Author(s)

P. Somnuek

Abstract

This developmental research was aimed to: 1) study the potential of the community for developing tourism business, 2) investigate and compare the levels of satisfaction of tourists towards the services and 3) analyze the effects of the implementation of tourism activities. The participatory action research was used for this study and data collection was done through questionnaires, which were later analyzed by using the summarization together with descriptive and inferential statistical measurements. Respondents in this study consisted of representatives of the community and senior members, committee of the community tourism association, and tourists. Research findings were as follow: 1) The tourist location of the community was found to have the potential for being a new eco-tourism location and the committee of the tourism club were found to have the potential to manage the community tourism business. 2) During the first phase of appraisal, tourists were found to have dissatisfaction with the overall service, but after a progressive evaluation, tourists were found to have higher satisfaction. 3) The local community members also stated that the various tourism activities produced positive socio-economic, cultural, lifestyle and environmental effects. Keywords: business development, tourism business, community-based tourism.

Keywords

business development, tourism business, community-based tourism