste.

Proposed Solutions: Offer realistic ways to solve what isn’t working or how to improve its
current condition. Explain why these solutions work by offering testable evidence.
In order to keep elephants free from abuse and danger, the following are the
proposed solutions:
(1) Educate the tourist about what should do and should not do before going to the
elephant
sanctuaries.
Educating the tourists before going to elephants is important since not all
tourists do not have enough background about elephants. An article that was
written by thekohsamuiguide.com. stated that “I wish I’d known… As a first-time
visitor to Thailand myself, I paid for (and thus supported) an elephant-riding
activity that – had I done my research – I would have completely avoided”. This
simply means that some tourists lack awareness about elephants. They just
come to enjoy what it feels like to ride atop an elephant. If only they knew what
elephants have been through before what they are now, one would not dare to
ride an elephant

(2) Promote elephant conservation through social media.

Second, promoting elephant conservation through social media is a great
way to help the elephants. People nowadays always use social media for
entertainment and other activities, so why not use it for the betterment of elephant
conservation? TripAdvisor ceased promoting elephant rides as an activity in
2016, to protest the terrible treatment of elephants. As a way of teaching users
about the issues, Instagram disabled the ability to search hashtags connected to
unethical wildlife tourism in 2018 (World Nomads, 2018). By just simply sharing
 and posting this to your social media, millions of people will likely do the same
too.
(3) Donate instead of riding an elephant.
Lastly, donate instead of riding an elephant. Elephant rides in Thailand
vary in price from 600 THB for a 20-minute "hike" to 6,000 THB for a whole day
(The Koh Samui Guide, 2017). Instead of paying that much money, we can
donate it to a Thailand Elephant organization like Wildlife Friends Foundation
Thailand (WFFT). By doing this, we are not just caring for elephants' health and
safety, but for their living expenses as well.

Conclusion: Summarize the main points from the case evaluations and proposed solutions.
Main points of the Case Evaluations:

● In the 20th Century, Thailand’s wild elephants were around 300,000 while
those in captivity or domesticated were 100,000.
● Issues on Ivory and trophy hunting - Solution: The practice should be
stopped by passing a law through the legislative body to control and prevent
the decrease of Asian elephants’ population.
● The birth of the elephant tourism industry in Thailand – Solution: The
government should undergo development in this industry in helping its
citizens to earn a better living and for economic growth and prosperity of the
country.
● The use of elephants in the tourism industry - Solution: It’s good,
however, there should be a law such as ‘The Animal Welfare Act” to mitigate
the suffering of human-controlled animals (such as the elephant) and to
ensure a minimum standard of living conditions and treatment.
● The poverty level is quite high in Thailand – Solution: Increasing the
minimum wage is expected to help fight or reduce poverty on a national,
state, or local level. To do this, there is a need for policymakers in the country
of Thailand to create enough adequately paying jobs that can support
individuals and families above the poverty line by way of raising the country’s
minimum wage.
● Overdevelopment of islands in Southeast Asia – Solution: As countries
in Southeast Asia seek to develop a more sustainable approach to tourism, it
will be beneficial for both governments and businesses to introduce measures
to protect the environment and diversify visitor’s interest away from the most
sought-after destinations in other parts of the world. With this, it would help
 boost the economies of the local communities and for the great number of
tourists visiting the place who are conscious not to create further damage to
the environment.

Main points of the Proposed Solutions:

● The need to educate the tourists – Solution: Educate travelers by telling
them how to be more responsible and respectful of the place.
● Promotion of elephant conservation through social media – Solution:
By emphasizing that legal consequences will be imposed for those who are
not following what is deemed right.
● Donation for the care of elephants' health and safety – Solution: By way
of voluntary donation, I would help not only to care for elephants’ health and
safety but also for their living expenses as well.

Recommendations. Talk about the strategy that you should choose. Explain why this choice
is the most appropriate.

● By passing a law through the legislative body and once this is approved by
the head of the state or organization, it should be implemented. This law now
is the basis for making any decisions for that matter. As to the issue of ivory
and trophy hunting, “anybody who violates this law is subject to punishment
as the case may be”.
● It is imperative for any government of a country to look for ‘means and ways’
for the development and improvement of its citizens, and also for the
economic prosperity of the country in general.
● Nowadays, all countries of the world have this law on Animal Welfare. It is
important because there are so many animals around the world suffering from
being used for entertainment, food, medicine, fashion, scientific
advancement, and as exotic pets (World Animal Protection, May 7, 2020).
Accordingly, every animal deserves to have a good life where they enjoy the
benefits of its territory.
Implementation. Explain how to put the strategy into action.

As we know if we have the strategic plans, they will only succeed if we can put them
into action. In the above case study to be successful, we have to have an idea of the right
strategy for passing a law that would serve as the basis for making decisions. But first, we
have to formulate and develop an objective that will suit our goal. For our objective, we want
to achieve that those people violating the law will be subject to punishment. And our
strategy is to pass a law through a legislative body that needs to be approved. Once it is
approved that’s the time the full force of the law will be implemented.
References:

Aespire Marketing. (2022). Aespire.com. https://www.aespire.com/

Ecobnb. (2019). Ecobnb. https://ecobnb.com/blog/

Elephant Hills Tented Camp. (2021, January 11). Elephant Hills, Thailand.
https://www.elephanthills.com/elephant-in-thai/

The Koh Samui Guide. (2017, November 16). The Koh Samui Guide.
https://www.thekohsamuiguide.com/elephants-in-thailand-need-to-know/

UNWTO. International Tourism Highlights, 2019 Edition. 28 Aug. 2019,

10.18111/9789284421152.