Guidelines for Supporting the Elderly Tourist Groups in Religious Tourism Development in Si Sa Ket Province

Abstract

The elderly are a tourist group likely to expand continuously, but Si Sa Ket province still has developmental problems and needed to raise and standardize the potential of tourism for supporting the elderly tourist groups, especially at religious attractions. Therefore, the purposes of the study were to (1) to investigate the potential of religious tourist attractions in Si Sa Ket province for supporting elderly tourist groups, (2) to explore elderly tourist groups behavior and needs in religious tourism in Si Sa Ket province, and (3) to propose guidelines for religious tourism development in Si Sa Ket province for supporting elderly tourist groups through using mixed methods research. The sample groups were composed of (1) 30 representatives from public sector, (2) 400 Thai elderly tourists, (3) 30 stakeholders including public and private organizations, and public sector, and (4) 7 expert advisory committees. The research instruments comprised a performance evaluation form, questionnaire, a series of questions on the issue and a brainstorming meeting. For data analysis, frequency, percentage, mean, standard deviation, and content analysis were utilized. The results of this study revealed that (1) There were 10 religious tourist attractions, three of them had quite high potential, five of them had moderate potential, and two of them had quite low potential, (2) the elderly tourist group visiting for religious tourism in Si Sa Ket province was mostly female aged 60-64, was domiciled in the northeast region, aimed to visit for making merit and paying respect to Buddha or praying for holy blessings, preferred to take a trip at the weekend and they came to visit with their family by personal cars. Information perception of tourism derived from their relatives or families and they did not use any travel aid equipment. The elderly tourist group indicated their safety needs at the highest level, followed by the facility and the place respectively, 3) the guidelines for religious tourism development in Si Sa Ket province for supporting the elderly tourist group, public and private organizations, and public sector should work together to improve tourism in an integrated way. For example, they must focus on the development of safety system, basic facilities and other services for the elderly as well as organize tourism activities suitable for the elderly and develop the involved personnel to possess knowledge and understanding about the tourism management for the elderly. Si Sa Ket province would benefit from the application of guidelines for the development to set a policy and plan to develop the religious attractions for upgrading its capacity for supporting the elderly tourists according to the provincial development plan and served the tourists’ needs further.