Thailand is among Southeast Asia’s pioneers in institutionalizing and commercializing community-based tourism (CBT), involving the state, local governments, communities, businesses, and researchers. This article examines three models in Thailand: endogenous village-based CBT (Mae Kampong), a private-sector model raising concerns over cultural ownership (Baan Tong Luang), and an agro-ecotourism value-chain linkage model (Phu Ruea). The findings identify four governance pillars for sustainable CBT: meaningful community participation and learning capacity; institutionalized self-management; common funds and financial transparency; and the capacity to position local values. Compared with CBT practices in Vietnam, the article proposes policy implications concerning the legal status of community management boards, benefit sharing, protection of indigenous cultural rights, ecological carrying capacity, and adaptive livelihood value chains.