The goal of this project is to extend His Majesty the King's philosophy by integrating it with local wisdom to promote sustainable tourism, to add value in tourism area in order to increase revenue from money spent, to encourage more domestic tourism and to promote human resource development and strengthen the community to be able to stand by themselves and achieve sustainable development.
TAT and UNDP lunches the project of Sustainable Tourism Community, disseminate the king’s wisdom through a 5-day exhibition at M Floor, the Emporium Shopping Center, Bangkok
October 5, 2017, MR Yuthasak Supasorn, Tourism Authority of Thailand Governor and Mr. Martin Hart-Hansen, Deputy Resident Representative of United Nations Development Program (UNDP), presided over the opening ceremony under the project “Follow the King’s Wisdom for Sustainable Tourism” to commemorate King Bhumibol Adulyadej’s graciousness and inherit His Royal Determination through the cooperation with the model communities of the project.
A total of 17 distinguished guests were in attendance: Ambassadors/Ambassadors‘ spouses to the Kingdom of Thailand (in no particular order): Hungary, Cuba, Egypt, Chile, Panama, Australia, Columbia, Peru, Sri Lanka, Ireland, Turkey, The Philippines, Timor-Leste, Argentina, Sweden, Russia, Bangladesh and Greece.
The goal of this project is to extend His Majesty the King’s philosophy by integrating it with local wisdom to promote sustainable tourism, to add value in tourism area in order to increase revenue from money spent, to encourage more domestic tourism and to promote human resource development and strengthen the community to be able to stand by themselves and achieve sustainable development.
The project “Follow the King’s Wisdom for Sustainable Tourism” has a selected 4 model communities:
Ban Pong Huai Lan Community, Chiangmai province
Located in the area of San Kamphaeng with many famous attractions around the area, but the revenue is concentrated only in the main tourist destination. Ban Pong Huai Lan Community is a new community with tourism potential with a concept “Eat well and Stay Healthy in Pong Huai Lan”. It is an area that has been graciously benefited from Huai Lan Development Project under initiative of His Majesty King Bhumibol Adulyadej who had once visited the area including the Mae Pahan Reservoir Project in 1987 and ordered the development of Fisheries and Forestry to develop the area.
Ban Nong San Tourism Community is one of the communities in Sakon Nakhon which has benefited from the royal project
His King Bhumibol Adulyadej personally founded Phu Phan Royal Development Study Center on November 25th, 1982, to be a model of area development in Isan region which has low-quality soil which unable to hold water and also had high salinity. The purpose of the this study center are to support citizens on academic technology knowledge and training, research and improve plant and animal species and to improve citizens’ occupational standard to be more suitable for the area so that the citizen can live sufficiently and sustainably. The villagers who are agriculturists could earn a living more efficiently. They now live sustainably as agriculturists by adapting sufficiency economy philosophy. Moreover, the new theory of agriculture and mixed cropping agriculture also improve their quality of life.
When the area and community’s life style are rich, a group of new generation begins to think about sharing their beautiful lifestyle to outsiders. They change the community into tourist attraction by registering themselves as Ban Nong San Tourism Community Enterprise which consists of 11 members and includes 5 households, offering something nature lovers always wanted to experience while travelling.
Chantaboon Waterside Community, Chantaburi province
Originally, Chantaburi was “Mueng Ok Taek”… The city which has a river cuts through the middle of the city. It is a western seaboard province so the area is rainy, and often becomes flooded in the rainy season. Being aware of the problem, His Majesty King Bhumibol Adulyadej initiated Chanthaburi Flood Relief Project which eventually became “Kaem Ling or Monkey’s Cheek Project”. The THB 3,500 million operations took 6 years from 2009 – 2014. After the construction of this canal, Chanthaburi has never faced flood crisis again. This project is the last royal project that His Majesty King Bhumibol Adulyadej had bestowed to his people, Thai citizens.
Tourism potential and way to keep the identity of Chanthaboon Riverside Community are to conserve the beauty of lifestyle and vintage Europe-style architectures. Tourist will learn about the history of the community which date back to King Rama V era when Thailand was influenced by France.
Nongyai Area Develpoment Community, Chumporn province
Back in 1997, there was a great flood in Mueang District, Chumphon caused by “Zeta”, the tropical storm which hit Thailand. At that time, many Chumphon citizens suffered from the disaster. Whenever there is a rain in Bang Saphan district Prachup Khiri Khan, Tha Sae district in Chumphon and Kra Buri district in in Ranong, water from these areas will have to flow through Chumphon downtown before going out to the Gulf of Thailand. Therefore, a large amount of water was locked in downtown area.
Therefore, His Majesty King Bhumibol Adulyadej had Huawang-Panang-Tak Canal dredged in October 1997 by lending 18 million baht from his Prachanukroh Foundation as an operation fund. His Majesty also pushed for the completion within 30 days before tropical storm “Linda” reached Chumphon’s coast.
“They said there is a fund but not yet arrived and said that it will be finished in 1998. So I thought there must be a way to utilize the canal which can be very helpful in the stormy season. Then I requested a crew from Royal Irrigation Department, Provincial Government and appointed a company to dredge quickly and finish the project within a month”.
As a result, Chumphon province appointed a team to plan on developing Nong Yai area into a perfect natural detention basin and a learning center for Sufficiency Economy Philosophy, dedicating to His Majesty on the occasion of His Majesty’s 71st birthday anniversary on December 5th 1998.
Darin is monitoring the Asia-Pacific travel & hospitality market and reports the most important news of the region. Her role includes interviewing C-level executives as well as running the content campaigns of companies and NTOs
She holds a MAMBM from the University of Westminster in UK and a photography certificate from the Kensington and Chelsea College in UK.
