It is reasonable to state that gastronomic tourism is an efficient tool that has the potential to refresh Thailand’s macroeconomic viability. With the aim of becoming a hub of tourism in Southeast Asia, Thailand’s tourism industry must urgently address and sustainably integrate gastronomic activities to navigate the troubled situation caused by its decline after the COVID-19 pandemic. This has led the authors to conduct a deep study on a regional input–output (I-O) table analysis for Thailand’s tourism system, specifically focusing on gastronomic activities and tourism industries. The tourism I-O data used in this study come from the official source provided by the Thailand Ministry of Tourism and Sport. Empirically, the results of the dynamic regional I-O model predict that Bangkok and its surrounding areas are the heart of gastronomic tourism development, driving income into Thailand’s economy. The eastern region stands as the second-largest area of gastronomy tourism, generating a positive impact on Thailand’s economy. On the other hand, the Northeast of Thailand receives less income from gastronomy tourism despite being the largest area in the country. Ultimately, there should be a greater emphasis on gastronomy tourism policies in order to fully maximize their potential for tourism development, stimulating every part of Thailand during the economic depression caused by COVID-19. Moreover, gastronomy tourism has the potential to play an important role in driving economic growth through the combination of cuisine and tourism development.

In the trend of globalization, economic and social benefits of air transportation (AIR) are not indisputable. However, AIR's environmental impacts are still a controversial issue. While previous studies had shown that air transportation contributed to air pollution by emitting CO2, lack of studies consider the effects of air transportation on ecological system. Therefore, this study investigates the relationship between air transportation and ecological footprint as well as CO2 emissions in the case of APEC countries, which is leading in the growth rate of air transport activities. Applying regression with Driscoll-Kraay standard errors for a data set from 1992 to 2015, our research provides evidence that: (i) air transportation increases CO2 emissions but this impact is negligible; (ii) air transportation contributes significantly in reducing ecological footprint of APEC countries; and (iii) globalization reduces both CO2 emissions and ecological footprint. In addition, Dumitrescu-Hurlin causality test helps to confirm the bidirectional causality relationship between air transportation and ecological footprint. Meanwhile, unidirectional causality runs from air transportation to carbon emissions. Based on these conclusions, some policy suggestions are given for APEC countries.

The human development index (HDI) is an inclusive indicator for measuring the standard of living with greater emphasis on development than the gross domestic product. The purpose of this study is to investigate the impact of economic growth, renewable energy consumption, research and development expenditure, and total natural resource rent on the HDI in the top ten human development countries. For this reason, we used datasets for 1996–2007 and employed a series of advanced econometric methods [the Driscoll-Kraay, feasible generalized least square (FGLS), and generalized method of moments (GMM)] to mitigate the existing cross-sectional problem. This study demonstrates that economic growth, renewable energy consumption, research and development expenditure, and total natural resources rent tested positive on the HDI. While the Dumitrescu-Hurlin panel causality tests showed a bidirectional relationship between the HDI and economic growth. In addition, a unidirectional causality relationship was found from the HDI to renewable energy consumption, and to research and development expenditure. The policy implication highlighting the directions for the use of variables in the context of sustainability is also discussed.

Humanitarian logistics (HL) is vital in disaster response and emergency relief operations. Understanding the critical success factors (CSFs) enables humanitarian organizations to optimize their operations and enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of their logistics processes. Through a comprehensive examination of literature between 2005 and 2023, this study identifies crucial elements (CSFs). It classifies them into ‘vital few’ and ‘useful many’ based on their occurrence frequencies using Pareto analysis. The results identify CSFs, including the application of modern information technology, well-planned emergency relief system, coordination, and collaboration with stakeholders, timely and relief need assessment, organizational structure, clear awareness of responsibilities, and materials and resources as vital factors. The analysis highlights the significance of the vital factors in ensuring the timely and effective delivery of aid and services to affected populations. By understanding and addressing these critical success factors, humanitarian organizations can enhance their capacity to respond to crises and positively impact the lives of those in need.

This study is structured on the Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) framework to explore the impacts of economic growth, energy consumption, information, and communication technology (ICT), and urbanization on the ecological footprint for the Next-11 (N-11) countries. To accomplish the objective, the Driscoll––Kraay standard error and Feasible General Least Squares (FGLS) methods were applied to investigate the long-run relationship between the highlighted variables. In addition, the Dumitrescu and Hurlin panel causality test was employed for exploring the causality path of the variables under consideration. These methods used in this study circumvent issues of cross-sectional dependence. To accommodate the panel data analysis in this study, the annual frequency data from 1992 to 2015 was used. Empirical results lend an invalid of the EKC behaviour in the N-11 countries. Hence a positive relationship is observed between energy consumption, ICT with the ecological footprint while a negative relation between urbanization and the ecological footprint was found. On the direction of causality, a unidirectional causality is observed running from economic growth, energy consumption, ICT, and urbanization to the ecological footprint. Additionally, feedback causality is observed between (1) urbanization and economic growth and (2) urbanization and ICT. These results have implications on environmental sustainability which are elucidated in the concluding remark.

In the trend of promoting the use of renewable energy, a vast body of literature dedicates attention to its determinants. However, the effects of public debt on renewable energy utilization are overlooked in the empirical analysis. On the one hand, public debt can be seen as a funding source for environmental protection programs. On the other hand, the high level of public debt could be a barrier to investing in the renewable energy sector. Therefore, our study wishes to contribute to the existing literature by exploring the impact of public debt on renewable energy consumption for the case of 20 emerging countries, where the public debt and demand for renewable energy are increasing. To attain this purpose, the advanced econometric techniques for panel data, which robust to the issue of cross-sectional dependence, are employed for a dataset in the period from 1990 to 2016. As a result, the regression with Driscoll-Kraay standard errors indicates that public debt decreases the renewable energy consumption of the countries under this study. While the Dumitrescu and Hurlin Granger causality test shows bidirectional causal relations between these two variables. Based on the obtained findings, useful policy implications are suggested for emerging countries.

This study aims to investigate the impact of economic growth, renewable energy consumption, nonrenewable energy consumption, industrialization, and environmental policy stringency on the ecological footprint in the BRICS countries over the period of 1995–2016. Series of the advanced econometric method, such as the novel dynamic seemingly unrelated regression (DSUR) method and the Dumitrescu and Hurlin panel causality tests, are employed for scrutinizing the estimations of the long-run and causal relationships among variables. The results suggested that the economic growth, renewable energy consumption, nonrenewable energy consumption, and industry have a positive relationship to the ecological footprint, while environmental policy stringency has been described in the BRICS countries as having a negative relationship with the ecological footprint. In addition, the bidirectional relationship is found between (i) the ecological footprint and economic growth and (ii) the ecological footprint and renewable energy consumption.

This paper investigates the impact of economic growth, energy consumption, tourism, trade openness, and population density on the ecological footprints in Thailand over the period from 1974 to 2016. We applied the augmented Dickey–Fuller and Zivot–Andrews unit root tests to check the stationary properties of the data. The ARDL bounding test approach and VECM Granger causality were used to investigate (i) the long-run and short-run effects and (ii) directions of such effects respectively. The long-run results showed that economic growth, energy consumption, and trade openness have positive relationships with the ecological footprint, while tourism and population density are negatively associated with the ecological footprint in Thailand. The results of VECM Granger causality confirmed that the bidirectional causality (i) between tourism and population density in the long run and (ii) between trade openness and population density in the short run. Furthermore, the unidirectional causality runs from the ecological footprint, economic growth, energy consumption, and trade openness to tourism and population density in the long run. The country policy combined with economic growth, energy consumption, tourism, international trade, and population density perspectives need to be revisited towards sustainable development by mitigating the effects of these variables on environmental depletion especially the ecological footprint.

This study examines the impacts of economic growth, energy consumption, tourism, and natural resources on the ecological footprint in the ASEAN countries for spanning from 1995 to 2016. For this purpose, the cross-sectional dependent test, the second-generation unit root test, and the Westerlund cointegration test have been applied. The Driscoll-Kraay panel regression model has been used to check the long-run relationship among the series. Also, the Dumitrescu-Hurlin panel causality test is used to determine the paths of causal interactions. These tests help to overcome the problem of cross-sectional dependence in panel data analysis. The results showed an inverted U-shaped EKC behavior in ASEAN countries, hence a negative relation between tourism and natural resources with the ecological footprint. This implies that tourism and natural resources help to improve the environmental quality in ASEAN countries.

This paper aims to identify and evaluate the socio-economic impacts of the Forth Thai-Laos Friendship Bridge Development on the local tourism services suppliers in Chiang Khong District, Chiang Rai Province, Thailand. However, the key 15 interviewees were chosen purposively to be representatives of the population in this study. Both descriptive and analytical data results were interpreted to attain interesting finding of the socio-economic impacts on the five sectors of local tourism service suppliers namely accommodations, food and beverages, transportation, attraction and entertainment, and destination. Interestingly, the finding has shown two main aspects, which are: 1) the number of tourists increased while the negative economic and social impact increased, 2) the structure of careers in tourism services suppliers have changed due to the friendship bridge developments and new immigration policy. The study suggested that the local tourism service suppliers should be a self-resilience to this development and create the human-made tourist destinations and activities in the community.

Mishandling of agricultural and forestry residues can lead to environmental and health threats. During the summer months, open burning of these materials in the ASEAN countries worsened the smog and haze crisis in the region. Converting this biomass into modern forms of energy such as electricity and heat can contribute to the reduction of hotspots under the ASEAN Agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution and strengthen the energy security in the region. However, despite the seemingly abundance of the waste materials and favorable policy stimulus from national governments, the development of biomass-to-energy (BtE) plants in the region has not been that promising. For example, Chiang Rai which has the largest biomass potential in the North of Thailand has only one BtE power plant in Wiang Kean District with a capacity of merely 0.13 MW. This study aims at understanding the institutional factors influencing the adoption of BtE by contrasting two cases of very small BtE projects (less than 10 MW) in Chiang Rai, Thailand. The multi-case design employs and triangulates data from various sources including documentary study, field observations, and qualitative interviews to understand the implementation procedures of BtE projects, and resources and perceptions of stakeholders in Ban Jam Pong Moo 5, Wiang Kean and Ban Trikeaw Moo 8, Wiang Chai. The Wiang Kean project has been successfully built and operated since 2008. On the other hand, the project in Wiang Chai the proposal of which had been drawn up in 2010 with the planned capacity of 9.4 MW has struggled to gain public acceptance and not been materialized. The 5Ps framework is constructed to explain whether and how the Partnerships between Public, Private, People and Professional actors contribute to the successful delivery of the BtE projects. The analysis identifies gaps in the formal institution and outlines the partnerships between the four sectors that can be critical to the success of very small BtE projects.