Analyzing marine ecotourism potential of Chumphon Province, Thailand, to support coral reef conservation

The growth of marine and coastal tourism boots up the blue economy of coastal and island countries globally. The degradation of coral reefs has been reported due to natural and anthropogenic disturbances such as coral... [ view full abstract ]

The growth of marine and coastal tourism boots up the blue economy of coastal and island countries globally. The degradation of coral reefs has been reported due to natural and anthropogenic disturbances such as coral bleaching, coastal development and urbanization etc while the mass tourism itself also generates negative impacts and delays natural recovery process of degraded coral reefs. In this study, we applied a transdisciplinary approach to analyze marine ecotourism potential of Chumphon Province, located in the western Gulf of Thailand, to support coral reef conservation. The ecological, socio-economic, and tourism surveys were conducted to gather relevant information i.e. ecological data, socio-economic, and tourism development. The preliminary results revealed some possibilities that some coral communities and pinnacles in Chumphon Province can be developed and promoted as alternative ecotourism sites to attract tourists from the main dive sites such as Ko Samui, Ko Phangan, Mu Ko Ang Thong in Surat Thani Province, Pattaya in Chonburi Province, Phuket etc. Since the popularity of marine tourism in Chumphon Province is relatively low, tourism promotion and marketing as well as tourism infrastructure development should be heavily emphasized. Also, we suggest that ecotourism concept with local participation should be applied to ensure the sustainability of ecological integrity and social-economic viability. This study provides an integrated baseline information to support sustainable ecotourism management along with coral reef conservation in Thailand.