Community-Based Creative Tourism Management to Enhance Local Sustainable Development in Kanchanaburi Province, Thailand

Abstract

Encouraging local people to participate in tourism planning and management can enhance local sustainable development because the host community plays a major role in the future direction of tourism (Murphy, 1985 and Mowforth and Munt, 1998). However, tourism sites in developing countries have limitations in terms of local participatory actions (Tosun, 2000). From the 1990s onwards, creative tourism has increased in popularity in many places around the world. This is thought to be due to its generation of profits that can be used to develop and preserve communities and provide a motivation for local participation. Previous studies have indicated creative tourism is one appropriate solution for challenges in cultural tourism because it can respond to the needs of cultural-based tourism sites to revive and differentiate themselves and provide for active tourists’ needs. There have only been a few studies that have explored the links between sustainable development and creative tourism (Solène, 2011; and Vide 2013). No study has yet linked community-based management with creative tourism. In this study, grounded theory was applied to provide an intensive explanation of the phenomenon and to produce a framework to assist with sustainable development in a community that has value in terms of local wisdom and culture in Kanchanaburi, Thailand. It presents the factors and processes of community-based creative tourism management which can encourage a higher level of local participatory action and lead to local sustainable development. It is the result of collaboration among local stakeholders, residents and tourism networks and was produced to create a sustainable process of community-based development and management of creative tourism activities that provide valuable knowledge and skills for tourists while developing and preserving the community. The research results can add to previous literature with a new theoretical perspective into community-based creative tourism management in rural areas.