Spiritual Tourism Routes Relating to Thai Ways of Belief in Chiang Mai

Abstract

      This research entitled Spiritual Tourism Routes Relating to Thai Ways of Belief in Chiang Mai has three key research objectives. These are 1) to examine and complement information on spiritual tourism resources relating to Thai ways of belief in Chiangmai, 2) to analyze their potentials favorable to initiating spiritual tourism routes in Chiangmai, and 3) to develop the proposed spiritual tourism routes relating to Thai ways of belief in Chiangmai. A qualitative research approach was employed with semi-structured interviews as the key research technique for data collection. The total of thirty key informants were interviewed, including direct observation at 12 fieldworks with notes and photo taking. Content Analysis was used to analyze the interview data, supplemented with SWOT Analysis and a TOWS Matrix of tourism resources analysis. The results highlighted that spiritual tourism attractions must contain at least the 3A’s standard. In Chiangmai, most spiritual tourism resources were Buddhist temples, sacred sites connected with Brahmanism and holy sites built with personal belief. These spiritual tourism locations received little attention from public, private and other involved organizations, including funding, development support, and public relations. Many spiritual locations were not suitable as a tourist attraction, not to mention their promptness to meet the criteria of the Thailand Safety and Health Administration (SHA) resulting in possible hygiene risks and COVID-19 pandemic. There have been serious needs for improvements of digital technology, as well as further studies and in-depth information collection with regard to spiritual tourism and locations in Chiangmai. For research recommendations, three spiritual tourism routes relating Thai ways of belief in Chiangmai were deemed appropriate, namely: 1) spiritual tourism route on luck, 2) spiritual tourism route on occupations and 3) spiritual tourism route on love and affection.