Household Participation in Community-Based Tourism Management in Don Det Village, Khong District, Champasak Province, Lao PDR

Abstract

The objectives of this study were to investigate the following: 1) household participation; 2) factors relating to household participation; and 3) recommend guidelines for household participation promotion in community-based tourism management in Don Det village, Khong District, Champasak province, Lao PDR. Households were unit of analysis in this study and respondents in this study consisted of 104 households in Don Det village. A set of questionnaires passing content validity and reliability test was used for data collection. The reliability values of the questionnaire on attitude of the head of household was 0.78 and on household participation in community-based tourism management was 0.92. Findings showed that household participation in community-based tourism management of Ban Don Det community, most of the respondents participated at a moderate level (mean = 3.00). The three aspects were also found at a moderate level: (1) participation in management community tourism activities (mean = 2.66); (2) participation in the process preparing communities to support tourism (mean = 2.67); (3) participation in evaluation from the tourism community activities (mean = 3.05). However, participation in benefiting from the tourism community activities was found at a high level (mean = 3.71). Significant factors that could predict the relationships towards household participation in community-based tourism management were two independent variables: the number of household members involved in tourism and the attitude of the head of household were correlated with the household participation in the management of community-based tourism at a moderate level (R = 0.449, P <0.05). This could explain the relationships between independent variables as mentioned and household participation in community-based tourism management with a statistical significance level of 20.20 percent. The following were suggestions in the policy level: 1) There should have meetings in the village so that some people who are not involved in tourism get to know the tourism, importance of tourism and benefits of tourism; 2) Provincial Information, Culture and Tourism Office of Champasak Province should support and promote tourism marketing for Don Det village. And other suggestions were as follows: 1) There should be a mutually agreement upon sharing benefits to each individual household within the community as appropriately; 2) it should promote more people to be involved in community tourism; and 3) the training should be provided to educate people in the community about tourism management and should raise awareness about conservation of tourism resources in the community.