The Guidelines for Sustainable Tourism Development in Nakorn Nayok Province After COVID-19 Situation

Abstract

The objectives of this research aimed to 1) study the tourism situation of Nakhon Nayok Province 2) study the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats of tourism in Nakhon Nayok Province and 3) propose guidelines for sustainable tourism development in Nakhon Nayok Province after the COVID-19 situation. This research was a qualitative research collecting data from previous research, academic articles, documents, and in-depth interview with heads of government departments, associations, entrepreneurs, and civil society related to tourism in Nakhon Nayok Province including 17 key informants selected by purposive sampling. The data were collected through in-depth interviews, focus groups, and participant observations. The results showed that the Covid-19 outbreak situation affected the tourism industry, and related industries causing tourism entrepreneur lose economic opportunities. However, the strength of Nakhon Nayok Province is the location closed to Bangkok and metropolitan area and having various tourist attractions. While managing tourist attractions and public relations is also a major weakness. In addition, the spread of the COVID-19 virus causes tourists having no safety in life and well-being. The guidelines for sustainable tourism development in Nakhon Nayok Province after the Covid-19 situation consist of 6 factors as following 1) promoting and developing tourism personnel; sports and recreation to support the growth of the tourism industry 2) building the cooperation and promoting tourism entrepreneurs to be certified by SHA or SHA Plus 3) promoting marketing and public relations 4) establishing tourism promotion projects 5) developing the transformative tourism industry and 6) creating the value-adding of products, services, activities, and tourism products.