Abstract—While service quality is acceptably most valued in the tourism industry, the issue of safety and security plays a key role in sustaining the industry success. Such an issue has been part of Thailand’s tourism development and promotion for several years. Evidently, the Tourist Police Department was set up for this purpose. Its main responsibility is to deal with international tourists’ safety and confidence in travelling within Thai territory. However, to strengthen the tourism safety of the country, it is important to better understand international tourists’ safety concerns about Thailand. This article seeks to compare international tourists’ safety needs and Thai tourist polices’ perception towards the tourists’ safety concern to determine what measure should be taken to assure the tourist of Thailand’s secure environment. Through the employment of quantitative and qualitative methodological approaches, the tourism safety need of international tourists from Europe, North America and Asia was excavated, how Thai tourist polices and local polices perceived the international tourist’s safety concern was investigated, and opinion and experiences about how the police deal with international tourists’ problems in eight touristic areas were also explored. A comparative result reveals a certain degrees of differences in international tourists’ safety needs and Thai polices’ perception towards their needs. The tourism safety prevention and protection measure and practice are also suggested. Keywords—Tourism risk, Tourism safety, Travel safety need, Travelling in Thailand I. INTRODUCTION recognizable worldwide. In particular, in the nation that embraced tourism industry as a major drive for its economic development. Thailand is clearly one of these nations where tourism has become not only an essential part of Thai economy, but also Thai way of life. Noticeably, tourism industry promotion and development plan has been included in the national economic and social development plan since 2002 [1]. As more and more areas of the country are being developed for tourism so as to expand the availability of destination choices for tourists, the Thai government also laid down the policies and measures to facilitate tourism industry with the emphasis on the attempt to turn service industry to the country’s major revenue and to promote Thailand as a regional hub of natural and cultural tourism. Part of the government attempt was the issue of tourism safety and security policy followed by the establishment of This article bears the same title as our study conducted in 2011, funded by the Tourist Police Department of Thailand. Business Administration in Hospitality Management, Suan Dusit Rajabhat University. Nuntiya Dounphummes is currently the Deputy Dean of Graduate School, Suan Dusit Rajabhat University. Tourist Police Department in 1991 in order to enhance international tourists’ confidence to visit Thailand. This is because the perceived safety and security is significant for the tourists’ decision making of their destination choices [1]. This is not surprising since it can be argued that the issue of safety and security is an important dimension underlining the development of tourism industry worldwide as suggested by several studies (such as Mawby, Pizam and Smith,Cartwright cited in Steene (2000) [2]. As Hunter-Jones argues “Although there are many reasons for a successful tourism product, such as the quality of service, a ‘good time’, beautiful scenery, and/or interesting encounters, all these factors require a safe and secure destination.” Thailand’s concrete measure on the safety of international tourists was explicitly related to an increasing number of international tourists and hence, growing revenue on the national economy. Evidently according to the income rate, income from tourism was leaping from 196 million baht in 1960 to 1, 770 million baht in 1969 and to 510,000 million baht in 2009 [3][4] However, when comparing the average growth rate of international tourists visiting Thailand between the past decade and recent years, the rate has shrunk to less than 10 per cent [3] This was affected mainly by internal political conflicts, which led to a series of protests, airport closings and riots in some touristic areas. These hazardous incidents have lowered the tourists’ safety confidence since several countries announced a formal warning for their citizen who considered to travelling to Thailand at that time. Even though such warnings were lifted and Thai political stability has been restored, the country is still facing with the challenge of boosting international tourists’ safety confidence. In so doing, it is therefore, vital to clearly understand safety requirements and concerns of the tourist travelling to Thailand so that all stakeholders, particularly the Tourism Authority or Thailand and the tourist police department, can create strategies to meet their safety need. This research identified the international tourists’ safety needs in relation to their different background (i.e. zone of origin). Furthermore, the Thai polices’ perceptions towards international tourists’ safety needs were explored. Then, the actual international tourists’ safety need was compared to the Thai police’s perception of their safety need. More precisely, this study aims to firstly, investigate international tourists’ safety problems in the major touristic areas in Thailand. Secondly, it also analyses and prioritizes safety needs of international tourists who are of different zones of origin. Thirdly, it examines and prioritizes Thai tourist polices and local polices’ perception towards international tourists’ safety needs. Fourthly, it then compares international tourists’ safety needs to Thai tourist polices and local polices’ perception towards their safety needs. Finally, it synthesizes the result to offer guidelines for tackling international tourists’ safety needs. A Comparative Study of International Tourists’ Safety Needs and Thai Tourist Polices’ Perception towards International Tourists’ Safety Needs T Pimmada Wichasin , Nuntiya Doungphummes Pimmada Wichasin is currently the Director of Master of HE increasing role tourism industry having played in thegrowth of global economy has been apparent and World Academy of Science, Engineering and Technology International Journal of Economics and Management Engineering Vol:6, No:7, 2012 1938 International Scholarly and Scientific Research & Innovation 6(7) 2012 ISNI:0000000091950263 Open Science Index, Economics and Management Engineering Vol:6, No:7, 2012 publications.waset.org/9477/pdf