Communicating Wisdom through Community Based Tourism

Abstract

The objective of this research was to study the tourism activities undertaken by people in Sainoy Sub-district Cultural Community and Baan Namchieow Eco-tourism Community in the aspects of (1) the context of the communities; (2) their methods and process of communicating local wisdom; and (3) their communication strategies and presentation formats for communicating local wisdom through tourism. The key informants consisted of leaders of community tourism groups, tourism group committee members, village savants, mayors and related officials, village headmen, members of Sainoy Sub-district Cultural Community and Baan Namchieow Eco-tourism Community, and tourists, for a total of 40 people, chosen through purposive sampling and the snowball method. Research tools were an in-depth interview form, focus group discussion topics, and an observation form. Data were analyzed through descriptive analysis. The results showed that (1) Sainoy Sub-district Cultural Community is an agricultural community where traditional Thai sweets are made, as well as bricks and processed agricultural products. There are traditional Thai houses and the community is based on a riverside way of life, with the Chao Phraya River its main waterway. Ancient merit making traditions that have been passed down are the community’s cultural capital. There are experts in making Thai sweets in the community and the community leaders are strong, which is the human resources capital. People in Baan Namchieow Eco-tourism Community engage in fishing by hand, which is their trademark. It is a community with two religions and three cultural heritages. A tradition of competing on bamboo rafts ties the three ethnicities together. Mangrove forests are the community’s main attraction and natural resources capital. The human resources capital includes experts in folk ways of fishing and strong leaders who aspire to develop the community. (2) Both communities emphasized 3 steps in their process of communicating local wisdom – production, inheritance, and application. They used methods of community communication, including internal and external, horizontal and vertical, formal and informal. Participatory communication was used in all the steps from brainstorming to policy making to operations to distribution of benefits and joint evaluation. (3) Both communities used participatory and community communications with mixed communication strategies. Their first strategy was a sustainable plan for communicating local wisdom. Their second strategy was the WELCOME model, consisting of W (Wisdom – systematic passing down of local wisdom), E (Experience – building good experiences for community members and tourists), L (Learning creating tangible learning for tourists), COM (Communication building correct understanding through public relations), and E (Elegance a sense of pride in participating in the effort to preserve the local heritage)