Local Community Development through Community-Based Tourism Management: A Case Study of Mae Kampong Village

Abstract

The growth in tourism sector in Thailand is increasing rapidly over the past decades. Despite the conventional tourism that has reputation globally, another type of tourism is also slowly growing in Thailand. With the assistance from scholars, public and private organizations, the non-governmental agencies, governmental officials and environmentalists, the community-based tourism (CBT) has become an alternative for tourists who would like to experience the local ways of life. Many communities tried to operate the CBT, however they were struggled by the poor management, and failed to be successful. The paper explores the context of the CBT in Thailand, analyzes the CBT management of the case study of the village called Mae Kampong located in Chiang Mai, the province in the Northern part of Thailand, and extracts the important management strategies that made the village successful on the CBT operation. Collecting data, observing the phenomena in the village, and reviewing literatures for information and knowledge on the management of Mae Kampong, this paper argues that the success of Mae Kampong village is based upon the management system, the local participation, and the income distribution system.

DOI: 10.5901/mjss.2016.v7n3s1p407