Guidelines for homestay development to promote tourism of Ban Prasat Community, Than Prasat Sub-District, Non Sung District, Nakhon Ratchasima Province

Abstract

The objectives of this research were 1) to study needs and expectations of tourists towards homestay development in order to promote the community tourism in accordance with a community lifestyle 2) to analyze its potential and search for homestay development guidelines to raise the tourism of Ban Prasat Community, Than Prasat Sub-district, Non Sung District, Nakhon Ratchasima Province, through a mixed methods research. The qualitative research was conducted by using in-depth interviews with 40 people who are members of the homestay group of Ban Prasat community and the quantitative research was studied by using a questionnaire with 380 tourists who travelled and stayed at homestays. The quantitative data was collected and analyzed for a mean and the qualitative data were analyzed and used as the basic information of the analysis for the homestay development guidelines to promote Ban Prasat community tourism. The research result showed that the needs of the tourists in general were at the highest level in all aspects. When considering the income aspect, the tourists have most demand in accommodation, followed by tourist attractions, accessibility, safety and local food, respectively. The potential of Ban Prasat community is that it is located on the important area in terms of history, archaeology, and tradition. The suggestions for the homestay development in order to encourage tourism are to standardize the quality of accommodation, to create and improve unique community identities regarding customer services such as diverse local cuisine, tourist activities, and the identity of tourist attractions. Also provide more contact channels, set up more accurate traffic signs, improve human resources education and training concerning homestay management and services to enhance tourism, along with the archaeological, historical, cultural, natural, and environmental resources conservation for the purpose of sustainable community tourism development.