Market in the Garden: A Community-based Creative Tourism Destination on the Path of Agriculture, Art, and Culture in Nakhon Pathom Province

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to create a process of developing community-based creative tourism based on agriculture, art, and culture in Nakhon Pathom Province. This research utilizes the Participatory Action Research (PAR) approach, combined with the Appreciation Influence Control (AIC) technique. The sample group includes government agencies, private sector entities, and local villagers who are stakeholders in the area. A purposive sampling method was used to select 30 participants. Data collection tools included focus group discussions, and data analysis was conducted to draw conclusions and present them descriptively.

The research findings revealed that the Ban Hua Ao community has a process for developing community-based creative tourism using the AIC technique, which consists of 3 steps. 1) Studying the community context and potential for community-based creative tourism in Nakhon Pathom Province: it was found that the Thai-Chinese community engages in fruit farming, excels in organic agriculture, and provides safe food. The community meets the excellent standard criteria for community-based tourism management (score of 3.42).
2) Preparing the Ban Hua Ao community learning center area before developing community-based creative tourism: This is done under the name "Market in the Garden" with the slogan "The Nature of Health Lovers." 3) Piloting the "Market in the Garden": This involves launching and continuing the market activities up to the present.