Tourism Management at Phu Phrabat Historical Park: Challenges of World Heritage Listing
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Abstract
This study analyzes tourism management at Phu Phrabat Historical Park in relation to its World Heritage designation, investigating the associated potential and problems. The research seeks to: (1) examine the beneficial and detrimental effects of World Heritage designation on local communities and the site's tourism potential; (2) evaluate the importance of Phu Phrabat Historical Park as a World Cultural Heritage site; and (3) recommend strategies for tourism development and area management in the surrounding context. A mixed-methods approach was utilized, integrating documentary research, site surveys, participant observation, questionnaire surveys, and comprehensive interviews with principal players from the public sector, commercial sector, local communities, tourism-related enterprises, and visitors. The results show that Phu Phrabat Historical Park has great cultural and landscape value. This is because people have long interacted with the natural world there, and it is an important cultural landscape in Southeast Asia. World Heritage listing also makes it harder to manage issues such as conservation, visitor pressure, land-use restrictions, infrastructure development, and community involvement. The report stresses that for Phu Phrabat to have sustainable tourist management, international, national, and local stakeholders must work together. This includes planning that involves everyone, good methods to safeguard history, and fair sharing of the advantages of tourism. These results offer pragmatic direction for enhancing long-term heritage management and fostering sustainable tourism growth at World Heritage sites.
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