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Reviewing Thailand’s master plans and policies: implications for
creative tourism?
Walanchalee Wattanacharoensil
a
∗
and Markus Schuckert
b
a
Tourism and Hospitality Management Division, Mahidol University International College,
Salaya, Thailand;
b
The School of Hotel and Tourism Management, The Hong Kong Polytechnic
University, Kowloon, Hong Kong, People’s Republic of China
(Received 14 December 2012; final version received 11 December 2013)
This article contributes to an understanding of how creative tourism is perceived on a
national level, by using Thailand as a case analysis. The primary objective of this
article is to investigate Thailand’s plans and policies for the creative economy at both
national and ministry levels in relation to creative tourism. It also identifies how a
national strategic plan can provide a blueprint for individual agency master plans to
provide policy support for the development of the creative economy in the tourism
sector. Thailand is chosen as an example of how government and related agencies can
contribute to a national creative tourism movement in the country, especially in the
light of the Tourism Authority of Thailand branding campaign to stimulate creative
tourism to the destination. The qualitative research methodology through content
analysis is used to scrutinise the plan and policy contents from the selected
government agencies. The results demonstrate a better view of how creative tourism
is positioned in the Thailand context and contribute to a policy study on the creative
economy in the tourism sector as well as in creative tourism.
Keywords: creative tourism; creative economy; tourism policy; Thailand
Introduction
Over the past 60 years, the tourism industry has experienced continuous expansion and is
now one of the largest economic sectors in the world. Thailand is at the forefront of this
development in Asia (UNWTO Tourism Highlights, 2012) for many types of tourism.
Many forms of tourism, such as agro-, medical, spiritual, dark and other types of special-
interest tourism, have been developed to meet and/or stimulate tourists’ demands
(Cohen, 1979; Leiper, 1979; Plog, 1974). In the last 10 years, creative tourism has
begun to be seen as an alternative travel paradigm (Ohridska-Olson & Ivanov, 2010;
Richards, 2011a; Richards & Raymond, 2000) as trends have shifted away from mass
tourism typologies (such as ‘sea-and-sun’ in the first era and ‘cultural tourism’ in the
second era) (Designated Area for Sustainable Tourism Administration, 2011). Richards
and Wilson (2006) claim that mass tourism, being ubiquitous and large in scale, has
become too standardised and commodified and as a result, offers tourists less pleasure.
The lack of time available for creative development in the lives of many people has
led to an increase in demand for meaningful activities and creative forms of tourism,
with ‘tourists developing their creative skills on holiday and destinations vying to
# 2014 Taylor & Francis
∗
Corresponding author. Email: walanch.wattanacharoensil@connect.polyu.hk
Current Issues in Tourism, 2014
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13683500.2014.882295
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improve their creative offer’ (European Travel Commission, 2006, p. 3). The concept of
creative tourism was first promoted by Raymond and Richards in the Association for
Tourism and Leisure Education newsletter of November 2000 (Ohridska-Olson &
Ivanov, 2010; Wurzburger, 2008), in which they elaborated on the concept as a new
and innovative alternative. Creative tourism involves tourists learning about authentic
cultures and creating strong linkages with their hosts, leading to more flexible and auth-
entic experiences (Ohridska-Olson & Ivanov, 2010; Richards, 2001, 2011a; Wurzburger,
2008). Recently, Richards (2011a, as cited in Richards & Marques, 2012, p. 4) expanded
the definition to cover a wider scope of activities and value chain elements. As Richards
explains, creative tourism now
includes a wide range of creative experiences in which the ‘creative’ content can be fore-
grounded or used as a ‘creative backdrop’, and in which the level of tourist and ‘local’ involve-
ment in the production of the experience can be high or low. (p. 4)
Hence, the new definition of creative tourism not only refers to actively engaging tourists in
creative activities, but also capturing a continuum of ‘low’ to ‘high’ local creative
consumption.
Previous studies have also linked the idea of creative tourism with the experience-
seeking society described by Schulze (2005) and the experience economy proposed by
Pine and Gilmore (1999) or the concept of using experience rather than the passive con-
sumption of commoditised products and services by tourists to increase value (Fernandes,
2011; Pikkemaat & Schuckert, 2007; Richards, 2011a). Having a unique and memorable
experience has become an important factor in customer satisfaction (Fernandes, 2011;
Oh, Fiore, & Jeoung, 2007), reflecting the post-industrial phenomenon, and at the same
time, it promotes a destination’s competitive advantage.
Recently, Thailand has utilised the creative tourism concept to promote its destinations.
In early 2012, it promoted itself as part of a creative tourism campaign launched by the
Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) which was driven by the concept of ‘the first creative
tourism destination in Asia’ (2010b, emphasis added). The TAT is under the aegis of Thai-
land’s Ministry of Tourism and Sport (MoTS), whose role is to market Thailand as a tourist
destination. The creative tourism campaign was promoted to implement the policy objec-
tive of developing a creative economy. The creative economy was the key agenda item
of the 11th National Economic and Social Development (NESD) plan (TAT, 2010a),
which acts as a policy blueprint for the country.
The TAT campaign stimulated research interest in how Thailand’s tourism plans and
policies support the creative tourism movement. Since the TAT is a public organisation
under the aegis of the MoTS, such interest also extended to the MoTS’s plans and policies
as a whole. Furthermore, on the basis of researchers’ personal observations, a centre of
excellence (CoE) known as the Creative Academy for Cultural and Heritage Tourism
(CCHT) has been set up in response to the policies of the Ministry of Commerce (MoC)
and the Department of Intellectual Property (DIP) to promote the creative economy in Thai-
land’s tourism sector. Chiang Mai in Northern Thailand has also sought to be recognised as
a creative city within the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation’s
(UNESCO) Crea tive Cities Network (Chiang Mai Creative City [CMCC], 2010). Thes e
initiatives have obviously arisen from the creative economy policy set out in the 11th
NESD plan, and they complement other campaigns such as the ‘creative city prototypes’
shown in Table 1.
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Researchers have become aware of the responses of various government agencies to the
creative economy policy, some of which contribute to the promotion of creative tourism in
Thailand. Their interest has, therefore, turned towards an examination of government pol-
icies and how they can help support the development of creative tourism and position the
country as the leading destination for such activities in Asia. The reason for analysing plans
and policies at both national and ministry level is that this approach provides a framework
of development strategies. Investigating the plans and policies of the National Economic
and Social Development Board (NESDB) and other ministries insofar as they relate to
tourism will not only enable us to clarify and explain how they will steer Thailand
towards the creative tourism movement, but also provide a vivid view of the development
agenda for the creative economy in the tourism sector and the collaborative linkages
amongst the key ministries.
Against this background, this is the first study to scrutinise both the national plan and
the ministries’ policies in Thailand. To achieve this goal, the following plans and policies
emanating from four government bodies are scrutinised:
.
National plan formulated by the NESDB
.
Tourism development plan and policy formulated by the MoTS
.
Master plan formulated by the MoC
.
Master plan formulated by the Ministry of Culture (MoCul)
The reasons for selecting these documents are explained further in the Methodology
section. However, it is important to note at this point that in the Thai context, the importance
of the ‘master plan’ and ‘policies’ at national and ministry level share a similar interpret-
ation. The master plan acts as a blueprint for the creation of national and ministry policy.
For example, the 8th National Policy and Strategic Report of the National Research
Council of Thailand (2012 –2016) states that it has been ‘created for the purpose of
making a policy and master plan for national research’ (2012, p. 5, translated from the orig-
inal Thai). Hence, the national policy documents included in this research consist of both
the master plans and ministry policy plans, subject to availability.
In order to achieve the aim of this study, the following research objective is addressed:
to investigate plans and policies for the creative economy at the national and ministry levels
in the specific context of creative tourism in Thailand.
Table 1. Ten provinces selected as ‘creative city prototypes’ in response to the Creative Thailand
policy.
Province Creative points of interest
Chai Nat Rice varieties
Chiang Rai Doi Tung development – replacing opium poppy cultivation with cash crops
Chiang Mai Handicrafts
Nan Antiques and lively city atmosphere
Phetchaburi Sugar palm
MahaSarakham A city of learning, focused on community development
Yala Bird city
Lop Buri A city of renewable energy innovation
Lampang Creative ceramics
Ang Thong Drum making
Note: Thai Government Public Relations Department (PRD) (2011).
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To achieve this objective, the following research questions will be answered:
(1) In what areas will the 11th NESD plan promote the development of the creative
economy in the tourism sector and contribute to creative tourism?
(2) What policy statements from the selected ministries will help to promote the devel-
opment of the creative economy in the tourism sector, and how will they contribute
to creative tourism?
Background to the study
The creative tourism campaign was first launched in early 2012 by the TAT under the theme
‘Discover the Other You’. It was a global effort which set out to serve various purposes. The
campaign was planned in order to attract more repeat visitors in the off-season months and to
stimulate Internet and social media discussion (TAT, 2012). TAT also observed the increasing
impact of creative tourism and recognised that it was becoming more popular as tourists
sought out direct experiences of local cultures and locals’ way of life and traditions. Although
it may appear that the goal of TAT was to market and stimulate existing demand for tourism,
the selection of creative tourism as the guiding concept was also a response to current gov-
ernment policies as set out in the 11th NESD plan (TAT, 2010).
Looking back at the roots of the creative economy concept, the Thai government adopted
this idea to develop and nurture the creative potential of goods and services in Thailand and to
reduce dependency on first- and second-sector industries (UNESCO Cultural News, 2011).
The main initiative for this movement came from the 2008 Creative Economy Report of the
United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) (2010), which showed
that Thailand ranked 19th amongst creative goods exporting countries. In 2009, the Creative
Thailand policy was launched and the creative economy became a priority sector within the
10th NESD plan (UNCTAD, 2010). By adapting UNCTAD’s creative industry frameworks,
the NESDB identified 15 creative industries in four main clusters (see Table 2 ) based on Thai-
land’s potential and competitiveness. The selected industries are seen as highly competitive
for the nation as they create competitive advantage by world economic standards. For
example, according to the UNCTAD Creative Economy Report, in 2008 , Thailand was
ranked the fourth and seventh largest exporter of design and visual art, respectively
(UNCTAD, 2010). As the Tha i economy counts tourism as a major source of income from
the service sector (Santos-Duisenberg, 2012), the selected industries also include CCHT as
part of the road to developing the creative economy in Thailand.
The creative economy was formally initiated in August 2009 with two aims: to promote
Thailand as a hub of the creative industries in South East Asia and to boost the economic
contribution of national creative industries from 12% to 20% of gross domestic product by
2012 (UNCTAD, 2010). In 2010, the NESDB cooperated with the United Nations Devel-
opment Programme to work out strategies for developing the creative economy by focusing
on three areas (PRD, 2010):
.
the creative industries,
.
industries related to the creative economy and
.
the environment for the creative economy.
In August 2012, the establishment of the National Creative Economy Agency (NCEA) was
approved by the Cabinet and the National Policy Committee on the Creative Economy. The
NCEA is supervised by the Secretariat to the Prime Minister and works on the
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implementation of creative economy projects and securing funding for development (‘New
agency’, 2012). The creative economy in Thailand has since focused on the application of
cultural capital together with innovation, knowledge and creativity to drive the value cre-
ation of goods and services and stimulate the economic growth of the nation (Suptha-
weethum, n.d.).
In this policy area, and also in the NESDB’s (2008) presentation on Thailand’s Creative
Economy, the tourism and service sector is regarded as one of the key economic sectors (the
others being agriculture and industry) that could contribute significantly towards the lo ng-
term development of the country. The NESDB suggested that the tourism industry could
create new products and services to drive the development of the sector and strengthen
Thailand’s position as a leading worldwide tourist destination. In doing so, the tourism
sector has been encouraged to include cultural elements such as life history into its products
and services and/or to promote cultural tourism specifically. Service sectors were also to be
supported in order to shift the country into a service-driven economy in areas where it could
highlight the Thai cultural identity, such as film or media.
The development of creative tourism is one angle on the overall stimulation of the crea-
tive economy in the sector. Although both activities utilise cultural capital and share many
Table 2. Models of the creative industry.
UK DCMS model
Concentric circles
model UNCTAD model Thailand model
Advertising Core creative arts Heritage or cultural
heritage
Heritage
Architecture Literature Traditional cultural
expressions
Crafts
Art and antiques
market
Music Cultural sites CCHT
Crafts Performing arts Arts Thai traditional
medicine
Design Visual arts Visual arts Thai food
Fashion Other core cultural
industries
Performing arts Art
Film and video Film Media Performing arts
Music Museums and libraries Publishing and printing
media
Visual arts
Performing arts Wider cultural
industries
Audiovisuals Media
Publishing Heritage services Functional creations Publishing
Software Publishing Design Broadcasting
Television and radio Sound recording New media Film and video
Video and computer
games
Television and radio Creative services Music
Video and computer
games
Functional creations
Related industries Design
Advertising Fashion
Architecture Advertising
Design Architecture
Fashion Software
Note: Adapted from UNCTAD (2010).
Current Issues in Tourism 5
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approaches to increasing creative tourism products and services, the former is underpinned
by a principled theoretical model, whilst the latter is effectively the implementation of the
creative economy concept in the context of the tourism sector with the goal of stimulating
economic growth. Having said that the promotion of the creative economy in relation to the
tourism sector can benefit creative tourism in many ways. The scrutiny of the national plan
and ministries’ policies will help to identify the strategic moves that support the develop-
ment of creative tourism throughout Thailand.
Literature review
Before the advent of creative tourism, cultural tourism was created primarily to enable tour-
ists to avail themselves of cultural absorption and meaningful learning experiences. A
report by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development shows that the
demand for cultural tourism increased from around 200 million in 1995 to over 350
million in 2007 (Richards, 2011b), a 75% increase over 12 years, although the validity
of the methods used by different organisations to gather survey data can be questioned
(McKercher & Chan, 2005). According to Richards and Wilson (2006), who propose
four main types of cultural development strategies for urban regeneration, once it has
been developed and applied, cultural tourism is regarded as something that is copied
across the globe in many destinations: in other words, it has become a ‘serial reproduction’
(p. 1210). Instead of capturing cultural capital in the form of intangible assets and experi-
ences, destinations have exploited their tangible cultural assets and turned cultural tourism
into a mass consumption event. Such commoditisation and simplification (also known as
‘McDonaldization’: Ritzer, 2009) reduces the chances of tourists developing deeper
emotional connections and experiences within such cultural destinations.
Development of creative tourism
On the basis of this analysis, a new focus on creative tourism has been proposed. By apply-
ing creativity as a process to the development of tourism destinations whilst utilising the
unique cultural capital of each one, a new paradigm shift has been established. This
meets the evident need to develop new types of cultural tourism to coincide with consu-
mers’ need for self-realisation (Richards, 2011b) and to draw tourists into an authentic
experience once they are able to participate in activities. Compared to traditional cultural
tourism, creative tourism goes beyond just the tourist gaze (Ohridska-Olson & Ivanov,
2010; Urry, 1990). It provides more than just an opportunity to see, view and contemplate
creative activities and allows participation (Ohridska-Olson & Ivanov, 2010). Dance, crafts,
singing, painting and festivals are all crucial in creating genuine interest and increasing
tourists’ absorption into the cultural capital and activities which are the key elements of
creative tourism.
An early definition of creative tourism was put forward by Richards and Raymond
(2000), who described it as tourism ‘which offers visitors the opportunity to develop
their creative potential through active participation in learning experiences which are the
characteristics of the holiday destination where they are undertaken’ (p. 18, emphasis
added).
Richards and Wilson (2006) emphasise that creative tourism ‘depends far more on the
active involvement of tourists’ (p. 1218). UNESCO’s definition of creative tourism, as
stated in the 2006 Creative Cities Network Report, emphasises the boundary reduction
between host and guest in a process where the visitor ‘has an educational, emotional,
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social, and participative interaction with the place, its living culture, and the people who live
there’ and feels ‘like a citizen’ (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organ-
ization [UNESCO], 2006, p. 2). This reduction in the gap between host and guest lessens
the ‘stranger’ condition that normally occurs when tourists enter a new region and increases
their feeling of involvement. Richards and Wilson (2006) explain, ‘creative tourism
involves not just spectating, not just ‘being there’, but reflexive interaction on the part of
tourists, who are usually thought of as ‘non-producers’ in traditional analyses’ (p. 1218).
This allows tourists to develop a deeper emotional connectio n by absorbing everyday cul-
tural experiences through active participation at the host destination (Ohridska-Olson &
Ivanov, 2010).
Richards (2011a) also pointed out that the forms of creative tourism being developed in
the urban context range from very active and creative involvement to passive viewing. This
led to the scope and concept of creative tourism being adapted and the model being revised
(Richards & Marques, 2012). Due to the development of creative tourism movements
around the world both in urban and countryside destinations, such activities now go
beyond a definition that simply uses cultural tourism as a fundamental development and
offers a narrow range of learning experiences to include many other ways of using creativity
to supplement tourism products and activities. However, the expansion of the concept
upholds the core idea of creative tourism, in that it still promotes authentic and experiential
encounters that involve tourists deeply in local life and create synergistic exchanges of ideas
and skills. Such creative tourism can be seen more as a networked approach where rela-
tional, social and intellectual capital within the network is strengthened (Richards &
Marques, 2012) and becomes the rigid element that binds tourists to the destination. As
Richards and Marques (2012) propose, the new forms of creative tourism include the
following:
.
a means of involving tourists in the creative life of the destination;
.
a creative means of using existing resources;
.
a means of strengthening identity and distinctiveness;
.
a form of self-expression/discovery;
.
a form of ‘edutainment’ – education as self-realisation and entertainment;
.
a source of ‘atmosphere’ for places; and
.
a source for recreating and reviving places.
Creative tourism does have its critics as well as supporters. Those supporting creative
tourism (Ohridska-Olson & Ivanov, 2010; Richards, 2011a; Richards & Marques, 2012;
Richards & Raymond, 2000; Richards & Wilson, 2006; Wurzburger, 2008) focus on its
positive relationships to the sustainabil ity of cultural capital, the strong relational capital
between hosts and guests leading to in-depth absorption and authentic experiences, and
the use of creativity as a core value of destination development. On the other hand,
critics point to the paucity of hard or empirical evidence to support the benefits of creative
tourism and claim that it is more of an ‘aspiration than a reality’ (Miles, 2010, as cited in
Richards, 2011a, p. 1244; Pratt, 2008) or that it is just a mantra of policy-makers and aca-
demics who use the term in an uncritical way (Long & Morpeth, 2012, as cited in Richards
& Marques, 2012). Furthermore, in terms of implementation, most of the creative economy
policies (perceived as the umbrella or embracing concept of creative tourism) of various
destinations, along with academic studies, focus almost exclusively on urban development
rather than indigenous communities (Bell & Jayne, 2010), reflecting an imbalance in
tourism development strategies.
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Tourism plans and policies
The study of tourism plans and policies is important in understanding the route taken by the
development of a destination. Hall (2008) identifies three reasons why tourism policy
should be studied:
(1) to understand the shaping of policy decisions and their impact,
(2) to provide information about solutions to practical problems and to feed this into
the policy process and
(3) to understand the interests and values involved in policy and planning processes
(p. 10).
Scott (2011) argues that these reasons do not yet provide adequate justification for
studying tourism plans and policies in particular as there are many other elements that
are more important to address. The fact that tourism policy involves government
cooperation (in terms of political stability, the legal and financial framework, and service
and infrastructure: Elliott, 1997, as cited in Scott, 2011) and pervasiveness (in terms of
visa and currency restrictions, border security, markets, and mitigation of the impact on
local culture, society and the environment) makes the study of tourism policy complicated
and also important. Moreover, tourism in itself combines many conceptual disciplines,
making the creation and implementation of related policy more complex. On top of all
this, government tourism policy may take the form of indi rect activity, whereby official
actions influence tourism as a by-product of an interest in some related area, or direct inter-
vention, whereby governments actively seek to influence tourism or an aspect of it in
pursuit of a policy objective (Airey, 1983, as cited in Scott, 2011).
Studies of tourism policy employ various analytical frameworks, such as the rational
(Cohen, 1988), institutional (Dredge & Jenkins, 2003), social (Vernon, Essex, Pinder, &
Curry, 2005) and network (Pforr, 2006) approaches and content (York & Zhang, 2010)
and frame (Wu, Xue, Morrison, & Leung, 2012) analysis. The rational approach is based
on the scientific approach which focuses on providing factual knowledge and analysis.
However, it has been suggested that this approach neglects the dynamics within the environ-
ment and cannot provide the analytical tools to investigate context (Stevenson, Airey, &
Miller, 2008). The institutional approach focuses on ‘the organisational power, rules, invest-
ment incentives, and constraints that influence policy development and implementation’
(Scott, 2011, p. 26). The social approach looks at the interactions between individuals or
organisations. The network approach focuses on policy communities where people interact
with networks, resulting in informal patterns of association, and on considering the dynamic
of these complex relationships by examining how these patterns shift and change (Wray,
2009, cited in Scott, 2011). Content analysis is based on the investigation of the text of pol-
icies and related sources to identify the dimensions of the specific topic of study and is widely
used in tourism policy studies (Wan & King, 2013; Wang & Ap, 2013; York & Zhang, 2010).
The current movement in creative tourism
Since the idea of creative tourism was introduced and developed, many destinations have
put the concept into practice in order to promote their cultural capitals as principle assets.
Creative tourism campaigns or activities have been launched in various destinations, such
as Thailand, Taiwan, and South Africa (see Rogerson, 2006; Tan, Ku ng, & Luh, 2013),
since it is believed that the concept will promote economic and social benefits in the
destinations.
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The success of a creative tourism strategy depends on national government policy and
governmental bodies being geared towards its development. Many countries’ strategies
involve collaboration amongst various governmental agencies. For instance, in Taiwan,
the scope of the cultural and creative industry and the relevant regulatory authorities
mainly come under the remits of the Ministry of Economic Affairs, the Council for Cultural
Affairs, and the Ministry of the Interior. The study by Tan et al. (2013) elaborated that crea-
tive tourism (described as creative life industry [CLI]) in Taiwan is seen as part of the cul-
tural creative industries. The scope of CLI includes all businesses that use creativity or
cultural accretion as the basis for providing useful products or services, employing com-
pound management, using innovative methods to achieve a re-production capability, and
providing learning experience activities in the areas of food, clothing, accommodation,
travel, sport, or entertainment. Therefore, the key driver which pushes forward creative
tourism in Taiwan is done under a business focus, mainly by small and medium enterprises.
Rogerson’s (2006) study on South Africa’s potential movement on creative tourism
revealed that a solid foundation for establishing a nexus between creative industries and
tourism has been established in South Africa and that this development relies on the
national government to discover and develop the economic potential of cultural industries
through the Cultural Strategy Group and the Creative South Africa Initiative. Rogerson also
observed support for creative industries being undertaken at provincial and local level, and
both mechanisms have given cities such as Johannesburg the opportunity to become proac-
tive in the creative industries sector of urban economic development in South Africa.
Recently, the importance of creative tourism as an important concept in promoting
multi-cultural experiential trips across Southeast Asia under the six creative travel
themes has been addressed in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)
(ASEAN Briefing, 2013). The region is observed to have its own special character in
terms of cultures and heritages which support authentic and meaningful engagements
and the tourism experience. Creative travel themes are, therefore, being included as part
of the implementation of the ASEAN Tourism Strategy 2012 –2015, and the emphasis pro-
moted by the ASEAN nations will be addressed through the national governments of those
countries (Association of Southeast Asian Nations, 2013).
The creative economy and the tourism industry
Until now, there has been no consensus on the meaning and definition of ‘the creative
economy’ (Creative Thailand, 2010; European Commission, n.d.; UNCTAD, 2008), with
the definition used depending on the purpose and scope of operations. However, the
leading definitions are discussed in this section. In its 2008 report, UNCTAD stated that the
creative economy is an evolving concept based on creative assets potentially generating econ-
omic growth and development. It can foster income generation, job creation, and export earn-
ings while promoting social inclusion, cultural diversity and human development. It embraces
economic, cultural and social aspects interacting with technology, intellectual property, and
tourism objectives. (2008,p.4)
In fact, the term ‘creative economy’ first appeared in 2001 in John Howkins’ book about the
relationship between creativity and economics (UNCTAD, 2010). According to Howkins
(2002, p. xiv), ‘a creative economy consists of transactions in creative products and its
size is measured as the product of the value of the goods and the number of such trans-
actions’ (Creative Metropoles, n.d.). Another definition used by the Boston Redevelopment
Authority (BRA, 2005) in the specific context of city development states that a creative
Current Issues in Tourism 9
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economy constitutes (1) any direct activity in which individual creativity and skill is
brought to bear which is characterised by innovation and originality and leads to the cre-
ation of intellectual property in the form of copyright; (2) any activity (up- and downstream)
which directly contributes to creative activities such that the product would not exist in the
same form without it; and (3) the activities of the self-employed since the creative industry
includes many freelancers (BRA, 2005). At the heart of the creative economy lies the crea-
tive industries (UNCTAD, 2010), which are categorised depending on who is responsible
for implementation. Creative industry models are also applied in the international context,
such as the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) model in the UK, the Con-
centric Circles Model and the UNCTAD model (see Table 2).
The Creative Economy Report by UNCTAD (2010) states that the creative economy
‘embraces economic, cultural and social aspects interacting with technology, intellectual
property and tourism objectives’ (p. 10). The BRA (2005) addresses the specific link
between creative industries and tourism, seeing them as reciprocal. Tourists provide a
potential market for many creative industries and hence are revenue generators, and the
industries themselves may also be part of a package that attracts people to a destination
(BRA, 2005). Accordingly, tourism policies and activities should be developed in order
to maximise these benefits and foster deep linkages with the creative economy, especially
in the developing nations. A concerted effort should also be made to develop inter-ministry
policy frameworks and linkages in order to ensure that local creative industries can capture
a greater share of tourists’ expenditure. Creative businesses should be able to supply goods
and services of good and sufficient quantity in order to respond positively to tourist demand
(UNCTAD, 2010). An increasing number of municipalities and local governments world-
wide are using the concept of the creative city to formulate urban development strategies
(UNCTAD, 2010; see also Evans, 2009 ) in order to reinvigorate growth with a focus on
culture and creative activities and to promote themselves as tourism destinations.
To date, no study has yet addressed the policy dimension of the creative economy with a
specific focus on the tourism sector, including creative tourism. However, some studies on
creative economy policies have identified implications for tourism, many of which relate to
urban development (Evans, 2009;Ho,2009) or policy analysis (Kong, Gibson, Khoo, &
Semple, 2006).
Methodology
The primary objective of this paper is to investigate Thailand’s plans and policies for the
creative economy at both national and ministry levels in relation to creative tourism. A
qualitative methodology based on document analysis with the use of an interpretive para-
digm and content analysis was used. The selected documents were drawn from four gov-
ernmental agencies: NESDB, MoTS, MoC and MoCul.
These organisations were chosen for the following reasons. Firstly, the NESDB pro-
vides a key strategic plan for the country as a whole which serves as a blueprint for min-
istry-level policy development. It is, therefore, important to understand what it says
about the development of the creative economy in Thailand and how it contributes to
tourism in general and creative tourism in particular. Secondly, the MoTS is the ministry
with lead responsibility for tourism. Its development plan is in effect the leading statement
of tourism policy under the rubric of the National Tourism Development Plan (Ministry of
Tourism and Sport, 2012, p. 11). Its public-facing organisation, TAT, also promoted the
creative tourism campaign in early 2012. If the concept of creative tourism is to be executed
in Thailand, the MoTS will take the lead on this. Thirdly, the MoC plays an important role
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in the creative economy of Thailand. Its subsidiary, the DIP, is also mentioned by the
NESDB as one of the key mechanisms for the development of the creative economy.
The DIP established the Creative Academy (CA) to support the creative knowledge of
the country and also set up the concept of the ‘creative economy for cultural and heritage
tourism’ to support Thailand’s creative industry model. It was, therefore, logical to in ves-
tigate the MoC’s mast er plan and the DIP’s strategies in relation to this sector. Lastly, the
MoCul’s master plan was included because cultural capital is a key driver of the creative
economy, especially in tourism. Such an investigation will provide insights into how cul-
tural capital can be developed and utilised as part of the development of the creative
economy in this sector in particular.
All plans and policy documents published by these agencies were investigated on the
basis of two core questions: First, what are the strategic areas that support the develop-
ment of the creative economy, especially in the tourism sector, and secondly, to what
extent do these strategies contribute to creative tourism? Furthermore, as part of the
examination of the MoTS’s plan, the work of its main institutional collaborators in pro-
moting the creative economy in relation to tourism was also reviewed. The results
support the selection of these ministries in this study. The MoC and the MoCul are
the two agencies most involved in collaborating with the MoTS in executing the stra-
tegic development of the creative economy in the tourism sector. This confirms the
importance of selecting and analysing their master plans on the same basis and scope
as the 11th NESD plan.
Content analysis was the main research method used in this study. Gray and Densten (1998)
describe this method as the systematic analysis of textual data already coded for pattern and
structure examination and confirmation, category development and aggregation into perceptible
constructs. It is a common method in public policy research (York & Zhang, 2010). For this
study, the units of analysis are text units that correspond to the themes of creative tourism or
the development of the creative economy in relation to tourism. The text units are in the
forms of words, phrases or sentences. Systematic processing of the content analysis was
carried out to identify the scope of each of the documents mentioned above. The output of
the content analysis will help clarify the conceptual meanings embedded in the plans to
enable a better understanding of the creative tourism movement in Thailand.
The 11th NESD plan is available for download from the NESDB website in two
language versions, Thai and English. Only the English version is used in this paper
to avoid the risk of misinterp retation. The master plans of the MoC and MoCul are
also available on their websites, but only in Thai. The author conducted a careful
direct translation of both documents from Thai to English, focusing mainly on the sec-
tions covering strategy in general and the creative economy in particular. In order to
ensure content reliability, another academic working in the field of tourism was asked
to review the translations and provide comments. The corrected versions were then
sent to her for final cross-chec king.
There are other parties involved in the creative economy and creative tourism move-
ment in Thailand, such as the Office of Knowledge Management and Development; the
Thailand Creative and Design Centre; Designated Area for Sustainable Tourism Adminis-
tration, which is directly within the Office of the Prime Minister; and the recently estab-
lished NCEA under the Secretariat to the Prime Minister. However, because the
objective of this study is to investigate plans and policies at the national level and these
agencies are primarily responsible for policy execution, they were excluded from the
scope of the study (Figures 1 and 2). Figures 1 and 2 display the selected government struc-
tured and the diagram of research methodology.
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Findings
The national master plan and its strategies for the creative economy and creative
tourism
Five of the six strategic objectives set out in the 11th NESD plan have direct implications
for the development of the creative economy:
Figure 1. Overview of government structure and the influence of the NESD plan on selected govern-
ment agencies.
Note: Adapted by authors; shaded area denotes the institutional focus of this study.
Figure 2. Diagram of research methodology.
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(1) to promote the just society;
(2) to promote human development towards a sustainable lifelong learning society;
(3) to restructure the economy towards quality growth and sustainability;
(4) to create regional connectivity for social and economic stability;
(5) to manage natural resources and the environment to achieve sustainability.
The sixth objective (strengthening the agricultural sector, food and energy security)
does not include any reference to creativity and is therefore omitted from the analysis.
Based on objective one, to promote the just society, the creative elements of the plan
involve the use of creative media as one of th e channels that provide equal opportunities
for citizens to share creative ideas and allow consumers to participate in producing and dis-
seminating information. Such development aims to increase grassroots diversity and effi-
ciency and promote job creation in the manufacturing and service sectors so as to bring
about an improvement in labour productivity and creativity, which will generate a secure
income for farmers. The second element, human development towards a sustainable life-
long learning society, has the purpose of developing critical and creative thinking abilities
amongst people in all age groups and encouraging them to become resilient, culturally
aware, and loving and to have integrity and unity despite their cultural heterogeneity.
This approach to human development will result in a more caring and sharing society
and also generate the development of innovation and cultural products that support the crea-
tive economy. Hence, human capital will be supported and developed through education in
science and technology, arts and culture at the primary to tertiary education levels. Some of
the mechanisms which will be used to promote human development as part of this strategy
include promoting creative media which support creative learning and allow people
to express creative ideas, tax incentives to produce learning channels through which to
express these ideas, and new social institutions to produce an environment conducive to
such development. The third strategy, restructuring the economy towards quality growth
and sustainability, emphasises fostering innovation and creativity, environmental matters
such as promoting clean energy, restructuring the creative sectors, promoting creative clus-
ters, and diversifying creative products and services by at least 5% per year. This incorpor-
ates the development of creative cities which will promote the establishment of ecological
principles to be applied to the physical infrastructure as well as human resources, regu-
lation, and management. An environment that promotes learning and key personnel
along the supply chain of the creative and innovative industries also needs to be supported
to promote the creative economy. More importantly, this part also directly addresses the
notion of promoting tourism. Part three of the strategy states that the plan aims to
‘manage tourism to achieve balanced and sustainable growth by focusing on activities
that are creative and environmentally friendly’ and to ‘take into account the carrying
capacity of tourists attractions so as to elevate the standards of service businesses’
(NESDB, 2012, p. 81). It also states that the ‘quality and sufficiency of infrastructure
should be increased’ and that tourism ‘should be a reflection of Thai lifestyle, culture
and national resources’ (NESDB, 2012, p. 81)
Alongside the development goals of the strategy, support for effective processes
through which to acquire intellectual property rights is also mentioned. Laws, rules, regu-
lations and incentives are to be adjusted for the product and service sectors to reduce the
risks in trade, investment and marketing. The fourth objective, the creation of regional con-
nectivity for social and economic stability, aims at cooperation with neighbouring countries
to promote the creative areas of the economy plus research and development. And finally
the fifth objective, managing natural resources and the environment to achieve
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sustainability, stresses the use of local knowledge to support creative services and products
for the transition to a low-carbon society. This includes the development of environmentally
friendly cities with an emphasis on integrated urban planning, the expan sion of green
spaces, and the promotion of energy efficiency. Furthermore, the cultural, social and eco-
logical aspects of this are addressed along with the creative use of areas.
From these five strategic objectives, it can be seen that the intention to promote the crea-
tive economy of Thailand is to be executed through various mechanisms, such as the crea-
tive media and environment; tax incentives, laws and regulations; institutions which will
develop the nation’s human capital in terms of various creative abilities; and the launch
of products, services and businesses and support for industries which will enhance the crea-
tive economy. Figure 3 illustrates the ‘creative’ notions interlinked within the five strategic
objectives and their relationships with the creative economy.
In terms of creative tourism specifically, although this term is not used directly in the
national plan, the many creative developments listed could provide fundamental support
for it. The plan addresses the enhancement of the role of the service sector, especially
businesses with high potential, including those in health care and tourism. The development
of these services should ‘support qualitative tourism ... and best practices in community ...
together with the use of local knowledge to generate the creative products and services for
transition to a low carbon society’ (NESDB, 2012, p. 121). Such a proposal that includes
the development of creative products and services, encouraging creative personn el, desig-
nating creative cities, encouraging creative ideas, stimulating creative learning and teach-
ing, and emphasising the use of cultural capital, constitutes a grounded infrastructure
which can make a very important contribution to promoting creative tourism.
Figure 3. How ‘creative’ words are embedded and connected to the strategies of the NESD’s 11th
plan.
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When further analysed in terms of the purpose of the NESD plan to encourage a balance
between social and economic development, it can be seen that the five strategic objectives
describe these two types of development in a balanced way across a wide spectrum of
issues. The development of the tourism sector in the social context will ensure that
tourism reflects Thailand’s lifestyle, culture and national resources as well as encouraging
sustainable growth. Creative elements are addressed in tourism activities, as it is ensuring
an environmentally friendly process. The growth of tourism has to be based on the balanced
use of Thailand’s social, cultural and physical capital.
Ministry master plans and their strategies for the creative economy and creative
tourism
The three ministries studied here set out their proposals for supporting the creative
economy in their master plans, which also cover the benefits the individual role and
focus of each agenc y can bring to creative tourism. All three have set out their strategies
for development within a specific time frame (see Table 3). The strate gy of the MoTS is
aligned with the 11th NESD plan, whereas the other two ministries’ schedules cover
different periods. Nevertheless, most of the selected plans address the development
required to support the creative economy of Thailand and also set out some ideas that
can contribute to creative tourism.
The MoTS development plan
The MoTS development plan, which acts as the ministry’s policy framework, for the five-
year period 2012– 2016 (similar to the 11th NESD plan) was launched in April 2011. Its
quantifiable aims and objectives are to increase the tourism competitiveness of the
country by not less than five ranks, to place Thailand within ranks one to seven within
Asia, to increase revenues from tourism by not less than 5% and to develop eight new
tourism segments based on geographic region. On the basis of these objectives, five strat-
egies are proposed for implementation:
(1) to develop the tourism infrastructure;
(2) to develop and nourish tourism destinations for sustainability;
(3) to develop tourism products and services along with other elements that will
support tourism;
(4) to increase the confidence of tourists and to support the growth of tourism; and
(5) to support collaboration amongst the public and private sectors, local government,
citizens and the community for tourism resource management.
Table 3. Overview of documents analysed.
Government agencies Plan/policy document (language) Years covered
NESDB National plan (English) 2012–2016
MoTS MoTS policy (National tourism development plan) (Thai) 2012–2016
MoC Master plan (Thai) 2012–2021
MoCul Master plan (Thai) 2007–2016
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Although the MoTS policy shares similarities with the 11th NESD plan, its focus on crea-
tive economy is quite different. Here, creative economy is only addressed as a section for
development rather than forming the fundamental direction of development for the ministry.
In the MoTS plan, references to creative economy are found under strategic objective three
(to develop tourism produc ts and services along with other elements that support tourism)
and more specifically under sub-strategy 3.1 to develop the creative economy, innovation
and value-added in tourism (see Figure 4). On the basis of sub-strategy 3.1, seven objectives
are addressed to promote the creative economy in the tourism industry: for example, creating
new forms of tourism activities to meet the demand and psychological needs. Support for the
film industry, both locally and through international filmmakers choosing Thailand as a
location, is another provision rel ated to both tourism and the creative industries. Increasing
international awareness of Thai culture and promoting international meeting incentive
Figure 4. Elements of the strategic plans for the creative economy that relate to the tourism sector.
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conference exhibition and event management and support for investment in sustainable and
environmentally friendly tourism, along with new types of tourism business such as health
and spa and leisure facilities, one-tumbon(district)-one-product souvenirs and tourism man-
agement, have been encouraged. National and international sporting competitions are to be
promoted to support tourism and generate income for the community and the exploration and
selection of a brand image representing the uniqueness of each province for marketing pur-
poses is another approach to promoting the creative economy in the tourism sector.
In its focus on the concept of creative tourism, however, the MoTS policy does not
clearly address this as part of the new segments for development. Most of the new
tourism markets mentioned serve different demand types based on geographic region and
psychological need. Cultural capital is the element employed to support related creative
industries such as film making and events. This is seen as somewhat contradictory to the
work of the TAT, the public face of the ministry, which implements the creative tourism
campaign for Thailand. This issue is discussed further below.
Lastly, the MoTS development plan also identifies both internal and external stakeholders
who could collaborate to ensure successful implementation. A total of 19 such collaborators
are mentioned. The external parties include other ministries such as the MoC and MoC ul, the
ministries of Industry, Education and the Interior and public organisations such as DASTA. In
terms of internal stakeholders, the TAT is the major collaborative agency. Amongst all 19 sta-
keholders, the discussion of collaboration at the ministry level focuses primarily on the MoC
and MoCul, further confirming the correctness of their inclusion in this analysis.
The MoC and MoCul development plans
The MoC master plan identifies five main strategic themes, namely to or promote
(1) smart enterprise;
(2) ASEAN One;
(3) the value-creation economy;
(4) a pro-competitive environment; and
(5) a new trade infrastructure.
Within these themes, there are five strategic actions. In terms of support for the creative
economy, the focus of the MoC is to support the value-creation economy and use it to gear
up Thailand’s economic and trade development. The MoC stresses its role in bringing Thai-
land further along the following four directions as well as interconnecting them to drive the
nation’s economy and create effective integration:
.
Creative economy – linking knowledge, creative thinking, design and intellectual
property with cultural capital
.
Innovation economy – driving the economy base through innovative thinking and
action both by generating new ideas and updating existing products to make them
more useful and more widely used
.
Green economy – applying the green concept throughout the value chain
.
Social economy – including the community’s needs as a priority and making citizens
part of the process of creating shared value in the market
These objectives in turn give rise to nine strategic actions to be addressed in response to the
strategy (see Figure 4). Those objectives under sub-strategy 3.3 directly address the tourism
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sector, whilst sub-strategies 3.7 and 3.8 cover creative service clusters and creative products
and services. Sub-strategy 3.3 states that the marketing and branding of tourism products
and services is to be promoted through international media outlets such as the Discovery
and National Geographic channels in order to add premium value to Thai products and ser-
vices (MoC, 2012 , pp. 2 –8). This demonstrates the role of the MoC in supporting market-
ing and distribution channels as well as the consumption of creative products and services in
order to support the creative economy of Thailand, including the tourism sector.
The MoC master plan also addresses the internal stakeholders responsible for promoting
new markets and distribution channels for creative products and services. These include the
Department of Business Development, the Department of International Trade Promotion
(DITP) and the DIP. Amongst these stakeholders, the plan states that the DITP and DIP are
the two main bodies involved in pushing forward the third strategic objective for the value-cre-
ation economy (MoC, 2012, pp. i–19). Further scrutiny of the strategic plans of these two
departments shows that the DIP has a direct strategic role in supporting the creative
economy in the tourism industry, especially when intellectual property is addressed as one
of the core elements for the creative economy, as identified in the 11th NESD plan. The DIP
was responsible for establishing the CA. The purpose of the CA is to support the strategic
plan of the DIP and to develop systems for the management of intellectual property by promot-
ing knowledge, supporting creativity, fostering networks and encouraging commercial use.
The CA is also responsible for identifying CoEs. These centres are intended to foster collabor-
ation between the three parties, namely the DIP, academic institutions and the private sector, in
the 15 creative branches. CCHT is also part of the scope of the CoEs. The CA, therefore, sup-
ports the strategic national master plans to promote the creative industries. It also addresses the
use of cultural capital to encourage innovation in many industries and thereby generate income
for the country through promoting activities such as film, Thai cuisine, sport, tourism and
design. This helps strengthen the creative element in many other sectors as well as tourism.
Lastly, the content of the MoC’s third strategic objective also mentions collaboration
with external ministries to execute their strategic plans. The main focus of collaboration
is with the ministries of Industry, Agriculture and Finance, along with their related federa-
tions. The MoTS and the MoCul are not included. This contradicts the statement in the
MoC’s own master plan that the tourism sector is one of the industries (alongside transpor-
tation) in which Thailand enjoys the greatest competitive advantage over other Asian
countries (MoC, 2012, pp. 1–33).
The master plan of the MoCul covers the period 2007–2016 (MoCul, 2010a). Given its
time frame, it was based on the previous (10) NESD strategic plan 2007 –2011. Hence, it is
aligned with an earlier policy direction and so does not include the concept of the creative
economy. In fact, the strategic direction of that period was based on the ‘sufficiency
economy’. This is why the six strategic plans mentioned in the MoCul’s master plan empha-
sise the need to preserve and protect national culture, religion and the monarchy and to use
cultural capital to increase value in products and services, but do not explicitly address the
creative economy (see Figure 4). In the plan, collaboration with the MoTS focuses mainly
on applying cultural capital to create tourism products and using Thai arts and performance
for leisure and tourism purposes.
Discussion
On the basis of the above review, it appears that the 11th NESD plan, which aims to set out
the direction for the development of the creative economy in Thailand, contributes to crea-
tive tourism in many ways. Firstly, it addresses the mechanism that stimulates creative
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tourism products and services, such as the promotion of learning and media, and empha-
sises the role of developing tourism personnel who can be creative and contribute their
knowledge and skills to the sector. It is interesting to note that the NESD plan’s human
resource element has a different emphasis to that of the MoTS, which focuses mainly on
general tourism skills development, such as language learning or tour guiding, rather
than on promoting the general creative dimension of human capital. In the 11th NESD
plan, the contribution of human resource development can be read as having both tangible
(such as producing creative goods or products) and intangible (such as involving tourists in
creative learning and activities) elements. Furthermore , the statement on creative cities will
encourage many Thai cities and provinces to promote their unique cultural capital for the
benefit of tourism. Amongst the responses to this are the DIP’s ‘creative city prototypes’
(see Table 1) for the ‘Creative Thailand’ campaign and the recent proposal that Chiang
Mai join UNESCO’s Creative Cities Network (CMCC, 2010). The Creative Cities
Network can be seen as a fundamental vehicle for supporting creative tourism. According
to its launch materials, it aims to promote cultural diversity for creative tourism and sustain-
able urban development as the hub of the creative economy (UNESCO, 2006, as cited in
Chairatana, 2011).
On the other hand, scrutinising the MoTS’s policy shows that the focus of this ministry
is to promote the creative economy in the tourism sector. One of its main aims is to endorse
new types of products and activities for newly selected markets. The MoTS’s strategic
objectives (such as developing new markets and activities, adding value to tourism pro-
ducts, supporting the worldwide promotion of Thai culture and encouraging the film indus-
try) emphasise the value-added elements of tourism products and services in the eight
selected markets. This can be distinguished from promoting existing tourism resources
such as human and cultural capital and encouraging the various forms of networks and
events to exercise their creative potential to support the tourism sector. The market for crea-
tive tourism is not included in the poli cy as part of the new key markets, presumably for one
of the two reasons:
(1) the Ministry was not aware of the creative tourism market when writing the plan as
it was not large enough, or
(2) the Ministry sees creative tourism and the creative economy in the tourism sector as
overlapping in a way which means the development of the latter automatically con-
tributes to the former.
One could also argue that some elements of creative tourism are embedded in the exotic
and authentic experiences available through other forms of tourism which are already being
promoted, and so it is unnecessary to address creative tourism as a specific area for devel-
opment. The response to this argument depends on how one views creative tourism: If it is
an add-on which could be incorporated into any type of tourism market, predominantly to
stimulate new demand, then it might not be necessa ry to address its individual importance,
but if creative tourism is a fundamental type of development in the sector and one of the
principal conditions for developing the creative economy, then it requires its own clarity,
understanding and articulation. The current state of implementation in Tha iland seems to
fall somewhere between the two.
The TAT’s marketing campaign, ‘Discover the Other You’, launched in early 2012
seemed to strengthen the importance of the creative tourism market in Thailand. It set
out to brand Thailand as the first creative tourism destination in Asia by including the
concept of ‘Thai-ness’ to inspire visitors ‘to discover another self’ and ‘gain new
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perspectives on life’ through engagement in six key Thai cultural activities. This approa ch
supports the main purpose of creative tourism in terms of diverting people from the mass
market and helping them to become embedded in the destination by getting involved in
authentic experiences and cultural learning. The six activities were Thai boxing,
cooking, massage and performing arts classes and lessons in rice farming, crafts and
weaving, and the Thai language (TAT, 2012). Inst ead of being driven by the MoTS
master plan, the factors stimulating the TAT to promote this campaign came from two areas:
(1) the TAT’s response to the creative economy policy, and
(2) demands from tourists for this special-interest market.
The campaign promoted the ‘Unique Thai Experience’ through Thai cultural absorption
as a competitive advantage to add value to tourism products. As the Governor of the TAT
put it,
if entrepreneurs want to capture Creative Tourist market groups, they will have to create added
value for their products by presenting an ‘Experience’ to the tourists that makes their products
unique and different. This becomes a sustainable selling point because the experience cannot be
easily imitated. (TAT, 2012)
The demand for creative tourism by tourists who seek unique and authentic experiences has
become the main stimulator of the TAT campaign. Thailand, as a supply side for tourism
destinations, can offer rich and unique cultural capital to tourists. Along with the hospitality
and tourism infrastructure, this can help to promote Thailand as a competitive choice of
creative tourism destinatio n. In its marketing role, the TAT is responsible for launching
and promoting campaigns based on the country’s tourism products in the hope that other
government agencies will contribute the necessary infrastructure (human and cultural
capital) to the market in order to balance demand and supply. For creative tourism in Thai-
land to succeed, the support of creative and cultural resources, including creative skills for
tourism personnel, is necessary to satisfy the needs stimulated by such campaigns. This
means that the tourism infrastructure for such a movement needs to be (a) executed as
part of the policy and (b) ready to meet tourists’ expectations and demands.
The plans of the three ministries make frequent reference to the strategic support needed
to drive Thailand towards both creative tourism and the creative economy in tourism. The
MoCul contributes to the promotion of many cultural activities and products through
events, festivals and so on. UNCTAD’s (2010) Creative Economy Report states that the cul-
tural policies of developing nations should be broadened to encompass various industries
rather than just protecting cultural heritage alone. This is reflected in the MoCul’s policy
towards cultural capital, which does not address the development of a creative economy.
Moreover, the enrichment of creative human resources, which is addressed in the
national plan and supported mainly by the DIP of the MoC, helps to promote human
capital, including that in the tourism sector, so as to ensure creativity is incorporated into
products and services. The establishment of the CA and CoEs also promote the dissemina-
tion of knowledge into the tourism sector and selected creative industries. All of these
mechanisms contribute to an increase in creative resources in the tourism sector both in
the form of creating new products and activities and encouraging tourism entrepreneurs
who will embed cultural capital as a source of creativity and added value. The NESD
plan emphasises the role of creative cities, which also help to promote creative tourism.
The concept emanates from the Creative Cities Network of UNESCO where cities with
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rich cultural identities join together to maintain cultural diversity and share their experi-
ences of promoting local heritage (UNESCO, n.d.). The idea of promoting creative cities
and embedding their unique cultural capital into the destination leads to creative tourism
in both passive (sightseeing and itineraries) and acti ve (learning and joining in with cul-
tural/creative activities in a city) forms.
Amongst the three ministries studied here, the MoCul is the one whose plan demon-
strates an implicit contribution towards creative tourism development. Since it covers a
different period to that of the 11th NESD plan, the MoCul plan does not explicitly
address the creative economy. Its main strategic objectives are to support, preserve and
instil cultural capital. However, the MoCul has also responded to the creative agenda
and has launched several campaigns to support the creative economy, namely
(1) arts and cultural festivals;
(2) space for good deeds and wisdom to connect religious bodies and the community;
(3) promoting the competitiveness of the Thai film industry;
(4) the preservation of the world heritage site in Ayutthaya province;
(5) the development of the Sukothai historical park; and
(6) the creation of art and cultural product blueprints and the website www.
creativeculturethailand.com (MoCul, 2010b).
Although different strategic plans and th eir associated actions al l contribute towards the
development of creative tourism in Thailand as well as providing some resources to the TAT
campaigns, there remains a problematic institutional vacuum. In other words, no single
agency is responsible for ensuring that the campaign to brand Thailand as a creative
tourism destination in Asia has been consistently carried out.
By using creative tourism as a marketing theme for the country’s apparent competitive
advantage, the TAT campaign gives the impression that tourists can expect to encounter a
unique Thai cultural experience, both in the background and in specific activities, when
they visit. There is a need to identify an institution (be it national or local) with lead respon-
sibility not only for promoting creative tourism through marketing, but also for ensuring the
readiness of suppliers of creative products and services such as local communities or entre-
preneurs. Furthermore, collaboration between the three ministries remains relatively vague
and undeveloped. Each (except for MoCul) has created its own set of role-specific plans and
policies within the framework of the 11th NESD plan, with an apparent lack of dialogue
through which to create a shared vision of the key components which could be integrated.
According to Ladkin and Bertramini (2002), one of the most important factors in develop-
ing a good collaborative approach to tourism planning is a shared development vision
amongst all stakeholders. The MoC and MoCul are the two ministries most often referred
to in the MoTS’s policy, but in contrast, the MoTS is not listed as an MoC collaborator
despite the latter identifying the tourism sector as a key contributo r to the Thai economy
and one which should be developed as part of its strategic agenda. As UNCTAD (2010)
highlights, if the broader scope of the creative economy is to be realised, significant coll ab-
oration is required between the various ministries and bureaucratic departments. Hence, all
the agencies involved are encouraged to communicate, cooperate and collaborate further to
support the implementation of their respective plans and policies, especially in regard to
creative tourism.
In the case of Thailand, the reason why collaboration amongst the related ministries is
not effective could be due to many factors. Collaboration has to do a lot with the policy
implications and involves the structure and arrangement for the joint provision of
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outputs and outcomes (Majumdar, 2006); therefore, joint provision will take place when
participant organisations appreciate the interdependent relationship and can foresee the
potential beneficial outcomes of working together (Gray, 1989). However, the interdepen-
dence relationship amongst government agencies in Thailand is not promising as a result of
governmental agencies’ lack of willingness to collaborate due to their desire to protect their
own individual authority. The collaboration amongst the governmental agencies in this case
shows the weaknesses in terms of both ‘horizontal’ (which refers to agreements between
two or more government agencies at the same level of government) and ‘vertical’ (which
denotes intergovernmental alliances within their administrations) collaboration (Prefon-
taine, Ricard, Sicotte, Turcotte, & Dawes, 2000). Clear communication and good collabor-
ation between the MoTS and the TAT (the vertical structure) have been found to be weak,
including the observed vagueness and weakness of the horizontal structure between the
three ministries discussed above. Lastly, the political reason of the short life cycle of the
government also contributes to less collaboration amongst the ministries and drives them
to mainly pursue their own agendas.
Conclusion
This paper contributes to our understanding of how creative tourism is planned and
implemented. It also identifies how a national strategic plan can provide a blueprint for indi-
vidual agency master plans to provide policy support for the development of a creative
economy in the tourism sector. Thailand was chosen as an example of how government
and related agencies can contribute to a national creative tourism movement in a country,
especially in the light of the TAT’s branding campaign to stimulate creative tourism to
the destination.
It can be seen from the analysis of the master plans and policies reported here that a
range of contributions to the development of a creative economy in the tourism sector
are envisaged. More importantly, all of the plans contain some form of support for the
broad notion of creative tourism, such as
(1) the support for human resources and tourism entrepreneurs in the 11th NESD plan
and the CA;
(2) the promotion of Thai cultural capital by the MoTS and MoC ul;
(3) the collaboration with other creative sectors to promote Thai culture, such as the
making of a film, involving all three ministries;
(4) the promotion of cultural events related to tourism by the MoTS and MoCul; and
(5) the push for the creative cities movement in the 11th NESD plan and by the MoC.
Although this clearly implies a large amount of official support for creative tourism,
nevertheless, the lack of a clear understanding of the concept, especially in the MoTS,
means that the agenda focuses on supporting the creative economy in the tourism sector
rather than on developing creative tourism as a separate concept. It is suggested that brand-
ing Thailand as a creative tourism destination, especially as ‘the first one in Asia’ (TAT,
2012), is an ambit ious move which requires more than just a patchwork of contributions
from various parties. Instead, a sound process of preparing the fundamentals through
strong collaboration is required. Rather than leaving the campaign solely to the TAT, the
MoTS should take an active leadership role in pushing forward this new type of tourism,
which has the potential to sustain the country’s valuable cultural assets, nourish cultural
capital through creativity and develop positive perceptions amongst tourists as a result of
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their emotional involvement in authentic experiences. All of these things will ultimately
result in the sustainable growth of the tourism sector in Thailand.
This analysis also reveals that tourism is inter-sectoral and interdepartmental. It may be
assumed that future tasks of defining and assigning competencies, responsibilities and
budgets are likely to be slow and difficult, leading to delayed implementation. Furthermore,
these strategic plans are generally vague and lack clear timelines, deliverables and balanced
scorecard models to measure the progress of implementation and success.
In terms of implications for politics and practitioners, as time passes, these concepts
should become more capable of implementation and more measurable in terms of budget
lines, timelines and deliverables as well as more collaborative for departments, agencies
and organisations. Vital to this vision is the selection of one agency to exercise leadership
and control over all activities, budgets and responsibilities.
This exploratory and qualitative analysis has opened a wide field for researchers to
tackle the topic of creative tourism and its facilitation and implementation through
tourism-related structures. It would be promising, for example, to compare and analyse
the concepts held by different countries in terms of approach and facilitation. One could
also analyse and measure how these concepts are implemented into tourism master plans
or how they lead to related activities.
This research does have some limitations. Not all the documents studies are accessible
in English, so only Thai-speaking researchers can verify their content and perform a com-
parative analysis to confirm the insights reported here. In addition, content analysis cannot
cover the thoughts and concepts underpinning the documents, some of which might benefit
from an explanation of the ideas lying behind their expression. Furthermore, the selection of
documents for analysis could also be questioned as not all of the potentially relevant docu-
ments are known or accessible to the researchers.
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