Towards sustainable tourism : evaluating the perception of impacts of tourism on world heritage sites and associated communities : case study Ayutthaya Historic Park, Thailand

Since the popularisation of the sustainable development debate in the 1980's there have been innumerable attempts to monitor the impacts of tourism. These attempts have been via a suite of indicators covering the conventional sustainable development triad of environmental, economic and social spheres of influence. To date, the success rate has been various despite widespread consensus about the aims of measuring impacts: to produce policies, planning and management practices that will ensure the protection of heritage resources, increase the quality of life of associated communities and produce sustainable forms of tourism. The methodology proposed in this paper for evaluating the impacts of tourism on sites and communities, was first developed for the seaside community of Manly in Sydney, Australia, a place of significant natural and cultural heritage that is swamped by visitation. It is an innovative attempt to overcome the weaknesses of earlier approaches and a diagnostic tool that allows preliminary evaluation to be followed by more in-depth and strategic assessment. The methodology is a community-based process that begins with the perceptions of those living close to heritage sites that are subject to intensive visitation. It quantitatively determines perceptions about both positive and negative impacts and utilises the triple bottom line approach of sustainable development theory (environmental, economic and social). The approach is place specific, and it enables strategic integrated planning that fosters and protects multiple local values. This is the first time the matrix has been employed outside of a western context and in relation to a community that has a major archaeological site within its midst and experiences significant visitation (1 million international visitors per year and growing). The application is, therefore, of critical importance not only to the validity of the methodology but also as a tool for planning sustainable tourism at world heritage sites.