Spaces & Flows: Ninth International Conference on Urban and ExtraUrban Studies

Abstract

Flooding is a major natural hazard. During the past decades, we have witnessed some of the most severe flooding, which has had a serious impact on local communities, natural landscape, and cultural heritage and, as a consequence, also affected the local tourism industry. Thailand is not new to flooding: the country, indeed, throughout time, has been affected by regular flooding and local communities have learnt to co-exist with the phenomenon and celebrate their relationship with water. However, due to a rapid urbanisation and climate change, flooding in Thailand is now becoming unpredictable and extremely destructive. That is why more targeted preventive and mitigating strategies are imperative. This paper explores the ways in which heritage sites, in Thailand - affected by natural disasters - are perceived by tourist stakeholders as well as the different effects recent flooding has had on local heritage sites, tourism experiences, and communities in and around Ayutthaya Heritage Site (AHS). This paper considers how they respond to flooding since 2011. Qualitative discussion and in-depth interviews were employed to uncover locals’ and tourist-based stakeholders’ perceptions towards flooding based on their direct experiences. Flooding adaptation and resilient community are desirable approaches to reduce impact, which require intervention to be implemented at both government and local levels.