The Public Relations Media Design to Promote Community Tourism by Community Participation : Case Study of Nokaok Subdistrict, Pak Thong Chai District, Nakhon Ratchasima Province

Abstract

The research aims to study and design public relations media that reach sample through community participation for tourists. Purposes are: 1) to design public relations media to promote tourism through community participation and 2) to evaluate individual tourist satisfaction with these media. The research steps included: 1) conducting a community survey, 2) studying community needs, 3) designing a tourist map and digital media, and evaluating tourist satisfaction. Neighboring community participation at Nokaok Subdistrict was integral in creating public relations and digital media to represent travel routes. In this regard, community leaders and representatives contributed to the process as follows: 1) personnel, 2) content, 3) procedures. Data collection methods used interviews and focus group discussions. all within the community area of Nokoak Subdistrict, Pak Thong Chai District, Nakhon Ratchasima Province. The designed tourist map and digital media were presented to the community for feedback on content, illustrations, and suggestions to finalize the public relations media. Satisfaction was then evaluated using questionnaires on a sample of 370 participants selected through accidental sampling. The statistics used for data analysis included Mean and Standard Deviation. The results showed that the satisfaction was at a high level with a mean score of 4.63, and a standard deviation of 0.56. This indicated that the public relations media, consisting of both paper materials and digital media in the form of a tourist map, were well - received. The digital media was published online and could be accessed through smart phones, which is consistent with technological trends and supports the changing consumer behaviors by providing convenient and immediate access to content anytime, anywhere.