Potential Assessment of Agro-Tourism awarded by the Philosophy of Sufficiency Economy Project in Bangkok and its Vicinity.

Abstract

The objectives of this research are: (1) to investigate the potential of agrotourism project sites in Bangkok and its vicinity that are officially recognized as following the principles of the Philosophy of Sufficiency Economy; (2) to create a good relationship between the researcher and the local community, tourism academics, experts and farmers. This study was conducted by means of semi-structured interviews and questionnaires. The participants are stakeholders including community leaders and agricultural owners. Content analysis was employed to analyze the qualitative data. Descriptive statistics (percentage and mean) was employed to present the quantitative data. The results of this research reveal that: (1) The strengths of the agro-tourism project sites include knowledge of the new agriculture theory and the expertise of owners. (2) The weaknesses include lack of services for tourists, rest areas and parking. (3) Base on all 34 indicators of 4 factors the overall averages scores of both agricultural sites are in the intermediate level at 2.24 and 2.11, respectively. (4) The most important factor determining the potential of agro-tourism sites is good attractive location, and the least important factor is lack of service.