An Approach to Develop Tourism Marketing Strategies for a New-born City: A Case Study of Bueng Kan—the Latest Province of Thailand

Abstract

Bueng Kan is a new province not well known among tourists. Moreover, it is in the Northern part of Thailand, which is not a popular destination compared to the Northern and the Southern parts of the country. However, Bueng Kan has a high potential to develop tourism industry to generate more revenues for the province because it has a variety of tourism resources to develop various types of tourism, and it also is easily accessible. Thus, there is a need to conduct a research on tourist behaviors and attitudes towards Bueng Kan. A survey research among a sample of customers at working ages in Bangkok, and it has been found that they know Bueng Kan, but they do not know what they can do or see when they travel to Bueng Kan. Nonetheless, their perceptual pictures of Bueng Kan are positive in all aspects. Therefore, there should be a good marketing communication campaign to make them know what they can do and see when they are in Bueng Kan to motivate them to travel to Bueng Kan. In order to formulate a strategy to develop potential of tourism industry in Bueng Kan, ideas, advices, and recommendations from all stakeholders involved including public sectors, private sectors, communities, and scholars need to be gathered. This is the genesis of a qualitative research conducted with in-depth interviews with public officers, local politicians, chamber of commerce members, private entrepreneurs in tourism industry, scholars in the fields of tourism, marketing, and marketing communications. Their answers from the in-depth interviews have been analyzed and organized as a foundation to formulate an efficient and effective strategy to develop potential of tourism industry in Bueng Kan. The researcher has proposed the foresaid strategy.