Factors Promoting Cultural Identity Communication in the Historical Cultural Tourism Context: A Case Study of Asia-Pacific War Sites, Kanchanaburi Province

Abstract

This research studied 1) current historical and cultural tourism contexts; and 2) specific tourist group behavior to 3) formulate guidelines for developing creative historical-cultural tourism activities about the Burma Railway (also known as the Death Railway), Kanchanaburi. Quantitative research and development (R&D) was done with survey data collected by questionnaire about tourist behavior and new tourism management models. 400 samples were tourists and local residents chosen by purposive sampling. Data was analyzed by descriptive and inferential statistics, including t-test and one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) (f-test). Results were that most tourists were female, aged between 21 and 30 who had visited Kanchanaburi multiple times for travel and leisure in private vehicles with their families for overnight stays. Findings: 1) interest in tourist attractions and activities was highest among nature tourists; 2) samples had a high level of experience and perceptions of general historical and multicultural information relating to the Death Railway region; 3) there was a perceived high level of impact from the Novel Coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic in changing touristic patterns; 4) tourists and local residents were essential for formulating guidelines to develop historical-cultural tourism activities; and 5) the t-test and one-way ANOVA revealed that demography influenced tourist behavior at a statistical significance of .05.