Local Culture in Tourism Industry: Dynamism and Modification of The Wax Castle Festival in Globalization Era

Abstract

This study aims at investigating the model and development of Wax Castle Festival, and to explore the dynamism of cultural change to the local product. Specifically, the aim here is to reveal the factors that relate to the organising of the Sakon Nakhon Wax Castle Festival, in particular. It integrates economic change, society, and local culture in related to tourism context, social relation caused by the process of organising and defining a new term through the Wax Castle Festival. Regarding the current tourism trend, this qualitative research has mainly collected the data from observation, participant observation and in-depth interview with 25 key-informants. The results show that the wax castle festival has been developed and adjusted throughout the historical period, including its model and its setting of a procession. Notably, the simplified model of the wax castle is tetrahedron shape. Similarly, the wax castle procession is likely to an emphasis on an enormous of the parade and participation of local people. The study suggests that there is dynamism of these factors: term of the wax castle festival, religion and tourism context, local culture and tourism product. In other words, the wax castle festival leads to dynamism in economics, society, and culture. To that end, the establishment of the wax castle festival is required cooperation from stakeholders. Therefore, it results to the full use of social capital and social network which can preserve culture and tradition and finally can drive the localness of the community.