Guidelines for managing national parks to achieve sustainable tourism: a Case Study of Maya Bay, Nopparat Thara Beach National Park - Phi Phi Islands, Krabi Province

Abstract

Sustainable tourism strikes a balance of both preserving the resources of tourist attractions and generating tourism revenue. However, the concept of sustainable tourism is still an issue. From policy to management level, the issue is that Maya Bay has been squandered. Maya Bay is an important case study, as in the past, the Maya Bay area used to allow tourism activities to be carried out without supervision measures. As a result, marine resources has been deteriorated rapidly, and Tourism activities in the area must be shut down in order to conserve natural resources, monitored by the Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation. Although tourism activities are currently allowed under strict supervision measures, such as limiting the number of tourists, limiting tourist time, demarcation of tourism activities, redefining mooring points and floating jetties, these measures reflect only environmentally specific management, there are still no measures that focus on managing the sociocultural and economic dimensions, which are the other important dimensions for sustainable tourism. The government therefore needs to increase social and cultural measures, by creating awareness and understanding for local communities, promoting and supporting participation in communities and resource management, and enhancing economic measures by supporting tourism-related employment in communities, including encouraging communities to generate more income from tourist attractions through the blue economy concept and the division of areas in national parks for the economic use of communities, as well as elevating Maya Bay as a sample area for study, research, and development. Social, cultural, and economic measures will encourage local communities to feel a sense of ownership of resources. Although it cannot be occupied because it is in the national park zone, there is a realization that such resources can generate huge income for communities, which will be the starting point for the creation of sustainable tourism.