Tourism has emerged as one of the largest and the fastest growing and competitive economic activities worldwide. The master thesis will present the impact of tourism development and the fact that it has all of the characteristics of mass on the need to rethink and redefine the way of tourism development on the example of Thailand. In doing so, tourism is placed in the context of sustainability, and the emphasis is on how to implement this concept in the development strategy at the state level as a destination. Sustainable development of tourism as a concept is based on its three principles- economic, socio-cultural, and ecological. Only the application of these principles should ensure balance in society, and be carefully implemented to generate the desired quality of life in the local community. With its natural beauty and many attractions, Thailand makes it an ideal tourist destination, making it a potential tourist leader in Asia, and for these reasons it was chosen as the main topic of this thesis. First, the thesis will explain the positive and negative effects of tourism development that are key to further understanding and promoting this important topic to encourage the development of a quality tourism product and improve the management of tourist destinations in the long run. Then, through an overview of the historical development of tourism from its beginnings in the 1960s to 2020, the difference in the implementation and planning of tourism development will be seen in detail with an emphasis on the turning point in 2004. This year was marked by a devastating earthquake that spurred changes in tourism development planning and led to new ways of tourism development. Sustainability as a topic is increasingly relevant and imposed as a central priority for destinations, and it is important to see how other countries “fight” with the implementation and development of planning for such tourism development so that we can better develop this way of tourism in Croatia.