The Identity of Border Tourism Community and Value Addition

Abstract

This study set out to explore the identity of Na Tan District and the utilization of the identity in value addition. The participants were 18 tourism stakeholders at Na Tan District, Ubon Ratchathani Province, comprising eight people from the government sector, six people from the private sector and four people from the community sector. They were selected by means of non-probability purposive sampling. The study used structured interviews and focus-group meetings to collect research data. The obtained data were analyzed by adopting a content analysis approach which was grounded on folklore and tourism perspectives. 

The results reveal that Na Tan District has three aspects of identity: natural environmental identity, namely Hat Chom Dao; manmade environmental identity, namely   Wat Pak Saeng, Wat Phu Tham Thong, Wat Non Sawang, and Tham Ta Lao; and lifestyle identity, such as food, housing, costumes, professions, traditions, beliefs, and folk arts. In terms of using its identity in value addition, Na Tan District utilizes its potential community capital to create and increase values through tourism commodities as follows. First, it provides natural tourism activities and religious and cultural tourism activities, such as seeing the beauty of stone gardens and the lifestyles of people along the Khong River. These tourism activities are led by young tour guides. In addition, there are other tourism activities, such as paying homage to Buddha images and seeing the seasonal beauty of the Khong River. Second, it sells souvenirs and mementos, with a focus on cotton fabric dyed with indigo or kram to add more value. There are also other products, such as crispy taro and sweet yam slices.