Cultural Tourism Management: A Case Study of the Mon Community in Sangkhlaburi District, Kanchanaburi Province

Abstract

           The objectives of this research were 1) to study the contextual generality of the cultural tourism community of the Mon Community in Sangkhlaburi District, Kanchanaburi Province, 2) to study the potential of cultural tourism of the Mon Community in Sangkhlaburi District, Kanchanaburi Province, and 3) to examine the guidelines and recommendations for cultural tourism development of the Mon Community in Sangkhlaburi District, Kanchanaburi Province. The sample group selected for this study comprised of the inhabitants of the Mon Community.
            The research tools used were interviews and questionnaires. The quantitative data analysis was used, and its findings were adopted for supporting the qualitative data analysis.
            The research findings revealed that 1) the generality of the cultural tourism of the Mon Community consisted of interesting tourist attractions in terms of both natural tourism resources and arts and cultural tourism resources; 2) for the potential of cultural tourism of the Mon Community, the activities performed in tourist places revealed the highest Mean scores respectively followed by the tourist carrying capacity, accommodation, management, facilities, safety, and accessibility as the lowest scores; 3) regarding the guidelines and recommendations for cultural tourism development of the Mon Community, the majority of villagers expressed their desires to attract tourists to directly learn and perceive the lifestyles and living conditions of the Mon Community because of its unique tourist place with natural abundance and refreshment, so that the Mon Community is one of the communities for tourists’ field visit to gain direct experience.

Key word: tourism management, cultural tourism, Mon Community