ALTERNATIVE TOURISM AND ADAPTIVE CHANGE

This paper discusses one example of alternative tourism, trekking in N orthern Thailand, to assess the nature of the interaction between the changes in the attraction and the motivations of the client group. Vis itation does reduce the authenticity of the villagers, yet several ada ptive strategies are successfully employed by the companies to counter act this. A survey of trekkers revealed high satisfactions, yet motiva tions are changing to emphasize the authenticity of the entire experie nce rather than the ethnic authenticity of the hilltribes. A transform ation is taking place from primary ethnic tourism to cultural tourism with a strong recreational emphasis. While this bodes well for future sustainability, hilltribe response and involvement remain minimal.