The Enhancement of Eco-Friendly Products and Sustainable Green Tourism in the Pak Nam Prasae Community Rayong Province

Abstract

This research aimed to: 1) Enhance eco-friendly products and green tourism in the Pak Nam Prasae community, Rayong Province. 2) Create and develop public relations media to promote the enhancement of eco-friendly products and sustainable green tourism in the community. 3) Study the utilization outcomes of enhancing eco-friendly products and sustainable green tourism in the Pak Nam Prasae community. The study employed a Participatory Action Research (PAR) approach through two methods: focus group discussions with six key community stakeholders and a survey of 384 consumers selected through accidental sampling. The findings revealed that 1) The community actively participated in designing packaging and promotional media that reflected environmental values and local cultural identity, as well as in developing a green tourism route that integrates eco-friendly products and provides meaningful experiences that effectively raise tourists’ environmental awareness. 2) Consumers expressed a high level of satisfaction with the promotional media — specifically, for natural tie-dye fabric made from  Prong Thong leaves (content: x̄ = 4.25, S.D. = 0.55), biodegradable seedling pots made from Prong Thong leaves (content: x̄ = 4.23, S.D. = 0.61), and the green tourism route (content: x̄ = 4.29, S.D. = 0.58) 3) regarding utilization, the economic dimension showed that new income sources emerged from innovative products developed from local resources, which can be further commercialized; the social dimension indicated that the community developed a sense of pride in its indigenous wisdom and successfully transferred such knowledge to younger generations; and the environmental dimension demonstrated that the use of biodegradable and chemical-free materials in product and packaging design helped reduce environmental impacts and fostered sustainable consumption behaviors in the long term. A significant finding of this study is the development of a Model for the Enhancement of Eco-Friendly Products and Sustainable Green Tourism, which consists of five key components: community participation, packaging as a strategic communication tool, storytelling for emotional engagement, media design using consumer insights, and communication for promoting sustainable behavior.