Decentralization, Empowerment and Tourism Development:Pai Town in Mae Hong Son, Thailand

Abstract

In the once-remote valley of Pai in Mae Hong Son Province in northwestern Thailand, tourism has been a powerful force shaping dramatic changes. However, tourism is a complex subject involving a range of actors and actions both within and outside the valley. It has occurred simultaneously with other transformational processes in Thai society. This paper focuses on Viengtai, the market and administrative center of Pai District, drawing on observations made from 1997 to the present, including dissertation field work in 2005 and 2006. This study seeks to describe and interpret processes and practices at work in Pai, where a range of social actors compete and negotiate over resources and notions of culture and locality, with an emphasis on political decentralization. It will describe the interaction between actors in resource management for tourism development in Pai from the 1980s to the present. It describes the distinct features of the negotiations and conflicts regarding resources and notions of culture and locality among local communities, entrepreneurs, tourists, NGOs, and state and local administration in the era of political decentralization in Thailand.