รูปแบบการท่องเที่ยวเชิงนิเวศเขตลุ่มน้ำแม่แตง

Abstract

The purposes of this research were to study the background ant the context of the villages at the Mae Taeng River in order to analyze strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats for performing the model of ecotourism. The scope of the research is focused on Sob Kai village and the other villages which are connected to ecotourism. The research processing was to collect data by the participant observation, non-participant observation, unstructured interview, documentary studying , focus group and SWOT analysis. Before the presentation of the data by the description analysis the researchers examined the data by data triangulation , methodological triangulation and content analysis. The results of the research. The research found that the primitive communities in Ban Muang Gued were Lawas They settled in this area more than 500 years ago Ban Sob Kai in the former time depended on Ban Muang Gued. Ban Muang Gued , Ban Muang Kong and Ban Wiang Haeng were interrelated by along the way of the Mae Taeng River or by the routes through the jungle. In 1605, King Naresuan the great’s army used this route into Burma for fighting in Thai-Tai, Burmese war. About 100 years ago, Thai people migrated into this area to make rice fields, cut wood and establish tea garden forest etc. After that about 50 years ago, Lahu, Mong, Aka, Mien, Lesu and Karen migrated in to the other areas along the Mae Taeng River. Lawas escaped the invasion groups to settle in other areas. Because, the area is fertile with the forest ecosystem, biological diversity cultural diversity and other attractions, allowcentric tourist groups traveled into this area for trekking and adventure. Since 1984, traveling by bamboo-rafting has been taking place, starting at Ban Pha Khaowlam and ending at Ban Sob Kai. Every year about 530,000 international tourists go bamboo-rafting in this area and generate an annual income of about 847,470,000 Baht. The business sector out of the village gets about 612,650,000 Baht and in the village gets about 234,790,000 Baht. The business sector outside the village gets benefit more than 2.6 times. Each year 87,600 bamboo stems are used to make rafts for the journey from Ban Pha khaowlam, Ponghan to Ban Sob Kai. Trekking and adventure tours not only destroy the tourism resources, but also make villagers lose income and benefits and the tourists lack environmental education. To solve the problem, the research offers 3 forms of ecotourism or sustainable tourism. They are ecotourism aimed at studying the forest ecosystem and the biological diversity, cultural tourism for studying the cultural diversity and thirdly, historical tourism for studying the route of King Naressuan the great’s army. The three forms of tourism do not separate nature from culture and history because they are in the same area. Therefore, ecotourism in the Mae Taeng river area included three forms of the sustainable tourism, and Ban Sob Kai is the center for connecting with the other villages in this area.