Thailand's Tourism Villages

Throughout my trip to Chiang Mai, I noticed something over and over again - villages whose existence is for the sole purpose of tourism. While tourism makes up only 6.5% of Thailand's total GDP, it seems to dominate Chiang Mai's economic purpose. It seems that the hoards of tourists that visits each village each today completely sustains the entire livelihood of everyone in the villages.

The first village which tourism was a major theme was the Jungle Flight. While the Flight of the Gibbons was the major attraction everyone named, Jungle Flight was equally amazing, for a much cheaper price. a 7 hour adventure with Jungle Flight costed 2,100 Baht, where a 5 hour Flight of the Gibbons tour costed 2,990. We went through 34 platforms on various ziplines, drops, and amazing stunts. Absolutely one of the best tourist attractions in Chiang Mai - if you have one day to do something here, do this. You drive an hour to a remote Jungle, where the village is abuzz with groups and groups of tourists ready to whirl their way through the jungle. The women cook - there's a lunch or dinner at the end. The men are guides for the tour. We saw little kids practicing zip lines on the side, getting ready to be tour guides. It seems that this entire village has flourished (everyone does seem to have a very nice pickup truck and well-fed) because of the Jungle Flight.

The second village would be the Elephant Camp we visited. Riding an elephant is the defining tourist activity here. The men ride the elephant, given tourist an hour ride, where the halfway point is a banana station selling bananas to feed the elephant. Afterwards, there's also lunch provided. So people either trianed elephants, looked after them, sold bananas, or cooked for the tourists. I was told the elephants are extremely valuable, costing more than most cars. Those who owns them are more powerful than landlords.

The last village would be the Long-Neck/Big-Ears village we visited. According to our guide, the Long-necks came from Burma a few years ago to escape the repression of the Myanmar's regime. The village we visited were simply stalls and stalls of shops selling different souvenier items, most of which are mass produced and are the same from stall to stall. While it's interesting the women wear the rings around their necks, the village was 100% driven by tourism revenue, through what we purchase and the admissions fee we pay to enter the village. Very disappointing was very little was learned about how they lived and the history of their people. Everything was simply about money.