Marketing Communication Strategies for Community Tourism at Chanthaboon Waterfront, Chanthaburi

Abstract

The objective of this research was to study the problems of marketing communication and marketing communication strategy for Community Tourism at Chanthaboon Waterfront, Chanthaburi. The qualitative research was conducted with the key informants including Director of Tourism Authority of Thailand (Chanthaburi Office), Chairman of the Cultural Council of Mueang District, Chanthaburi, Vice President of Chanthaburi Tourism Association, community leaders and community entrepreneurs through the in-depth interview, non-participant observation, brainstorming, and content analysis of related researches. The research results were that: 1) the problems of marketing communication for community tourism at Chanthaboon Waterfront, Chanthaburi were caused by a lack of knowledge and understanding of public relations among locals. The community had to be the initiative of community management, marketing communication in the community, and internet marketing through the use of online media of advertising network with the Tourism Authority of Thailand. 2) For the marketing communication strategy for Community Tourism at Chanthaboon Waterfront, Chanthaburi, the planning of tourism development focused on the development of community market by building the brand image linking the history of each community as a story and developing local "One Tambon One Product" (OTO) products. In order to be a unique community, locals should leverage modern marketing strategies to reflect traditional life and create landmarks or check-in points where tourists can take photographs or find other ways to capture the atmosphere that motivated them to travel. This may motivate tourists to return in the future.