Vulnerability assessment of Tsunami affected tourism community: a case study of Koh Phi Phi, Thailand.

Abstract

This paper aims to assess vulnerability in selected tsunami affected area. It covers analysis of level of recovery process after tsunami, vulnerability of livelihood and factors influencing vulnerability including multi-dimensions of social, institutional, economic, and environment. Institutional analysis for recovery programmes provided by different agencies was also explored along with assessment of level of recovery in study area. The necessary information was collected from both primary and secondary sources. We selected Koh Phi Phi as a case study, which is a top ranking world tourism destination situated in Krabi province. Koh Phi Phi was considered as the second worst hit area by tsuanmi as the wave struck the island in its heart leading to the death of 753 people and at least 1,000 more are missing. The findings showed that tourism in Phi Phi has come back to normal situation with large number of tourists visiting the Island. However, Phi Phi tourism business is still facing difficulty with government’s rules and regulations related to rebuilding process, especially for hotels and resorts those destroyed by the wave. This leads to lack of sufficient rooms for tourists during high season of tourism. Beside this problem, there is also need for consideration about environmental condition since there is no provision of effective concrete community planning in Phi Phi such as town planning and waste management. The key factors influencing the level of vulnerability in Koh Phi Phi after tsunami disaster were roles of relief volunteers and support organizations, capacity of influential groups in community, roles of local leaders, social network, financial capacity of tourism community, livelihood options, level of people’s participation in recovery process, and roles of government bodies and its related organizations.