Strategic Directions for the Sustainable Development of Nakhon Phanom Airport to Support Its Future Transformation into a Major Tourism Destination

Abstract

          This research aimed to 1) examine tourists' attitudes toward sustainable management at Nakhon Phanom Airport, 2) analyze factors influencing tourists’ motivation toward its sustainable management, and 3) propose sustainable development guidelines for Nakhon Phanom Airport to support its future transformation into a major tourism destination. A mixed-methods design was employed. Quantitative data were collected via questionnaires from 400 airport passengers and analyzed using descriptive statistics and multiple linear regression. Qualitative data were gathered through in-depth interviews with 11 key informants and analyzed using coding and thematic analysis.

           The findings revealed that: 1) tourists' overall attitudes and motivation toward the sustainable airport management were at a high level; 2) all four attitude dimensions cognitive, affective, behavioral, and perceptual exerted a significant positive influence on motivation, with the affective dimension showing the strongest effect (β = 0.366), the model explaining 50.40% of the variance; 3) sustainable development guidelines comprised five strategic areas: physical and environmental foundation-building, operational efficiency enhancement, identity-based experience creation, economic and tourism linkage, and governance and stakeholder participation. These findings suggest that Nakhon Phanom Airport should be developed not only as transportation infrastructure but also as an experiential space and a strategic driver of the province's tourism economy within a sustainability framework.