Management Strategies of Historical Tourist Sites in Tham Luang-Khun Nam Nang Non National Park

Abstract

The purposes of this research were to study the potential and strategies formulation for historical tourist sites management in Tham Luang-Khun Nam Nang Non National Park, Chiang Rai Province. An in-depth interview was conducted with six representatives involved in the management of historical tourist sites in Tham Luang-Khun Nam Nang Non National Park, including public sector, private sector, and community. A SWOT analysis was used to study the potential of tourist attractions and the TOWS Matrix analysis technique was used to formulate historical attraction management strategies.

The results showed that the potential of historical tourist sites in Tham Luang-Khun Nam Nang Non National Park can be developed into a historical attraction, but it was still lack of management according to the historical attraction management standards. In addition, the results reveled that there were some strategies which can be used to manage the historical tourist sites in Tham Luang-Khun Nam Nang Non National Park including: 1) SO Strategy: media preparation, activities, and public relations; 2) ST Strategy: infrastructure development, organizing educational activities on the management of historical tourist sites, and creating tourism-linked programs; 3) WO Strategy: promoting technologies usage and determining the capacity of the historical tourist sites to accommodate tourists; and 4) WT Strategy: organizing activities to raise community’s awareness of the problems,  assessing the quality of tourist attractions and developing a security and sanitation system in the tourist attractions.