Villages go all out to charm tourists

Villages go all out to charm tourists

special report: Local character and unique souvenirs part of new initiative to boost incomes

Community Development Department programmes like this, which put Otop products at the fore, could attract more tourists to up-country villages. (Creative Commons via Flickr)
Community Development Department programmes like this, which put Otop products at the fore, could attract more tourists to up-country villages. (Creative Commons via Flickr)

The government has announced a new strategy to bolster local tourism by encouraging locals to promote their villages' charm and unique products.

It is part of a Community Development Department (CDD) campaign to draw tourists to provincial villages in order to boost local incomes. The CDD is under the supervision of the Interior Ministry.

The project is named "Community Tourism Otop Nawat Witee". Otop stands for 'One Tambon One Product', while Nawat Witee can be interpreted in Thai as a combination of innovation and way of life.

CDD director-general Apichat To­di­lokvech said the project would be a boon for the grassroots economy, which has been targeted by the current government.

The government, he said, wants sales of Otop products to soar to 200-300 billion baht every year. Last year sales reached 153 billion baht.

The government has been promoting Otop products for more than 16 years, and the CDD, he said, will now spearhead the campaign to spur local tourism.

"We will let communities themselves be the key. First of all, efforts must be made to improve their infrastructure so they are able to handle tourists," Mr Apichat said.

Attempts, meanwhile, must be made to draw out communities' uniqueness so as to encourage tourists to visit repeatedly, while each village should be able to promote at least 10 products as souvenirs, he noted.

"They would serve as small-scale tourist attractions," said Mr Apichat, adding these communities could well serve tourists or backpackers who travel independently. He said more and more tourists are moving away from buying package tours and now travel independently to pursue their particular interests.

The CDD will mobilise the project through a three-phase time frame, he said.

This month, seminars will be held to promote and raise public awareness of the project and a centre will be established to assess the achievement of the scheme.

Between June and August, small-scale seminars will be conducted to create public awareness of the campaign. Attempts will also be made to raise the quality of Otop products as well as local food.

During the period, awards will be given to the communities which have succeeded in encouraging tourist groups to visit their areas. These communities will be advised on how they can develop further, Mr Apichat noted.

In September, the third phase will involve project assessment. Events will be held to display the achievements of local communities which have taken part in the campaign.

According to Mr Apichat, participating villages must ensure their communities are clean and attractive to visitors. The idea is to create income for the whole community, such as restaurants, traditional performers, sellers of community-based products as well as accommodation providers.

In the past, the government assisted villagers in developing Otop products, but in this project, the locals must stand up and work together to harness their collective wisdom and provide a charming experience, backed up with saleable products than can entice people to visit.

The department, he said, will roll out a new mobile phone application which will feature local tourist attractions, along with travel information and details of local restaurants and souvenir shops.

The Interior Ministry will analyse big data from each of these attractions. Efforts will be made to collect the data from all the provinces by September this year in order to launch the application the following month.

The government granted an 8.3-billion-baht budget to the CDD to improve community tourism in 3,273 villages across the country between April and September this year.

Referring to the project's targets, Mr Apichat said at least 64,570 new Otop items must be developed while the ave­rage annual growth of product sales must be at least 10%.

The villages earmarked by the scheme will be given support to develop tourist economies and their achievements will also be assessed by the Interior Ministry.

The quality-based objectives, he said, concern easing social inequality, boosting community strength and fostering a sense of family by encouraging the younger generations to remain and work where they have grown up.

"The key is to allow communities to join the process," said Mr Apichat. "When people in communities stand up to work with state agencies, they can grow strong and move forward sustainably."

The project, he said, places emphasis on collective efforts to create a better quality of life for people in the communities, he added.

Do you like the content of this article?
COMMENT (16)