The Priority of Potential Areas in Tourism Logistics: A Case Study of Lower Northern Provincial Cluster of Thailand

Abstract

  This article proposes the approach of the priority of potential areas in tourism logistics, according to the principles of logistics and tourism by applying multi criteria analysis approach. The analytical process consisted of 12 relevant experts from 3 groups: government sector, private sector, and education sector (academics) to select and evaluate the factors under hierarchical structure. Moreover, the pair-wise comparison and the analytic hierarchy process had been applied to evaluate the weight of the factors.
  The research applies this approach to lower northern provincial cluster of Thailand, which aims to prioritize the potential areas in tourism logistics of 9 provinces. The criteria of multi criteria analysis include number of tourists, number of tourist attractions, transport infrastructure, travel amenities, and accessibility of tourist attractions, which are the quantitative and qualitative data obtained from secondary data collection and field surveys. The research result found that Phitsanulok province had the highest potential in tourism logistics (77.00 points), followed by Phetchabun Province and Tak Province (72.00 points). Furthermore, the results of this prioritization can be used as information for government and private sector decision-making in planning various actions in tourism, as well as used for selecting pilot areas to develop new types of tourism in the area, such as wellness tourism and medical tourism, etc.