Thanakarn Bella Vongvisitsin

This study develops and validates a multi-dimensional identity-based scale for measuring LGBTQ+-friendly destination images, grounded in the sexual orientation, gender identity, and gender expression dimensions. Through qualitative and empirical testing with 654 international tourists in Thailand, the scale demonstrates strong psychometric properties, including reliability, convergent validity, discriminant validity, and nomological validity. The overall LGBTQ+-friendly destination image significantly predicts tourists’ satisfaction, word-of-mouth, and revisit intentions, highlighting its predictive validity. Notably, LGBTQ+ friendliness has universal relevance; while friendliness toward diverse sexual orientations and gender expressions is a central determinant for all tourists, including non-LGBTQ+ travelers, friendliness toward diverse gender identities holds particular importance for LGBTQ+ travelers. The scale is designed for broad application in assessing LGBTQ+-friendly destination images in diverse tourism contexts. This validated tool offers destination marketing organizations a comprehensive framework to assess and enhance LGBTQ+ friendliness, benefiting both LGBTQ+ and non-LGBTQ+ travelers through its association with general safety and openness.

Medical tourism offers specialized healthcare services and leisure opportunities, serving as a critical journey for transgender individuals seeking gender affirmation. Drawing upon social identity framework, gender affirmation contributes to membership and belongingness within a gender group, enhancing social acceptance. Medical tourism is often the only option for some transgender individuals due to local social stigma and discrimination, exposing them to greater vulnerability. However, there is limited research that explores transgender perspectives. This study deploys planned behavior and protection motivation theories to identify influential factors in transgender medical travel intentions. Employing a structured survey, rigorously designed and distributed among 435 Thai and Filipino transgender participants, the research quantitatively assessed how attitudes, norms, efficacy, and identity factors significantly influence their decisions, overshadowing health threat perceptions. Findings suggest responsible strategies that promote holistic transgender well‐being and highlight the need for a nuanced approach when navigating sociocultural and legal dynamics in transgender medical tourism.

For many decades, tourism scholars have extensively applied community-based tourism (CBT) as an effective approach to sustainable development. Nevertheless, most CBT studies are geographically bounded to rural context and related to certain forms of tourism (e.g., homestay tourism, village tourism, indigenous tourism). Whilst cities are often conceived as mass tourism destinations, urban communities are being marginalized due to a deeply rooted rural or anti-urban bias from CBT development perspectives. Besides, communities do not refer to only groups of people who reside in certain physical environments, but also to those who share common characteristics. Therefore, this chapter delivers a breakthrough of existing CBT knowledge by extending the concept to different types of communities, including urban communities in Bangkok Metropolis and LGBTQ+ communities in Hong Kong. As a result, CBT is proposed as the universal approach by reflecting how both cases applied the concept to enhance community participation and inclusiveness in tourism development.