The Development of Creative Tourism Process : A Case Study of Dongyen Community, U-Thong District in Suphanburi Province

Abstract

The research article on “The Development of Creative Tourism Process: A Case Study of Dongyen Community, U-Thong District, Suphanburi Province” employs both qualitative and action research methods having around 20 key informants and participants from local entrepreneurs, members of Dongyen’s Agroforestry Group, students and local wisdom teachers. The main objective of this work is to develop a model of creative tourism from a case study of Dongyen community by integrating the concept of creative tourism and local health wisdom. The main finding of this research is the Dongyen community creatively utilizes natural resources, agricultural products and cultural capital of the Lao Khrang ethnic group to create innovative tourism products and services. In this regard, the community can aptly use tourism as an instrument to tackle the local problems such as oversupply of agricultural commodities and air pollution from local factories. This study concludes that a Dongyen model of creative tourism is based on 4 steps of participatory process namely 1) brainstorming and designing tourism products and services 2) testing tourism products and services 3) interacting and increasing tourists involvement in creative tourism activities 4) developing creative products for wider market.