Abstract:
The purposes of this study were to explore the potentiality to develop sustainable tourism in Ayutthaya province, to create a strategic plan to develop integrated sustainable tourism development in Ayutthaya province and to evaluate the implementation of the plan in a pilot project in a village in the province. The combination of qualitative and quantitative methods was used. The qualitative data were collected through the in-depth interviews, focus group discussion, SWOT analysis, participatory action research technique, The data were checked triangularly. The quantitative data were collected from the questionnaires. The data were checked with IOC technique. The statistical data were conducted by calculating in percentage and mean. The population of the research were all the stakeholders that were comprised of public and private sectors, community, Thai tourists, NGO and academic people.
The results revealed that: Ayutthaya province had the potentiality to become an integrated sustainable tourism destination, having the best location, the outstanding cultural and natural resources., sustainable management skills, local participation and tourist activities to raise awareness of conservation. The prospective strategic plan for Ayutthaya identified a vision: Ayutthaya will be developed to be the hub of tourism in the region with environmental standards, it will also become the model of an organic farming agro-tourism destination with the sufficiency economy principles, Ayutthaya will become the gateway to the world heritage trail as well as the hub of diverse cultural and religious destination in ASEAN. There were 4 strategic plans to reach this vision: the economic strategy included the marketing strategy and the product development tactics, the social strategy included the destination management organization and the networking tactics, the cultural and mind development strategy included the cultural preservation and mind development tactics and the environmental strategic plan comprised of the land-use planning and the resource management tactics. The implementation of the strategic plan at Ban Tai Wat village in Ayutthaya conducted significant economic, social, cultural and spiritual development, environmental to the community to create a sustainable destination."