The objectives of research paper were (1) to study the current situation of the management of cultural tourism in Photharam district, Ratchaburi province, (2) to study Idealistic trend of temple development for cultural tourism in Photharam district, Ratchaburi province, and (3) to propose guidelines of temple development for cultural tourism in Photharam district, Ratchaburi province that corresponds to the current situation and ideal trend. The research methodology was the qualitative research had the documentary analysis and interview as the tool to collect the data in the field study from 17 key informants and analyzed the data through the content analysis technique.

The findings of this research were as following:

1. The current situation of the management of cultural tourism in Photharam district, Ratchaburi province as following: (1) Attraction side; Khanon temple which has been awarded by UNESCO, etc. (2) Amenity side; the tourist service center, etc. (3) Accessibility side; car route signs, etc. (4) Safety side; civil protection volunteers perform safety work with government officials, etc. (5) Marketing side; marketing stimulation from tourism business operators, etc., and (6) Tourist side; a focus on satisfaction and impression of tourists, etc.

2. An idealistic trend on temple’s development for cultural tourism in Photharam district, Ratchaburi province as following: should be managed by emphasizing the participation of stakeholders in the community, should support the budget equal to every temple that is a tourist attraction, should establish a strategic plan based on PDCA principles, should create a Buddhist activity calendar by reference to various festivals to promote tourism, not emphasizing the story of sacred objects but emphasizing Buddhist art, not collecting admission fees from Thai people, should amend the law regarding temple maintenance support, should classify tourists groups for providing services that meet the travel needs, every temple with cultural heritage should register the Antique Sites without worrying about administrative freedom, and should conserve the Mon community culture as the national cultural heritage rather than focusing on tourism income.

3. The guidelines of temple development for cultural tourism in Photharam district, Ratchaburi province that corresponds to the current situation and ideal trend as following: (1) Attraction side; all stakeholders involved in preserving the traditional culture of the Mon community and publicizing it, etc. (2) Amenity side; all stakeholders involved in organizing the tourist service center to support the foreign tourists and have language experts, etc. (3) Accessibility side; department of highways installed additional signs in the access point or intersection area, etc. (4) Safety side; temple install additional CCTV cameras to cover tourist attractions and areas within the temple, etc. (5) Marketing side; all stakeholders involved in public relations in various channels, etc., and (6) Tourist side; tourism business operators in the area providing services to Thai and foreign tourists equally.

Download