A Study of Thai Traditional Medicine for Health Tourism: Thai Traditional Massage, Herbal Steam and Compress in San Pa Tong District, Chiang Mai
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Abstract
This qualitative study aimed to examine Thai traditional medical wisdom to promote health tourism in Chiang Mai. Data was collected from documents and five Thai traditional and local doctors (or folk healers) and five local scholars selected from five potential villages of San Pa Tong District, totaling ten people in semi-structured interviews and focused group discussions by using a purposive technique and a content analysis for the data. The findings revealed that there are four important factors on the Thai traditional medicine wisdom: traditional massage, herbal compress, herbal steam and herbal medicine, of San Pa Tong district that have the potential to promote health tourism. The traditional massage has the potential to satisfy most tourists, followed by herbal compress, and herbal steam, thereby indicating a co-motivating factor in health promotion, Thai identity, and health tourism services that will affect tourists’ satisfaction in the development of sustainable health tourism with limited information both in literature and practice.
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