Tourism Development Guidelines for the Army Land Project: The 210 th Military Circle, Phra Yot Muang Kwang Military Base, Nakhon Phanom province

Abstract

        The objectives of this research are 1) to study the potential of tourist attractions in the area of the 210^th Military Circle, Phra Yot Muang Kwang Military Base, Nakhon Phanom Province 2) to analyze travel scenarios under the Army Land Project of the 210^th Military Circle, Phra Yot Muang Kwang Military Base, Nakhon Phanom Province and 3) to suggest ways to develop tourism under the Army Land Project of the 210^th Military Circle, Phra Yot Muang Kwang Military Base, Nakhon Phanom Province by using the Qualitative Research Method. The approaches used in this research method consist of a non-participant observation and a semi-structured in-depth interview. The researchers used purposive sampling in which the researchers considered choosing 15 members of the population involving in tourism development. They were from government sector, private sector, and local people. The researchers also used the concept of tourism potential (5As) in the research.

          From the study, the researchers found that the tourist attractions in the area of the 210^th Military Circle, Phra Yot Muang Kwang Military Base, Nakhon Phanom Province have the ability to accommodate tourists, which the researchers consider five aspects including 1) what attracts tourists 2) access to the tourist attractions 3) facilities 4) accommodations and 5) tourism activities.

             From the analysis of the traveling situations, the researchers found that there are many strenghts of the tourist attractions in the area of the 210^th Military Circle, Phra Yot Muang Kwang Military Base, Nakhon Phanom Province including 1) a wide range of types of unique traveling activities 2) knowledge for tourists to learn from and 3) safe activities tourists can feel confident to attend. Nevertheless, there are also many weaknesses of the tourist attractions including 1) lack of cooperation with other parties in advertizing the tourist attractions 2) no officials at each tourist attraction 3) lack of connection with other tourist attractions. In the meantime, there are a lot of opportunities for the tourist attractions in the area of the 210^th Military Circle, Phra Yot Muang Kwang Military Base. The first opportunity is that there are many tourism facilities outside the area of the 210^th Military Circle, Phra Yot Muang Kwang Military Base. The second opportunity is that Nakhon Phanom Province has several kinds of transportation for tourists. The next opportunity is that both the army and Nakhon Phanom provincial government set aside a budget to support tourism under the Army Land Project. As  to  threats, there are limitations due to rules and restrictions of the 210^th Military Circle, Phra Yot Muang Kwang Military Base. Another threat factor is that a budget from the government is never enough to improve the tourist attractions.  The next threat is that the public transportations within Nakhon Phanom Province are not enough for tourists’ need.

          Guidelines to tourism development under the Army Land Project in the area of the 210^th Military Circle, Phra Yot Muang Kwang Military Base are as follows: 1) there should be more facilities for tourists such as tourist information center, souvenir shops, restaurants, standard restrooms and parking lots 2) there should be more modern adventure activities such as BB GUN shootings, slingshot shooting, planting trees, ATV drives or Go Kart around the 210^th Military Circle, Phra Yot Muang Kwang Military Base 3) there should be more advertizing about the tourist attractions and joint travel programs cooperated by government sector, private sector, and local people along with tourism management which can help turn the 210^th Military Circle, Phra Yot Muang Kwang Military Base into a famous tourist attraction under the Army Land Project, leading to better economic improvement of Nakhon Phanom Province.