Abstract:
The purposes of this research were 1) to investigate the ecological system of the mangrove forests along the tourist routes at Pang-nga Bay, Pang-nga Province, 2) to develop the guidelines about the mangrove forests for the Thai tourists, and 3) to study the level of efficiency of the training manuals and the tourists satisfaction with these guidelines. Regarding the environmental science, the researcher studied the types and importance value of the local plants in this forest. There were 11 types of plants found in this area: Rhizophora apiculata, Bruguiera gymnorrhiza. Ceriops tagal. Bruguiera cylindrical. Bruguiera parviflora. Xylocapus granatum. Xylocapus moluccensis. Avicennia officinalis. Excoecaria agallocha. Heritiera littoralis. and Sonneratia alba. The study ranked the plants in order of importance using a value index as follows: Rhizophora apiculata (8.60), Excoecaria agallocha ( 12.26), and Xylocapus granatum (8.50). Regarding environmental education, the researcher developed the guidelines to study the mangrove forests at Ban Bang Tip , and used them with 30 tourists who visited Pang-nga Bay.The data was analyzed by using percentage, means and t-test. The results of the study revealed that after using the guidelines, the students level of understanding, attitudes, and awareness to conserve the mangrove forests had increased greatly with a 0.05 level of reliability.