The Application of Public Participation to create the Cultural Tourism Map

Trat’s old town, where is located along Bang Phra Canal, has been the original town centre since the reign of King Rama I until King Rama V. Many architectural heritages that people in the community agree to preserve and restore have been found in this area. Other than that, there are many other interesting cultural and historical sites worth enough to visit at Trat’s old town. On the other hand, there is no publicity in various forms such as maps or brochures which is used as a travel guide by tourists. Therefore, Trat’s old town has been received lower attention from tourists than many other islands in the province. So, the objectives of this study are first is to find the identity of the town for the mascot design as to initiate the theme of the cultural tourism map for Trat’s old town by using the public participation process and second is to design the cultural tourism map for old Trat’s town by using the public participation process. In order to collect data, the review of the literature and interviewing method are used. The samplings are including 12 focus groups which are comprised of Thai and foreigner tourists of different ages’ ranges and genders. Finally, the finding shows that the best representing mascot of the Trat’s old town community is “The happy grandmother and grandfather” and the design of the cultural tourism map are consisting of the map’s cover shows the picture of the happy grandmother and grandfather. Then the map is coloured with green, brown, and beige to create friendly hospitality along with the wood colour of old buildings in Trat’s old town. While the paper size “A3” is suitable for use and portable, and the 5-fold leaflet was derived from the focus group interview of the sampling.