DEVELOPMENT OF CULTURAL TOURISM QUALITY IN ANG THONG PROVINCE

Abstract

This research aimed to study 1) the potential of cultural tourism sites in Ang thong Province, 2) the tourists’ traveling behavior to cultural tourism sites in Ang thong province, 3) the tourists’ need for cultural tourism sites in Ang thong province, and 4) the guidelines for developing cultural tourism in Ang thong province. It employed a mixed methods approach. The study included a sample of purposively selected informed persons namely government officers, monks, community leaders, entrepreneurs, and people in 5 study places, 4 persons from each making a total of 20 persons, using interview form to collect data; and a sample of 395 conveniently selected Thai tourists, using questionnaire to collect data. The data was analyzed for descriptive statistics to find frequency, percentage, mean, and standard deviation.

Results suggested the followings. 1) The potential as cultural tourism sites was at a high level in 3 aspects i.e. (1) attractiveness for tourism, (2) tourism accommodation, and (3) management. The distinctive features are historical background, culture, tradition, and development of basic facilities to accommodate tourists at present. 2) Tourists’ travelling behavior for cultural tourism revealed that most of them traveled by their own cars for a round trip of no more than 2 days, 1-2 trips per year, with 2 – 5 companions. Vacation was their main purpose. They chose to travel to historical sites, spent 5,000 Baht on average, and received tourism information from friends or relatives. 3) The tourists’ need for cultural tourism was at a high level in overall, ranked by the level of need in different aspects as follow: staff and service process, tourism resources, tourism marketing, and tourism activities, respectively. And 4)guidelines for developing cultural tourism in Ang thong province comprise 7 approaches namely (1) developing collaborative networks among involved organizations and groups; (2) developing tourism resources and convenient accessibility to tourism sites, and laying down tourism routes to link with nearby tourism sites; (3) Developing the activities management in tourism sites and arrangement of diverse cultural activities; (4) developing the management to educate community and build their consciousness;
(5) developing staff and service process; (6) developing tourism marketing and promoting tourism through public relations of tourism sites; and (7) developing the management to monitor and evaluate changes caused by tourism.