การประเมินศักยภาพแหล่งท่องเที่ยวเชิงนิเวศจากมุมมองของนักท่องเที่ยว กรณีศึกษา อำเภอแม่สอด จังหวัดตาก

Abstract

The objectives of this research were to assess the potential of ecotourism attractions from tourists’ perspective using, Mae Sot district, Tak province as a case study. The quantitative data was collected by questionnaires from 400 Thai tourists travelling to three ecotourism attractions in Mae Sot District, Tak Province: Maekasa Hot Springs, Phacharoen Waterfall National Park, and Thaiwatthanaram Temple.  Qualitative data was collected by in-depth interviews from 9 tourists. The statistical tools used for data analysis were descriptive statistics, including frequency, percentage, mean, and standard deviation for quantitative data and content analysis for qualitative data.

Research findings had revealed that Thai tourists’ opinion towards the potential of three ecotourism attractions in Mae Sot district, Tak Province, in 6 aspects, arranged in descending order of mean values, are as follows: the convenience of tourist attraction accessibility aspect, extremely high-leveled potential (Mean = 4.51, SD = 0.578); the touristic value and charm aspect, high-leveled potential (Mean = 4.19, SD = 0.744); followed by the environment of tourist attraction aspect (Mean = 4.03, SD = 0.755), the tourist attraction administration aspect (Mean = 4.02, SD = 0.773); the facilities in tourist attraction aspect (Mean = 3.99, SD = 0.752); and the local participation aspect (Mean = 3.89, SD = 0.812).  From the interview, there are additional opinions towards the guidelines of ecotourism attraction development, which are facilities in tourist attractions should be more developed, ecotourism activities should be arranged and offered to tourists regularly, service and security standard should be well maintained, every sector, especially local communities should be participated in ecotourism development planning, and benefits from tourism should be fairly allocated.  Moreover, the officers at ecotourism attractions should be well-trained to prepare and welcome tourists, while capable of providing knowledge related to ecotourism. The attractions should also be more advertised and promoted.