Buddhist Tourism to enhance the Faith in Buddhism of the Pilgrims in Kanchanaburi Province

Abstract

This article has an objective 1. To study Buddhist tourism to promote the faith in Buddhist principles of pilgrims in temples in Kanchanaburi Province 2. To analyze the relationship between Buddhist tourism and the promotion of faith in Buddhist principles. 3. To set routes and create a Buddhist tourism guide to promote people's faith in Buddhist principles. Combined research methods of in-depth interviews with 12 key informants; 4 abbots, 4 lay people, and 4 community leaders, focus group discussions with 20 key informants, and questionnaire from 160 tourists visiting 4 temples, 40 tourists for each temple.  The instruments were questionnaire, in-depth interview form, focus group discussion form, and structural observation form. The data were analyzed by statistic instrument and content analysis. The results of the study were presented in a descriptive method. The results of the study found that: 1) the Buddhist tourism played a role in enhancing the faith in Buddhism of the pilgrims but the pilgrims still lacked of enthusiasm in Dhamma practice, 2) the relation between Buddhist tourism and enhancement of the faith in Buddhist teachings in the form of worship and making merit was at a high level, but the level was quite low in listening to a sermon and Dhamma practice, and 3) the routes to reach the 4 temples were comfortable. The pilgrims could travel to those temples by bus, van and car in a one day respectively. The problems were that the activity schedules of the temples could not match with the pilgrimage schedules of tourists, and the temples lacked of budget to handle a number of pilgrims annually. With the cooperation of pilgrims and temples, Buddhist tourism could fulfill the requirement of pilgrims, enhance the faith in Buddhism, and provide advantages to society.