Influencing factors on community-based tourism development support in Thailand

Community-based tourism (CBT) is a hope of the Thailand government to alleviate poverty. Problem statement: one colossal gap was a lack of community participation, and others include unfair distribution of benefits, harmful negative impacts, imbalance of external support, and problems in marketing. Research objectives: this study investigates the three dimensions of the problem—first, the relationship between the six factors that influence community participation. Second, exploring the role of community participation and the perceived benefits as mediators between the six factors and CBT development support, and third, testing the role of socio- demographics as moderating factors between community participation and CBT development support. Methodology: this empirical quantitative study uses a survey method in 47 CBT villages in four regions of Thailand. The population is 69,404 people who are village leaders, CBT operators, homestay owners, and villagers, while the samples are 472 subjects. Data collection by purposive sampling uses self-administrative questionnaires. Descriptive statistics describe the characteristics of respondents, while Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) – Analysis of Moment Structures (AMOS) identifies the direct and indirect relationships of the variables, including the analysis of the measurement of Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA), the Measurement Model, and the Structural Model. The findings: factors influencing the development of CBT consist of ownership, external support, marketing, and community empowerment. Community participation and the perceived benefits are mediators, while gender, age, marital status, and income play moderating roles in the relationships between community participation and CBT development support. The body of knowledge contribution is to confirm the influential factors driving CBT development. Significances and conclusion: the study successfully establishes a significant relationship between ownership, external support, community empowerment and community participation. The perceived benefits, community participation, and the socio-demographics of the stakeholders can identify the success of CBT development support.

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