Khao Yai National Park Development Model Eco-Tourism Management

Abstract

This research was aimed to: 1) study the development level of management in an ecotourism, tourism resources marketing mix, tourism policy and potential of tourism attractions, 2) study an influence of tourism resources, marketing mix, tourism policy and potential of tourism attractions, affect the development level of management in Khao Yai ecotourism and, 3) study Khao Yai National Park development model ecotourism management. The mixed methods of quantitative and qualitative research were utilized; for quantitative, the samplings were 440 tourists traveling for Khao Yai National Park ecotourism. The probability sampling collection by questionnaire, and data analysis by structural equation modeling. For qualitative research, the in-depth interviewing of the 15 key informants knowledgeable in development administration for ecotourism directly. The purposive sampling and triangulation data analysis interpretation were used to make the conclusion inductive and present the qualitative data as a descriptive combination with quantitative data.

The research findings suggested: 1) the development of management in an ecotourism, tourism resources marketing mix, tourism policy, and potential of tourism attractions were at a high level, 2) the tourism resources influenced the development level of management in Kao Yai ecotourism totally in high level, the next lower were marketing mix, tourism policy and potential of tourism attractions, 3) development model ecotourism for this research was in “POON” model with  four components: (1) Peregrine policy “P,” (2) Origination of value added tourism products “O,” (3) Organizing of tourism to sustainability “O,” and (4) Networking in online tourism “N.”