Author : Budi Guntoro

Summary : The study was conducted primarily to determine the type of participation of local community in sustainable tourism development in Ban Ruammit, Chiang Rai. The objective were (1) to explain the political and socio-cultural environments of local community, (2) to describe the traditional agriculture in the context of sustainable tourism, (3) to analyze the type and level of conflict and cooperation among local people in sustainable tourism activities and how they manifest and manage it, (4) to ascertain the perception of people on sustainable tourism activities and their contribution to sustainable development of local community, (5) to determine the type of local community participation, (6) to find relationship between selected variables and type of local community participation, and (7) to identify problems and obstacles of local community in their participation in sustainable tourism development. The data were gathered by multiple-methods which combined the qualitative and quantitative methods. Participant observation was used for qualitative methods, while questionnaire study was used for quantitative method. Descriptive and inferential statistics were used in the data analyses. The results showed that Ban Ruammit as a tribal village is in a sort of transition. Some villagers are still doing traditional swidden agriculture in the hill, others already set in permanent agriculture, while tourism has become major a source of income for some households.