Expediting the Announcement of Southern Esan as a Designated Area
DASTA Region 2 is expediting its efforts to develop the Southern Esan civilization (lower Northeastern Thailand) into a Designated Area, consisting of the following 5 provinces - Nakhon Ratchasima, Buriram, Surin, Sisaket, and Ubon Ratchathani. As a Designated Area, the provinces will enjoy streamlined community-based tourism development.
Palakorn Buphathanakorn, Director of the Strategy Department and the Acting Manager of Designated Area 2 (DASTA Region 2), under the Designated Areas for Sustainable Tourism Administration (Public Organization), or DASTA, disclosed the organization’s roles in developing the provinces of Nakhon Ratchasima, Buriram, Surin, Sisaket, and Ubon Ratchathani. The roles can be classified into the following two categories:
Mr. Palakorn Buphathanakorn
1. As the Secretary Assistant of the Southern Esan Tourism Development Committee over the past three years, the organization is responsible for advising, monitoring, and reporting all tourism development endeavors in the region.
2. According to the Committee of National Tourism Policy, DASTA is authorized to implement sustainable community-based tourism development in destinations outside of Designated Areas.
Despite this authorization, DASTA Region 2 remains unable to fully implement development plans in regions outside of Designated Areas due to other regulations governing the establishment of DASTA.
In the years 2021-2022, DASTA Region 2 shall be focused in studying areas which are most suitable for becoming Designated Areas in Southern Esan. This will enable the organization to fully engage in sustainable community-based tourism development activities while complying with all government regulations.
While waiting for the Southern Esan region to be declared as a Designated Zone, DASTA Region 2 has laid the following sustainable community-based tourism development plans:
1. Administer the tourist destinations according to the Global Sustainable Tourism Criteria (GSTC), which enables effective management, income distribution, economic value creation, and cultural and environmental preservation according to international standards. Moreover, DASTA plans to drive infrastructure development, product and service design, and public relations campaigns as a collaborative effort with the public sector, private sector, independent organizations, and the civil sector.
2. Develop creative tourism and community-based tourism in the region according to standards of CBT-Thailand, which applies the local lifestyle, culture, traditions, and other core competencies of the community to establish tourist activities. The community shall take ownership in managing the activities and distributing all benefits received.
3. Developing the community’s intangible cultural heritage via creative tourism activities. Similar to community-based tourism development, the activities shall help tourists understand and appreciate the local culture. The ultimate objective is to develop and prepare each city to become members of the UNESCO Creative Cities Network (UCCN).
4. Developing interconnected tourism routes between countries. DASTA has established an interconnected tourism route with Lan Xang, which successfully supports tourism between Thailand and its neighboring country. Since the Southern Esan region is connected to Lao PDR and Cambodia, the area serves as a strategic location for creating value for Thailand and the two neighboring countries.
Other measures undergoing development include strengthening geo-tourism activities in the geoparks of Southern Esan according to measures of UNESCO Global Geoparks; enhancing the tourism destination management of local administrative organizations based on STMS standards; and upgrading services by implementing advanced technology.
All the aforementioned measures seek to develop sustainable community-based tourism in Designated Areas, which serves as a tool for improving the quality of living, the society, economy, culture, environment, tourism personnel, and competitiveness of the Southern Esan region.
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