The National Elephant Institute was founded as the Thai Elephant Conservation Center (TECC) in 1993. In January 2002, in order to enlarge the scope of conservation efforts and address the issues facing Thailand's elephants, it was proposed that the TECC be renamed the National Elephant Institute. It is located in Amphoe Hang Chat, Lampang Province.
The main objective for the establishment of the new National Elephant Institute is to develop elephant conservation in a sustainable way and preserve local traditions for future generations. The Institute also aims to improve the tourism business, in which there is an extensive involvement of elephants in tourism-related activities, for the benefit of elephants as well as tourists.
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