PERCEPTION AND PARTICIPATION OF LOCAL PEOPLE ON THE IMPACTS OF TOURISM ON COMMUNITY’S WAY OF LIFE AT AMPHOE CHIANG KHAN, LOEI PROVINCE

Abstract

The objectives of this research are 1) to evaluate level of local people’s perception on the impacts of tourism on community’s way of life at Amphoe Chiang Khan Loei province 2) to analyze level of local people’s participation to solve problems caused by tourism on community’s way of life at Amphoe Chiang Khan Loei province.

The quantitative method was used in the research. The survey was conducted with 400 respondents, including 200 indigenous people living in Moo 1 and Moo 2 around Chiang Khan walking street, 100 local people settling in Moo 4 Ban Noi (Kang KudKu) Chiang Khan sub-district and 100 local people staying at Moo 4
Ban Napanat (Moo Ban Tai-Dum Cultural Center) Khao Kaeo sub-District. Descriptive and inferential statistics (Percentage, Frequency Distribution, Mean, Standard Deviation, t-test and One - way ANOVA) were employed to analyze data.

The results showed that most samples are women. The average age of respondents was between 36 - 50 years and their marital status was married. Most of them had the highest level of education of Secondary school. They had monthly income less than 5,000 baht, and they had extra-income out of tourism here. Most of them had been living there more than 10 years. The majority of them were not members of groups in the community and they used to participate in community activities.

In terms of the perception of local people on the impacts of tourism on community’s way of life at Amphoe Chiang Khan Loei province, the results showed that the samples had a perception of the positive impact of tourism at a high level but had a perception of the negative impact of tourism at the medium level.

Regarding the level of local people’s participation to deal with problems caused by tourism on community’s way of life at Amphoe Chiang Khan Loei province, the results showed that the majority of samples involved in receiving and sharing benefits at a medium level. Their participation in the operation process was also at the medium level. They were moderately involved in the process of idea sharing, planning and decision making. Nevertheless, the level of the participation on the evaluation process is low.