A Model for Developing Young Tour Guides to Promote Cultural Tourism: A Case Study of Nong Pa Krang Municipality, Muang, Chiang Mai

Abstract

The objectives of this study were: 1) to study the background of the community 2) to design a training curriculum for the purpose of developing young tour guides and finally 3) to design and present the model by applying qualitative and quantitative research methods. The data were collected from documents, interviews as well as through participants’ observations, and tests were conducted before and after the training.

It was discovered that 1) there was a variety of cultural inheritance in the community, however, it has not yet received the recognition and publicity. Therefore, the recommendation is to further develop and train young tour guides with good knowledge and understanding of their communities. 2) a training curriculum was developed to enhance English communication in 5 topics; group relationship activities, principles for tourist guides, English for communication, field trip training, and role play scenarios conducted by experts in English, culture and tourism. The experiment in this model was conducted with 30 people over five days. The tools to evaluate the model comprised of an interview form regarding the challenges and needs for tour guides in the area; a survey pertaining to the needs for relevant activities; a test of English as well as a survey to determine the needs to develop the English abilities of the participants. After the training, it appeared that the participants’ skills had significantly increased. 3) there are 7 processes of a model for developing young tourist guides; studying backgrounds and needs of the community, surveying local wisdom and tourist attractions, doing pre-test and post-test for English proficiency, setting a training curriculum, organizing the training course, practicing and visiting the cultural tourist attractions, and setting English role-play contest for excellent young tourist guides to work for the community.