GUIDELINES FOR THE TOURISM ADMINISTRATION DEVELOPMENT OF KAENGKRACHAN DISTRICT IN PHETCHABURI PROVINCE

Abstract

This research aimed to: 1) study tourism situation of Kaengkrachan district in Phetchaburi Province 2) study strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats and potential of tourism growth 3) find guidelines that are suitable to promote and develop tourism industry. The population and samples in this research were 1) 61 government officials from various sectors 2) 49 businesspersons and entrepreneurs. 3) 31 community people 4) 400 Thai tourists. Questionnaire, focus group discussion and interviews were used to gather data. The descriptive statistics implemented were percentage, means, standard deviation and SWOT analysis to performed TOWS Matrix strategy in the purpose of analyzing the most effective ways to administrate Kaengkrachan tourism.
The results showed the following: 1) Tourists to Kaengkrachan were lower-middle income seeking to travel to natural scenery sites and tended to look for the inexpensive place to stay. The majority of tourists were from Bangkok and central areas of Thailand. They traveled to Kaengkrachan for seminars or vacation with family. They liked to do outdoors activities, for instance, hiking and bird watching 2) the strength of Kaengkrachan tourism was uniquely represented beautiful natural scenery sites and short distance from Bangkok. As for the weaknesses, Kaengkrachan lacked of ability to promote information to outsiders. 3) guidelines for the development of Kaengkrachan tourism were to cooperate with all stakeholders to work together in defining the objectives. In addition, administration should be in a way that present its identity and maximize the potential growth of Kaengkrachan tourism.