Sustainable Tourism Development of Nan Province, Thailand

Abstract

The objective of this research is to study 1) the levels of sustainable tourism development, government roles, awareness and involvement of local communities, impact of tourism development policy, and benefits from tourism; and 2) the influence of government roles, awareness and involvement of local communities, impact of tourism development policy, and benefits from tourism on the sustainable tourism development. This research used quantitative research methods. The sample group consists of 320 people in the Nan Province area. The sample size was determined using the criteria of 20 times of the observed variables. The research tools were the questionnaires using a multi-step sampling method. The data was collected from the questionnaires and was analyzed by descriptive statistics and structural equation models. The research results revealed that 1) sustainable tourism development, government roles, impact from tourism development policy, awareness and involvement of local communities, and benefits from tourism were at a high level, and 2) benefits from tourism entirely influenced the sustainable tourism development the most followed by government roles and awareness and involvement of local communities, respectively.