Abstract:
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The objectives of this study were to: 1) investigate the current context of
cultural tourism interpretation of Khao Phra Wihan national park, and the best
practical interpretation of cultural tourism interpretive management, 2) investigate the
perception-behavior of the tourists about the context of cultural tourism interpretation
of Khao Phra Wihan national park and the learning needs of the tourists about cultural
tourism interpretive programs of Khao Phra Wihan national park, and 3) determine
the form of a development model of cultural tourism interpretation of Khao Phra
Wihan national park. The combination of qualitative method and quantitative method
were applied with the data from both the relevant literature and the data collection.
Data were collected by in-depth interview with 10 staff members of Khao Phra Wihan
national park and 21 specialists and academics in the field of cultural tourism
interpretation. Population and samples were 400 Thai tourists with the questionnaire.
Additionally, 10 staff members of this park were interviewed by focus group
discussion to receive the comments and critiques of the drafting model; also, in-depth
interviews and the IOC scores to evaluate the content validity of the drafting model
with 10 specialists and academics were used. The research results showed that.
1) The current context of cultural tourism interpretation of the park
consisted of: 1) the interpreters, including the Office of National Park and Khao Phra
Wihan national park, 2) the story of tourist attractions, 3) interpretive media,
including visitor center, interpretive signs, website, and staff, and 4) tourists.
Furthermore, the best practical interpretation of Khom-Khmer cultural tourism
interpretive management was Angkor Wat temple, Cambodia. Also, the interpretive
management structure consisted of three main sectors namely international
communities, public sector, and private sector.
2) The perception-behavior of the tourists about the context of cultural
tourism interpretation of Khao Phra Wihan national park found that: staff of the park,
most of the respondents needed the staff who have the knowledge of tourist sites and
purposes of the interpretation; stories for interpretation, most of the respondents
needed the content that describes the important details; and the interpretive media,
most of the respondents needed the interpretive media with the powerful interpretive
techniques.
Regarding the learning needs of the tourists about cultural tourism
interpretive programs of Khao Phra Wihan national park, the results revealed that the
respondents needed to learn the stories, including: culture, history, belief, art, religion,
way of life, and geography; and the respondents needed to learn with staff of the park
as personal interpretation and website of the park as non-personal interpretation.
3) A development model of cultural tourism interpretation of Khao
Phra Wihan national park should consist of: interpreter, analysis of tourist behavior
based on the perception-behavior and the learning needs, interpretive design, tourist,
and feedback of tourists. These elements can be presented as follows.
(1) Interpreter: Interpreter embraced the Office of National Park,
staff of Khao Phra Wihan national park, and tour companies and local people. The
key qualification of all the sectors was the knowledge: knowledge in the story of
Khom-Khmer cultures and history and knowledge in art of presentation.
(2) Analysis of tourist behavior based on the perception-behavior
and the learning needs: The results of this analysis will allow the staff of Khao Phra
Wihan national park to further manage their current cultural tourism interpretive
planning in tourist attractions to enhance the learning experience of tourists.
(3) Interpretive design: Interpretive design was concerned with the
development of interpretive programs based on the story of tourist attractions and
interpretive media.
(4) Tourist: Tourist embraced the tourists of the park. The
following tourist demographics were the factors related to tourists such as gender, age
range, education level, occupation, domicile, travel arrangement, level of interests in
content of historical park/sites, and visit duration.
(5) Feedback of tourists: It was the visitor travel outcomes that
identify what tourist will have more learning and greater understanding as well as the
satisfaction with the interpretive programs of the park. It is needed to contribute to the
assessment of the objectives or goals of the interpretation based on the concept of the
interpretation and cultural tourism.
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