| Summary: | The purposes of this research were to: 1) study the local wisdom and cultural capital of the Thai Phuan community at Thanon Yai, Lop Buri Province, and 2) propose guidelines to promote participatory cultural tourism in accordance with wisdom and cultural capital of theThai Phuan community. The informant groups in this study, selected through purposive sampling, were agency executives and academic staff, community leaders and residents in the Thai Phuan community. This included document reviews, in-depth interviews, focus groups, and a community forum. The qualitative data were analyzed by content analysis of the local wisdom and cultural capital of Thai Phun community at Thanon Yai. The findings showed that residents in Thai Phuan community at Thanon Yai were unique in their traditional way of life, that is, having their own spoken language, and manner of adherence to Buddhism. There are sacred places including temples, grandfather shrines and grandmother shrines. They have their own traditions, cultures and local wisdom. In addition, Thanon Yai Sub-district also has a lime soil that can be used to produce white clay filler. The problems faced by theThai Phuan community were: lifestyles of Thai Phuan people were being gradually absorbed into the Thai way of life, Thai Phuan descendants lack awareness and they disregard the traditions of the community, there was no good systematic tourism management, lack of public relations and the government’s budget was insufficient. With regards to the guidelines for Thai Phuan community at Thanon Yai, it is recommended that a committee responsible for tourism should be established. Government sectors should allocate enough budget for supporting tourism cultural activities, improving museums and places, arranging cultural tourism activities, setting a systematic travel route, improving public relations and developing the potential of local tour guides.
|
|---|