Luxury Tourism Boom Worries Chiang Mai Locals

[Sunbelt Asia]

Yahoo Article

by Charlotte McDonald-Gibson

Fri Aug 11, 10:30 AM ET

CHIANG MAI, Thailand (AFP) - Foreigners who ventured to Thailand's northern city of Chiang Mai in the backpacker heydays of the 1970s found a sleepy city dotted with temples and a handful of homely guesthouses.

Fast forward thirty years and the old temples remain, but sprouting up around them are five-star hotels and extravagant resorts, leaving locals divided over the benefits for the historic city.

Lonely Planet author and long-time Chiang Mai resident Joe Cummings first visited the city in 1977, and recalls a sleepy town with few facilities for the modern tourist.

"It was dead at night. There were some dodgy bars, but there wasn't much entertainment for tourists," says the American. "It has really gone upscale, especially in the last five years."

In 1986, 19,000 international visitors passed through Chiang Mai airport. By 2005, this figure had leapt to 176,000.

But with the boom comes consequences, and people are concerned about the environmental, social and economic impact on the ancient city.

"The government is pushing too much for tourists when we should preserve our city for the locals," says Duongchan Apavatjrut Charoenmuang, a researcher at Chiang Mai university's Social Research Institute. "More people means more garbage and more traffic jams."

The first sign of the impending luxury hotel explosion was the opening of a Four Seasons hotel in 1995.

In 2001 Chiang Mai native Thaksin Shinawatra was elected prime minister, and has been keen to promote his home town as a tourist draw, instigating projects including the 24-million-dollar Night Safari.

Chiang Mai's transformation from backpacker hideaway to luxury haunt was confirmed in 2005 with the opening of the Mandarin Oriental Dhara Devi. The 100-million-dollar resort stretches over 60 acres and contains a six restaurants, a cooking school, an art and craft village, and its own market.

Resorts such as these worry local people, who say that they encourage tourists to eat, sleep and shop in one location rather than at locally-run businesses.

Eleanor Hardy, general manager of Chedi Chiang Mai, a boutique hotel that opened earlier this year, concedes that the bigger hotels can have an impact, but says that at the smaller Chedi, people are keen to experience local culture.

"People want to see authentic Chiang Mai, and we are not. We are a five star hotel," she says.

Hardy thinks that moneyed travellers are heading to Chiang Mai after tiring of the well-trodden southern beach destinations.

"Chiang Mai is relatively untouched by development and commercialisation," she says. "It still has a feeling of old Siam."

Viparwan Chaiprakorb, who works at the popular Maesa elephant camp just outside Chiang Mai, says she too has seen an influx of wealthy tourists searching for a bit of authenticity.

"They get a private jet from the US, stay at the Four Seasons and hire the camp," she says. "On the one hand they want to see something primitive, but they stay in the Four Seasons and come in their Gucci and Louis Vuitton."

Although Viparwan is glad of the money tourists bring, she also sees a downside to the flourishing luxury sector. The elephants used to play in the river, she says, but now rubbish from new resorts prevents that.

"There is garbage, they have a difficult time getting rid of it," she says. "The quality of water has gone down and we have had floods. The draining system is bad."

Local residents are also concerned that the encroachment of the city into the surrounding forest is destroying natural flood defenses, causing increasing destruction during the rainy season. At the end of July, some 5,900 homes flooded after torrential rains.

But the five-star boom shows no sign of abating. The Chedi and two other high-end hotels have opened in the past year, and a Shangri-La hotel will open in 2007.

Sandy Morowitz, a backpacker from the United States who spent the day at Maesa elephant camp, says she found it difficult to get off the tourist track in Chiang Mai, but believes that change will be for the good.

"Thailand is not only going to be for backpackers, it is going to be for the rich who want spas, five-star treatments, and elephant rides on nice seats," she says.

But Seksan Sutthana, a Chiang Mai tour guide of 15 years, questions whether tourists will still be drawn to the city when sprawlling shopping malls and high-rise buildings dwarf the traditional sights.

There are 300 temples dotted in and around Chiang Mai. Travellers also flock to the ancient city for its relaxing atmosphere, which is a welcome respite from buzzing Bangkok.

"The charm of Chiang Mai is the nice areas, the nice people, everything is natural," says Seksan.

"Now, everywhere tourists go they see American food like KFC and Swensens. Once everything from the US is opened up here, there is no difference between their home town and here. Why would they come?"

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[The Coder]

The elephants used to play in the river, she says, but now rubbish from new resorts prevents that.

It seems tourists are blamed for every single environmental problem and that at the same time thai's deem themselves as somehow environmentally conscious, calmly tolerating these reckless, littering tourists. Yet nothing could be further from the truth. As far as I have seen if they want to see where the garbage is coming from, then they need look no further than this the thai way to dispose of trash. The attitude seems to be why stow your rubbish or put it in a bin when you can just toss it in the water. I see it from the smallest to the largest waterways; nowhere is spared and it really saddens me. I wish they could educate themselves to care like America did 30-40 years ago.

[PeaceBlondie]

Will Chiang Rai and Mae Hong Son become what Chiang Mai became, in a few decades?

[SamSipEt]

Will Chiang Rai and Mae Hong Son become what Chiang Mai became, in a few decades?

My guess is that Chiang Rai is about 15 years behind Chiang Mai but that the gap is closing quickly with the expanding border trade and visitors that that generates.

Mae Hong Song is some what more resistant to change given its size but change will happen at a faster pace when the road is upgraded or the tunnel dug. Ahhh well that should slow things for a while!

[Ulysses G.]

What do normal Thais think when more and more of everything in their country is financially beyond their reach?

I visited Siam Paragon a few days ago and was astounded at the expensive shops. Only foreigners and very, very wealthy Thais can afford them, but they seemed to be thriving.

I'm afraid that someday average Thais are going to start resenting the distribution of wealth here and it's not going to be pretty.

Edited August 13, 2006 by Ulysses G.

[chuchok]

What do normal Thais think when more and more of everything in their country is financially beyond their reach?

I visited Siam Paragon a few days ago and was astounded at the expensive shops. Only foreigners and very, very wealthy Thais can afford them, but they seemed to be thriving.

I'm afraid that someday average Thais are going to start resenting the distribution of wealth here and it's not going to be pretty.

Why don't they resent it now? As you know, they already have a class system and the wealthy Thais could buy and sell most of the farang that come here many times over.

Do you think that they will resent tourists?

[Ulysses G.]

I'm afraid that it is just growing into TOO big of a difference between the rich and the poor and it is being rubbed in the poor's faces more than it was in the past with all the shopping centers selling things that they can't afford and new technology that is financially unreachable.

IMHO the King is probably the only thing keeping Thailand the nice place that it is.

[Johpa]

I'm afraid that it is just growing into TOO big of a difference between the rich and the poor and it is being rubbed in the poor's faces more than it was in the past with all the shopping centers selling things that they can't afford and new technology that is financially unreachable.

IMHO the King is probably the only thing keeping Thailand the nice place that it is.

The growing divide between the "haves and have-nots" is not isolated to Thailand. It is happening in countries as diverse as the US and China (PRC).

China has already seen a number of violent confrontations along, surpringly enough in a "communist" country, class lines. The US divides its poor along ethnic lines, entertains the white poor with the likes of NASCAR and military service while incarcerating large segments of the poor black population.

I agree that the presence of His Majesty does help to unify the Thailand and prevent social unrest. Alas, forum rules prevent any further comment on the matter as it relates to Thailand.

[Ricardo]

Will Chiang Rai and Mae Hong Son become what Chiang Mai became, in a few decades?

Sooner than that !

How long did it take for Phuket or Koh Samui to follow Pattaya's example ?

Bring back the humble backpacker !