Economic Benefits of Community-Based Tourism’s Management: A Case Study of Ban Bua, Muang District Phayao

Abstract

This article aimed to evaluate the economic benefits of community-based tourism management by applying qualitative research guidelines to collect and check the reliability and accuracy of data obtained from the in-depth interviews with community leaders and stakeholders in activities related to community-based tourism of Ban Bua community in Phayao Province. The results found that community-based tourism is managed by decentralized management through the Learning Center. A committee to set service fees and the allocation of occurring benefits. The benefits were divided through three sectors. The result from the economic benefit estimation showed that the activities related to community-based tourism earn about 1.5 million baht per year. The activity which created the highest return was the food group while the homestay received the net present value of 0.77-1.87 hundred thousand Baht . The return that each activity owner receives consisted of gross profit and wage, which account for more than 60 percent of total revenue . The revenues as mentioned were direct effects that do not include the indirect effects resulting from multipliers of visitor expense. The significant suggestions from this study were relevant agencies should provide priority to the distribution of benefits and encourage activities that have low investment and mainly use household labor. These findings were important information for other communities interested in tourism development, to be used in planning for the community to earn worthwhile returns and develop sustainable community-based tourism.