The Guidelines on Strategic Management of Tourism Route Model Development for Promoting Cultural Tourism in Thonburi District, Bangkok

Abstract

The objective of this research was to study the guidelines on strategic management of tourism route model development for promoting cultural tourism in Thonburi district, Bangkok. The investigation started by exploring the potential of tourism and the demand of tourists for tourism in Thonburi district, followed by developing and evaluating a tourism route model, in order to establish the guidelines on strategic management of tourism route model development. The research tools consisted of interview forms and questionnaires. Both primary and secondary data were collated. Quantitative data was analyzed using frequency, percentage, mean and standard deviation. Qualitative data, meanwhile, was analyzed using descriptive content analysis. The research results revealed that: 1) There were only two sub-districts in Thonburi district; Talat Phlu sub-district and Wat Kalaya sub-district, which had a high level of tourism potential. 2) According to the tourists, the seven factors of marketing mix strategy were highly practical to the tourism demand, in which the personnel or people in the community affected the tourism demand at the highest level, and tourism products, respectively. 3) There were two tourism routes in Thonburi district; Wat Kalaya tourism route and Talat Phlu tourism route. 4) In overall, the tourists were mostly satisfied with the Wat Kalaya tourism route. Meanwhile, the overall satisfaction towards the Talat Phlu tourism route was at a moderate level. and 5) the guidelines on strategic management of tourism route model development for promoting cultural tourism in Thonburi district consisted of seven aspects: tourism products, prices, channels of distribution, marketing promotion, the personnel or people in the community, service process, and the creation and presentation of physical characteristics.