Management of Tourism Community Participation to “NAWATWITHI” OTOP Community Tourism Project

Abstract

This study aimed 1) to study the tourism contexts of “Nawatwithi” OTOP community tourism project; 2) to investigate the participatory process of Community-based tourism through the project. This study employed the qualitative research approaches including related literature review along with the in-dept interviews with 10 key informants who were involved in the community i.e., public, private sectors and civil society. and analyzed using descriptive. The results were analyzed and discussed according to the research objectives. The results of the study revealed that the tourism context can be physically differentiated from other tourist attractions. The significant potential for tourism in the “Nawatwithi” OTOP community is ranged from accommodation and travel routes, particularly tourist attractions which are dominant in its primitive nature. In terms of community tourism participation in the project consisted of three aspects; 1) participation in planning development 2) participation in working progress and; 3) Participation in monitoring and evaluating process. These practices were proposed to co-create from the collaboration of key relevant entities to develop concrete indicators as guidelines to evaluate a comprehensive level of participation based on the guideline summary for effective development.