Sustainable ecotourism in the village of Khiriwong and the Khao Luang National Park, Thailand

Abstract

Sustainable ecotourism is often considered to be effective for supporting the local communities’ economy and promoting the conservation of protected areas in developing countries. By establishing economic benefits for impoverished villagers or their communities, sustainable ecotourism is utilized to encourage local guardianship of natural resources. To assess sustainable ecotourism’s impact on the revenue of local residents in the Village of Khiriwong and the Khao Luang National Park, and its effects on the environmental preservation of the Khao Luang National Park in Nakhon Si Thammarat Province, Thailand, the researcher randomly conducted surveys of then visitors’ attitudes about rewarding experiences during their village and park visits. Biologists and Ecologists were interviewed about sustainable ecotourism’s role in supporting environmental preservation in the village and national park. Also, local residents in the village, as beneficiaries, were asked by the researcher to provide their perceptions about the relationship of sustainable ecotourism to cultural disruption. To examine the sustainable ecotourism in the village and the national park and learn whether it provides the visitors with rewarding experiences, a qualitative research was conducted in the Village of Khiriwong and the Khao Luang National Park at Karom Unit, Nakhon Si Thammarat Province, Thailand. The visitors were asked to state their opinions via questionnaires after their village and national park visits. Sustainable ecotourism in the Village of Khiriwong and the Khao Luang National Park were investigated as to whether it helped support environmental conservation. The national park staff and the villagers were randomly selected for personal interviews by the researcher. A comprehensive literature review was conducted about tourism in protected areas, the tourists and ecotourists, host community and sustainable ecotourism, local attitudes, economic impacts, social impacts and environmental impacts caused by tourism, carrying capacity, tourism and sustainable development, and tourism and recreation in remote and sensitive destinations. The research methodology in this study centered upon on-site field observation and mailed and personal interview surveys. Visitors to the village and the national park were asked to complete the survey questionnaires, which were designed and prepared in Thai and English versions. Experts in environmental biology and ecology and local residents were interviewed by the researcher in person with the questions in both Thai and English. The survey was taken during the two-month stay in the village from September 6th to November 6th, 2000. After completing the data collection, the researcher brought the raw results to the United States of America for compilation and analysis. The survey information was analyzed to describe the sustainable ecotourism in the Village of Khiriwong and the Khao Luang National Park in terms of rewarding experiences, environmental preservation, social and cultural impacts and economic benefits. Suggestions and recommendations about maintaining and improving sustainable ecotourism in the destinations were established by the findings. The findings were evaluated using proposed sustainable ecotourism elements in the village and park. Besides providing visitors rewarding experiences, sustainable ecotourism became an instrument in natural resource conservation such as water use. The village tourism brought benefits and income to most local residents with tourism involvement. The local residents agreed with the village and park tourism that they needed more education to support the village and park tourism. Tourism improved access, stimulated new services and conveniences like roads but social problems also could be found. Numerous implications for concessions, national park and protected areas management, local participation, relationships between the village and park, environmental and cultural impacts caused by tourism were discussed.