| Popis: |
The research in this study was conducted to focus on the enhancing of capabilities of tourist attractions through local food in the western region of Thailand. The article explores tourism information for food learning in eight provinces in order to design a suitable tourism route with the potential for ‘food learning’. The methodology applied for this research was mixed. The researcher analyzed the local food secondary data and this was followed by interviewing experts about food and lifestyle including surveying tourist attractions potential so as to represent the identity of various food cultures, traditions and indigenous knowledge based on the concepts of ecotourism, agritourism, community-based and sustainable tourism types, respectively. The results of the aforementioned analysis and on-site surveys revealed that each province had its own distinctive identity and characteristics that can be defined as tourist attractions. The identity of food culture in this western region can be divided into two groups namely, a group of coastal provinces and a group of inland provinces. After grouping the provinces based on their unique identities and distinctive characteristics, together with their tourist attractions, apposite tourism routes were designed with itineraries including local food promotion. Further analysis revealed that the potential of tourist attractions could be reduced to include three attractive commercial potential tourism routes. Palmyra palm (Borassus flabellifer L.) belonging to the family Palmae is of special interest. A two-day itinerary was created to be used as a model and as an example for local food learning in the three selected routes. It is expected that the commercial potential of these provinces can be used to create a new tourism model in the western region and then matched with foreign individual tourism (FIT) as well as the tourists preferences for local food learning in the form of a slogan “Tour, Taste & Learn”. The findings may enable working teams in each regional office of the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) to further develop and upgrade their creative tourism route through local food promotion. |
