PUBLIC PARTICIPATION IN ORGANIZING CULTURAL TOURISM EVENTS: A CASE STUDY OF THE CHRISTMAS STAR FESTIVAL, THA RAE SUBDISTRICT, MUEANG DISTRICT, SAKON NAKHON PROVINCE

Abstract

The objectives of this research were to (1) study community participation in cultural tourism organizing of the Christmas Star Festival, Tha Rae subdistrict, Mueang district, Sakon Nakhon province; (2) study problems and obstacles of the Christmas Star Festival organizing; (3) study guidelines and suggestions for the Christmas Star Festival organizing, by using qualitative research method. The important research techniques were observation and semi-structured interviews with key informants including 4 government officials, 1 religion leader, 8 community leaders, and 15 people with 18 years old or above male and female in Tha Rae subdistrict, totally 28 key informants.

          The results of the study found that 1) citizens and government officials participated in the Christmas Star Festival organizing in 4 areas participation; (1) participation in decision making with at least 3 meetings in order to crystallize the event organizing and common criteria setting; (2) participation in practicing by participating of citizens and government officials in the event organizing, such as participation in presenting the history of Jesus' birth, setting criteria for organizing events, participation in the star parade, budget allocation administration; (3) participation in receiving benefits, in which citizens and government officials taking pride in the event organizing and stimulating the community economy; (4) participation in evaluation, in which Sakon Nakhon provincial administrative organization and Tha Rae subdistrict municipality having their own evaluation form to survey satisfaction and use the evaluation results as guidelines for organizing the next event. 2) Problems and obstacles in organizing the Christmas Star Festival were problem of insufficient budget allocation, problem of insufficient garbage disposal, same activities with nothing new and diverse, traffic congestion causing frequent accidents. And 3) guidelines and suggestions for organizing the next Christmas Star Festival includes (1) Tha Rae subdistrict municipality and government agencies should propose an adequate and appropriate budget; (2) black bags or garbage bags should be brought and distributed in various points to facilitate tourists; (3) new activities should be added to attract tourists attention; (4) traffic supervision should be increased to reduce road accidents.