Until recently Thailand and Bangkok has been an isolated destination. The borders of neighboring Burma, Laos and Cambidia have been virtually closed. These countries did not possess the necessary infrastructure for a tourist industry. Tourists visiting northern or north-eastern Thailand could not therefore extend their trip into the surrounding countries. The border with Malaysia was open, and a large number of Malaysian tourists have visited Thailand in recent decades, but they mostly limited their trip to the south of the country and did not travel further north than Haadyai. Overseas tourists visiting Thailand, however, onla rarely combined their trip with a visit to neighboring Malaysia, though many appear to have passed through on their way to Singapore, at the extreme tip of the Malay peninsula.

In the early 1990s the situation began to change rapidly: the countries to the north of Thailand have gradually opened their gates to tourism; relations between Thailand and these countries have improved considerably, ever since General Chatichai, the Thai Prime Minister between 1988 and 1991 in Bangkok, introduced his new regional policy under the slogan of turning Southeast Asia "from a battlefield to a market place".

The inauguration of the "Friendship Bridge" over the Mekong river in 1994, combined with the new, although cautious, Laotian policy to develop tourism, gave a boost to tourist travel, both domestic and international, between the two countries.

Thailand's relations with the military regime of Burma, under the present policy of "constructive engagement" also improved; with the gradual opening of Burma to tourism, overland visits from Thailand, specifically to Keng Tung, the capital of the Shan states, became possible; an air charter between Chiang Rai and Keng Tung has also been introduced.

Further afield, tourist traffic between northern Thailand and the southwestern Chinese province of Yunnan strengthened significantly. This tourism is particularly important to the Thais, who believe that Sipsongpanna, a region of ethnic Tais, was the cradle of the Thai people. Boat services along the Mekong river, to Luang Prabang in Laos and upstream to Jing Hong, the capital of Sipsongpanna, have been established; and direct flights from Chiang Mai to Jing Hong are under consideration. Overland trips will also become possible once a road from northern Thailand, through Keng Tung, and from there to Jing Hong has been built. A "tourism quadrangle", paralleling the economic quadrangle of northern Southeast Asia will thus eventually emerge, giving a boost to region-wide tourism.

The Cambodian border is closed to overland crossings, and tourism to that country is still negligible owing to insecurity, physical dangers such as mines, and an underdeveloped infrastructure. However, air links between Bangkok and Phnom Phen have been established, and airborne excursions to Cambodia's principal tourist attraction, the Angkor complex, have recently been inaugurated.

Beyond Cambodia, in Vietnam, a rapid process of tourism development has started; though Thailand has no common border with Vietnam, air links between the two countries are strong, and many overseas tourists tend to visit both on their trip.

Thailand, as the most developed country in northern Southeast Asia, is at the hub of the tourist development in the region. We can hence assume that, as overall regional tourism grows, Thailand and Bangkok will become the principal transit point for trips to the surrounding countries. While more tourists will reach the country, the average stay of visitors may contract somewhat. Moreover, the composition of overseas tourists may subtly change, with the more adventurous "authenticity", seeking individuals preferring visits to the less modernized, and touristically less penetrated, surrounding countries to sightseeing trips in Thailand itself.

At present tourism to the countries to the north of Thailand is primarily unidirectional, with Thais and overseas tourists travelling to them, but few of their citizens visiting Thailand. However, with economic improvements and the liberalization of travel in those countries, it can be expected that the outflow of tourists from Thailand to them will be gradually countered by an inflow of tourists from these countries to Thailand. Regional tourism to Thailand, presently consisting primarily of Malaysian and Singaporean tourists to southern Thailand, may then become a major feature of tourism to northern and north-eastern Thailand, with the accompanying impact on the supply of facilities and services demanded by this kind of tourist.

The general trends in Thai tourism, discussed here, are reflected in various ways in the dynamics of change in the three specific domains dealt with in the body of this site: ethnic tourism among the hill tribes of northern Thailand, vacationing tourism on the islands of southern Thailand and sex tourism in Bangkok. We now turn to a brief examination of the dynamics of tourism in these domains.