NAWATWITHI COMMUNITY-BASED DEVELOPMENT FOR DON WAI RIVERSIDE MARKET

Abstract

The objectives were to; examine the current condition of Don Wai Riverside Market; address the market’s development challenges based on the Nawatwithi’s concept of community-based tourism; and formulate a Nawatwithi development model for the market. This qualitative study employed in-depth interviews and non-participant observations to collect the data from a total of 10 key informants comprising public-sector administrators, public officers, entrepreneurs, and tourists. A thematic analysis was used to analyze the data. Findings revealed that; in the current condition of Don Wai Riverside Market, reflected a substantial volume of tourists amid the lack of One Tambon One Product’s (OTOP) retail supports; four market’s development problems, included; the missing cooperation between community members, entrepreneurs, and market owners; the lack of promotional pushes for the OTOP merchandises; the absence of tourism human resources; and the inadequacy of tangible public-relations efforts; and a Nawatwithi development guideline should include four elements, which were; a cooperative campaign for community members, entrepreneurs, and market owners; a solid promotional boost for the OTOP merchandises; a tourism training program for a better recruitment yield of tourism personnel; and an improvement on public relations for suitability and efficiency enhancement scheme for public relations.