An Analysis of Tourism and Hotel Studies in Thailand during the Past Decade (2000 – 2010)

Abstract

The objectives of the research were 1) to survey status and number of tourism and hotel studies conducted during the past 10 years (2000 – 2010) 2) to survey the current tourism and hotel studies in accordance with the current national tourism development plan (2012 - 2016) and 3) to evaluate the quality of the tourism and hotel studies conducted during the past decade.

This was a documentary research examining the full reports and theses pertaining to tourism and hotel studies. Data collection was made using the electronic data base called Thai Digital Collection (ThaiLis). Two research instruments were created to collect the data in accordance with the research objectives: the survey and the evaluation forms. This study used descriptive statistics (frequency and percentage) and content analysis to analyze the data.

The study found that there were a total of 1,635 tourism and hotel studies conducted during the past decade. Among them, there were 1,274 theses and 361 research reports. If categorized by the fields of subject, there were 275 hotel studies and 1,360 tourism studies. In relation to the national tourism development plan, it was found that 74% of the hotel and tourism studies are in accordance with the current plan, and related parties may put the existing research into action. With regard to research quality, most studies presented major components according to the research principles except those related to the conclusion of the literature and linkage to the research issues, and the lack of literature analysis and synthesis. Finally, the study has given several recommendations in order to promote future research and enhance research quality.