Community Participatory Communication Strategy for the Competitiveness in the Digital Economy of Ranong Tourism

Abstract

This research aims to identify and analyze community engagement, and communication strategies so as to improve competitiveness in the digital economy era, as well as to develop and create genuine participation of the community in communication to promote tourism in Ranong province. This study used an in-depth interview method with 37 key informants of Ranong residents, leaders or representatives of Ranong community, tourist and academics in communication and tourism.

The research results showed that the most of the respondents had the opinion that the people in the communities in Ranong province have friendly tourism communication characteristics and can be developed to compete in the digital economy by promoting tourism activities called 3E, namely Entertainment, Education and Economy.

The applied strategies are: a general strategy is to ask "How to make people in Ranong communities get the most out of tourism?" The unique strategy should focus on communicating the content, that is, the identity of Ranong province: "Rae Nong Hot Springs City, Natural way of life among the mountains and the sea, and cultural diversity, local traditions" by using the IBM formula which is the integration of friendliness and hospitality, leading back to basic and moving to future by using digital technology and online social media, and simultaneously driving the communities economy.

It is recommended that the communication strategy should be concurrently in two dimensions. In the community dimension, it should develop the presentation skills in speaking and the sincere use of social media. And in the dimension of tourism agencies, there must be a supporting budget for developing tourist attractions. And there are additional comments that training should be organized to educate people in the communities on the digital economy and sustainable tourism.