Sustainable Tourism Community: A Case Study of selected cities in the Ratchaburi Province, Thailand

Abstract

Community sustainable tourism is a good opportunity for Ratchaburi, where locals and stakeholders are key to sustainable development. The purpose of this paper is to understand the problems in the process of practicing sustainable development and to improve the awareness of sustainable development in the community. This study adopts a qualitative analysis method to understand how tourism stakeholders practice sustainable development in the Ratchaburi community through field experience and in-depth interviews, and to analyze the problems and solutions encountered in the development of the Ratchaburi community. The researchers chose the method of stereotyping analysis to study the interviewees by collecting data from the resort, homestay, garden, and cafe, as well as local people, including 3 owners, 5 managers and 2 local people. The researchers conducted an in-depth semi-structured interview. According to the research, the staff of the hotel, cafe, and garden in the Ratchaburi community have the awareness of sustainable development, and they are all helping the sustainable development of the community in their own ways, such as garbage sorting and separating recyclable and non-recyclable things. And using biodegradable and easily recyclable cups, as well as paper straws, and using organic materials to reduce pollution. However, the awareness of sustainable development of the local community is weak, the level of knowledge and culture is limited, the awareness of participation is insufficient, and other internal factors. It is suggested that the community should have certain training for the local residents, which can arouse the local people's awareness and responsibility for the local environment. Develop a set of criteria to measure progress, as long as local people have certain knowledge about sustainable development when tourists come to visit, local people can take responsibility to inform customer behavior, at the same time to protect and restore the development of the natural environment that people and economy depend on for survival, make Ratchaburi community more sustainable development.