Subject Development of Training Courses for Tour Guides Along the Agricultural Tourism Route in the College of Agriculture and Technology

Abstract

Background and Aims: Developing tour guides to be well-versed in tourist attractions, creating love and pride in the local area, and developing a personality for good work performance. Able to put knowledge gained from training to good use. It also lays the foundation for professional knowledge. In addition, having a tour guide who is a person from their local area also helps in the matter of knowledge transfer because the tour guide is a local person and is, therefore, able to convey knowledge correctly. Thus, the objectives of this research were 1) to study basic information, current conditions, and training needs, 2) to develop the training curriculum, 3) to test the training curriculum, and 4) to evaluate the training curriculum and proceed it by using the research and development procedure.

Methodology: The research is divided into 4 phases. The first one is to study basic information, current conditions, and training needs. Phase 2 is to develop a training curriculum. Phase 3 is to test the curriculum. Lastly, it is to evaluate the training curriculum. The sample group is 186 diploma students using questionnaires to study. The target groups used in the interview are 15 stakeholders which are obtained by purposive sampling. The group used in Phase 2 is 7 experts who provide information for the seminar. In addition, the sample in the trial course is 30 students from the Agricultural Tourism Club. The tools are surveys, questionnaires, an assessment of conformity, and a satisfaction questionnaire. Statistics in data analysis were percentage, mean, and standard deviation.

Results: (1) The overall level of the current state of the training to develop training courses for tour guides along the agricultural tourism route is moderate. When considering in each finding, it is found that all moderate levels. Furthermore, the level of need for training tour guides along the agricultural tourism route as a whole is at the highest level. Considered on a case-by-case basis, it was found that the level was high and the highest. (2) The training course for tour guides along the agricultural tourism route consists of 7 elements as follows: 1) Background and importance of the course 2) Principles of the course 3) Objectives of the course 4) Content of the course 5) Training activities 6) Training materials and 7) Measurement and evaluation The training curriculum has a high overall level of consistency in all aspects. There is a high level of appropriateness of the overall training course outline in all aspects as well. (3) The implementation of the tour guide training course along the agritourism route found that the trainees had higher test scores after training for tour guides along the agritourism route Higher than the 80% threshold with an average score of ability to conduct tours as an agricultural tourism guide, during training, there was an average score for making tour guides of 27.17, calculated as 90.56 percent, and an average score for making tours according to the tour guide program of 18.47, calculated as 92.33 percent overall satisfaction in every aspect was at the highest level. (4) The evaluation of the tour guide training course along the agricultural tourism route was at the highest level.

Conclusion: The current condition of tour guides along agritourism routes is balanced in all respects. It is at a moderate level in all items. and has the highest level of demand for training. The training course for tour guides along agricultural tourism routes consists of 7 elements that are consistent in terms of quality and suitability. The trainees had the highest test scores and satisfaction with the details of the tours that promote tour guides in the field of agritourism and had the highest level of overall satisfaction. The results of the training course evaluation also confirmed that the quality of both testing and overall assessment was at the highest level.