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ABSTRACT,
METHODOLOGY
& ETHICS
1.1 Abstract
1.2 Scope
1.3 Methodology
1.3.1 Tools
1.3.2 Techniques
1.3.3 Limitations of the Methodology
1.4 Ethics
1.1 ABSTRACT
This research project explored tourism innovation in Thailand. For three months of
its four month duration I worked as an intern at TakeMeTour in Bangkok, a Thai travel
startup specialising in one day tours hosted by locals. The project was conducted in
Thailand as it is one of the world’s pre-eminent tourism destinations, with an economy
heavily reliant on the tourism industry. However, Thailand’s innovation output within
the travel tech space struggles to match the digital economy aspirations of the Thai
Government. Through working with TakeMeTour I have been able to research the
possible causes, as well as identify ways in which the company can respond to trends,
threats, and opportunities to better innovate in a challenging climate.
The project began by travelling to Thailand with a number of research questions around
innovation, tourism trends, and the Thai startup ecosystem. Once integrated into the
company, I began by consulting pre-published information to familiarise myself with
the context in which I was working, as well as understand that which was already known
about the difficulties associated with tourism innovation in Thailand. Thereafter, through
deeper immersion into the Thai startup ecosystem, I conducted interviews with experts
where I sought to explore how my findings intersected in the real world, as well as to
gain a deeper insight into where they believed the biggest challenges lay. In combination
with a case study of an innovative tourism company, as well as my direct findings
through observation and interaction at TakeMeTour, the project developed towards
a set of recommendations designed to enhance TakeMeTour’s innovation capabilities
within its local context.
1.2 SCOPE
Tourism is a key enabler of the global economy yet historically has been reactive to
technological advancements (IATA, 2017). Therefore, this is not a problem unique to
Thailand. However, whilst understanding that this is a globally pervasive issue, this
research project seeks to identify ways in which the industry might become more
proactive in Thailand specifically. This will begin by exploring the following three
research questions:
Where is the current academic thinking on innovation and is it relevant to tourism?
What is changing in travel and how are new trends likely to impact TakeMeTour?
05
How well developed is Thailand’s startup scene and what factors influence its
innovative capabilities?