'They don't like humans'
Even if there are more tigers in Thailand than previously thought, getting up close to them is no easy feat.
“There's no tiger tourism in Thailand except for the poor critters in the Tiger Temple and in sundry tiger farms,” said Nirmal Ghosh, Thailand correspondent for Singapore's Straits Times and a trustee at tiger conservation group the Corbett Foundation.
There's also the question of whether going out to see tigers in the wild is ethical, though Ghosh said that tours done the right way could work.
“Whether tiger tourism is ecologically friendly depends on how it is handled," he said.
"I think a small, low-impact specialized experience under expert guides would be good and have some chance even of success. But even then, the chance of seeing one would be so rare that it would probably kill off any tourism venture that focused solely on tigers. The venture would therefore have to concentrate on other wildlife to survive.”