On July 3rd 2023, I was invited to join a World University Network roundtable discussion on “Southeast Asian Tourism after COVID-19: Pathways towards Resilience and Sustainability”. The roundtable is part of a longer 2-day event consisting of policy roundtable and workshops. Researchers from various universities presented their collaborative project on Tourism sectors in Southeast Asia and the impact of COVID-19. The PI of the project funded by MFAT (New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade) is Prof. Andreas Neef, University of Auckland. The project CIs come from various universities in Souhteast Asia including Mahidol's International College staff who work on tourism studies. 

My contribution to the roundtable is a reflection on how tourism sector has cross-over with screen industries in Thailand. This is particularly through the government's interest in promoting destination marketing for location shooting and the pre-COVID-19 interest in film tourism that followed. I reflected on the forgotten sides of these sectors including the screen workers whose income rely on foreign film productions. All of these crew were out of work for up to one year during the pandemic without any financial support. The short-term interest on film-induced tourism also left out key stakeholder(s) in this phenomenon including long-term fans and local business owners who play key roles in sustaining the interest in this practice and add cultural value to this kind of spcio-screen culture. 

 

Through this event, I also learned more about the WUN network and research grants, which seems like a great source of support for collaborative research with parter universities. 

Photos from: https://mahidol.ac.th/th/2023/mahidol-mfatproject/