On 3 March 2017, the Research Service Division, the Project on Establishment of Mekong Basin Civilization Museum and the Business Economics and Logistics Research Excellence Center at MFU cooperated to hold a seminar on “Innovative Tourism and Culture for Moving the Country Towards Thailand 4.0”.
The purpose of the seminar was to connect methods for Thailand’s development in different sectors that are in line with the government’s policy “Thailand 4.0”. Furthermore, this seminar served as a platform for scholars, cultural officers, entrepreneurs and communities engaged in tourism to exchange and share their experiences about the association between cultural resources and tourism. In addition, the seminar was an opportunity to establish cooperation between professionals from the tourism and culture sectors.
The seminar was divided into two parts which were a workshop and presentations on various topics including: ‘From culture to innovation and experiences for driving high value tourism products’, ‘How cultural content has changed cultural industries: A proposal from the Chiang Rai and the upper Mekong basin areas’, ‘Cultural tourism promotion’ and ‘Ethnic tourism management: Lanna culture in five provinces’.
The forum also brought in three experts as keynote speakers including Dean of Faculty of Fine and Applied Art at Chulalongkorn University Assoc. Prof. Dr.Suppakorn Disatapundhu, Head of the Project on Establishment of Mekong Basin Civilization Museum Dr. Pollavat Praphattong and researcher at the Business Economics and Logistics Research Excellence Center Assist. Prof. Dr. Bussaba Sitikarn.
Altogether, tourism is one of Thailand’s most profitable industries. It is important that the Thai people advance cultural tourism by applying innovations, inventions, creativity and actual practices in their local culture to add value to products and increase tourists’ repurchasing opportunities. Also, cultural tourist attractions must be developed to increase the amount of revisiting tourists in Thailand.
