The Guidelines for Developing Ancient Community Tourist Attractions in Sisaket Province

Abstract

            This article aims to : 1) study the potential of ancient community tourism in Sisaket; 2) study the appropriate tourism activity models for the management of ancient community attractions in Sisaket; and 3) formulate a tourism plan for ancient communities in Sisaket towards a sustainable creative economy. It is a mixed-method research which using semi-structured interviews with stakeholders from government agencies, private sectors, entrepreneurs in the tourism business, academic institutions, and independent scholars from 5 ancient tourism communities (a total of 20 people) with questionnaires for tourists or visitors who visit 5 ancient community Sisaket attractions (400 people). Statistics which were used for data analysis were mean, percentage, and standard deviation. The author applied content analysis to find phrases and connect repeated words to create themes, which were integrated to be stories of causes and effects.

In the results of the research, the author found many issues. 1) The potential and carrying capacity of ancient community tourist attractions in the area of Sisaket were in strong agree; the potential to accommodate tourists was in medium agree ; the potential of tourism management was in strong agree; and the potential for organizing tourism activities was in medium agree. 2) Appropriate tourism activity models for the management of ancient community attractions in Sisaket were 1) organizing activities have to connect participation with local people; 2) organizing activities have to make benefits for the community to generate income from tourism activities; 3) tourism activities have to be flexible and diverse; 4) the forms of tourism activities have to draw on community culture, food, or historical attractions in the area to convey widely; and 5) there have to be telling stories about ancient community tourism along with realizing the importance of nature, environment, culture, and community. 3) The proposed guidelines for the development of ancient community tourist attractions in the area of Sisaket can be summarized into six aspects: 1) development of services for both tourism activities and service locations and supporting tourism; 2) management that focuses on the participation of local people; 3) management that benefits the community; 4) flexible and diverse forms of travel activities; 5) development of infrastructure which is necessary for tourism; and 6) telling more stories about ancient community tourism along with paying more attention to nature, environment, culture, and community, respectively.