The Impact of Ecotourism on Local Community with Various Ethnic Groups: A Case Study of Ruam-mitr Village, Mae-Yaaw Subdistrict, Muang District, Chiangrai Province

Abstract

This qualitative research aimed to investigate:1) impacts on environmental, economical,
social and cultural changes from Ecotourism of Ruam-mitr Village Community, Mae-Yaaw
Subdistrict, Muang District, Chiangrai Province; 2) impacts of Ecotourism of Ruam-mitr
Village Community, Mae-Yaaw Subdistrict, Muang District, Chiangrai Province; and
3) guidelines to lessen the impacts and to sustainably develop Ecotourism at Ruam-mitr
Village Community. The informants were important people living in Ruam-mitr Village
Community for more than 10 years. They were specifically and randomly selected from local
sophists or community leaders, service-business operators and tourism industry operators
within the community comprised of various ethnic groups both local native and hill tribe
people such as Karen, Akha, Lahoo, Hmong, Lee-Saw, Tai-lue, Kamhu and Lua. The research
tools were the questionnaires and Non-participant observation. Collected data were analyzed
using content analysis, and the results were in overall narrative form. The study revealed that:
1. The changes of the local community caused by the ecotourism impacts were found
that in environmental changes–the rapid growth of the community, systematic development of
the infrastructures, transportation system, and public facilities; the overall economy increased
satisfactorily–villagers earned high incomes and had high chances choosing a job; and socialchanges changed by leaps and bounds which affected their consciousnesses’ reductions of
cultural conservation.
2. The impacts of ecotourism towards the local community showed that environmental
impacts caused solid waste problem, air and noise pollutions from long-tailed boat trips in
the area; economic impacts affected some maldistributions of income and the unfair interests;
the conflicts among the villagers’ opinions and public participations in activities led to the
social impacts; and cultural impacts affected villagers’ beliefs, dresses, language and ways of
life.
3. The guidelines to lessen the impacts of Ecotourism at Ruam-mitr Village
Community were involved with the environmental guidelines—to encourage the cooperativeness
among tourists and operators about environmental conservations; economic guidelines—to
improve the administrative system by focusing on increasing and sharing incomes and interest
articulations of the villagers; social guidelines—to focus on the villagers’ recognizance of
growing and conserving of the community to be in the original conditions.
The guidelines to contribute of the sustainable ecotourism were suggested that creating
stakeholders’ awarenesses of ecosystem; emphasizing on villagers’ and local organizations’
participations in the activities; creating a network and cooperatives of ecotourism, especially
government sectors should support the internal tourism managements under facilitating factors
for tourism potential; and contributing occupations and maximize the local groups’ understandings
about natural conservation to be the community inheritance.