Self-guided Study in Cultural Tourist Attraction: A Case Study of Wat Koh Community, Phetchaburi Province

Abstract

The objectives of this research were to: 1) develop a self-guided tour book of Wat Koh community, 2) study and collect knowledge in Wat Koh community, and 3) evaluate practical use of a self-guided tour  book of the Wat Koh community. The research target groups consisted of 1) villagers in Wat Koh community using purposive sampling for collecting data on the structure of a self-guided tour book of the Wat Koh community, 2) 100 tourists who visited Wat Koh community using accidental sampling for evaluating practical use of a self-guided tour book. Data were analyzed by using mean and percentage. The information about the history of Wat Koh and archaeological sites in the Wat Koh community used to create a tour book was compiled by historical method and presented by analytical description.

The research results were as follows: 1) The researcher developed a self-guided tour book of Wat Koh community by defining the content structure from a meeting with villagers in the community. Its title was "Waiphra  Waichao Yankao Wat Koh". This book consisted of 3 parts: Part 1 “Waiphra” presented archaeological sites in the area of ​​Wat Koh and other temples around Wat Koh community, Part 2 “Waichao” presented the shrines located in Wat Koh community, Part 3 “Yankao Wat Koh” presented the way of life and tourist attractions in Wat Koh community. 2) To study and collect the knowledge in Wat Koh community, it was found that Wat Koh community had the potential to develop into the cultural tourism attraction. Due to its outstanding arts and cultures and the unique way of life regarded as a strong points that could be used as the tourist attraction, 3) To evaluate practical use of a self-guided tour book of Wat Koh community, it was found that all aspects were satisfied at a high level (mean= 4.11). The aspect that had the highest level was accuracy and comprehensiveness of the content (mean= 4.60)