Thailand

The kingdom of Thailand is a country in southeast asia bodering laos and Cambodia to the east,
the gulf of Thailand and Malaysia to the south,and the Andaman sea and Myanmar to the
west.Thailand was also know as siam,which was the countrys until may 11,1949.The word thai
means ‘FREEDOM”in the thai language and is also the name of the majority thai ethnic group.
Thailand population is dominated by ethnic thai and lao:the latter concentrated in the
northern-eastern Isian region and making up around one third of the population.There is also a
large community of thai CHINESE, who have historically played a disproportionately significant
role in the economy.Bangkok Chinatown is located in yaowarat road.Other ethnic groups include
malays in the south,mon khmer and various indigenous hill tribes.after the Vietnam war many
Vietnamese refugees settled in Thailand,mainly in the northeastern regions.
According to the last census(2000),94.6% of thais are budhist of the Theravada
traditions.Muslim are the second religious group in Thailand at 4.6%.most of them are ethnic
malays and they are mostly concentrated in the south,where they form storng majority in four
provinces.christians,mainly catholics,represent 0.75% of the population.A tiny but in fluential
community of Sikhs and some hindus also live in the country cities.
The thai languages is thailannd national language,written in its own alphabet but many
ethnic regional dialects exist as well as areas where people speak predominantly isan or
monkhmer languages.although English is widely taught in schools,proficiency is low.
After enjoying the world highest growth rate from 1975 to 1985-average almost 9%
annually-increased pressure on Thailands curenc,the bath in 1997 led to to a crisis that uncovered
financial sector weakneses and forced the government to float the currency.Long pegged at 25 to
the US dollar,the bath reached each lowest pointof 56 to the US dollar in January 1998 and the
economy contracted 10.2% that same year.The collapse prompted a wider Asian financial crisis.
Thailand entered a recovery stage in 1990,expanding 4.2% and grew 4.4% in
2000,largely due to strong exports-which increased about 20% in 2000.Growth was dampened
by a softening of the global economy in 2001,but picked up in the subsequent years due to strong
growth in China and the various domestic stimulation programsof prime minister Thaksin
shiniwatra,popularly known as Thaiksinomecs.Growth in 2003-2004 wasover 6% annually.An
interesting fact is that although shinawatra was praised for a boosting the economy, his
regignation cause the bath-dollar value to rise from 39 to roughly 37.
Substancial industries include electric appliances,components,computer parts,and
automibiles,while tourism contributes about 5% of the Thai economy GDP.
Thailand is fortunate in its prime location for tourism in terms of such naturalattractions
as a beaches and mountains,cultural and historical sites which reflect the glories of thai
civilizationand a sophisticated in frastructure,allowing visitors easy acces to all these treasures.
The governments policy on tourism for the past years has been gearing towards more and
more sustainable tourism developments non-exploitation.The term”eco-tourism”has been widely
used describe a form of tourism in natural areas that is based on the knowledge about and
responsibility towards the ecological systemof the area
At the present number of the real eco-tourism visitors is minimal.Mostly those tourist are
included in the other types of tourism such as nature-based tourism,agro-tourism,cultural and
historical tourism,and health tourism.Most of such tourism areas are in natural parts and specific
historical-cultural areas.
Thailand has a great opportunity to promote eco-tourism especially when compared to
other countries in the Asian region.The kingdom enjoys such benefits as easy acces,sophisticated
infrastructure,and myriad tourist attractions and activities.