Designated Areas for Sustainable Tourism Administration (Public Organization)

“Ban Tung Pradu” = The Journey to Winning DASTA Awards 2020

          DASTA elevates “Ban Tung Pradu” as Thailand’s model community-based tourism destination, winning the DASTA Awards 2020 for its strong commitment to become a sustainable tourism site.
 

          DASTA Awards 2020 serves as a guarantee for the effective tourism management of Ban Tung Pradu community in Thap Sakae district, Prachuap Khiri Khan province. The community is also committed to preserve its traditional lifestyle, environment, and natural resources. These efforts led to an increase in tourism revenue for the community, while still maintaining its traditional way of life.

          Sujint Meepradit. Operational Director of Designated Area 8, or DASTA Region 8 under the Designated Areas for Sustainable Tourism Administration (Public Organization), underscores the core competencies of Ban Tung Pradu. The community possesses abundant natural resources and environment, while preserving its invaluable traditional lifestyle. DASTA applied the CBT Thailand standard under the Global Sustainable Tourism Criteria (GSTC) to establish a development framework for Ban Tung Pradu community. The organization also used the GSTC to disseminate knowledge to the locals based on the unique contexts of the community.

          Ban Tung Pradu community is a tourist destination on the western coast of the Gulf of Thailand. It possesses abundant nature and a charming local lifestyle – core competencies which must be sustained. The community’s lifestyle revolves around coconut plantations, since Prachuap Khiri Khan is renowned as the “Capital City of Coconuts.” The community uses coconuts to create products and prepare local cuisine for tourists, making it ideal to develop creative tourism activities to disseminate knowledge to visitors on the product design process.
 

          The creative tourism activities of Ban Tung Pradu start from learning about coconut products which include both fresh coconuts and processed coconuts. Examples include using coir for tie-dye, coconut soaps, coconut herbal oil, and coconut shell beads.
 

          The community also organized numerous activities targeted at new generation tourists, helping them to experience, understand, and appreciate the traditional lifestyle of the locals via effective storytelling. This creates additional value on the products and services offered at the community, while also preserving the locals’ traditional way of life. Since most of the locals practice coastal fishery, tourists will have the opportunity to develop hands-on experience on fishing. The community also certified by Organic Thailand for its agricultural activities, in which tourists can participate through workshops. 
 

          Ban Tung Pradu serves as a model community for Prachuap Khiri Khan in the area of sustainable management. DASTA shall implement sustainable public relations and marketing activities to raise awareness, promoting tourists to visit the community.