The Impact of Trekking Tourism in a Changing Society: A Karen Village in Northern Thailand

The aim of this chapter is to examine the role of tourism in the economy of Ban Chaidee, l a Karen village in Northern Thailand. I will discuss the factors causing the deeper involvement of the villagers in the trekking tour business and explain the effects of tourism on the village. Furthermore I will show that tourism caused the villagers to become more firmly involved in a market economy dominated by Thai and foreign enterprises. I shall argue, by putting the data into the model proposed by Stephen Britton in 1982 that this entry into a market economy in turn caused the villagers to become more integrated into Thai society.