HERITAGE PLANNING AND MANAGEMENT STUDY OF BAN THA CHIN HISTORIC SITE

Abstract

Heritage planning and management study of Ban Tha Chin Historic Site is proposed as a guideline to comply with the provincial development planning of Samut Sakhon Province, which promotes ‘historical tourism and ecotourism’ as a major source of revenue through its historicity and natural environment. However, economic development should not be an exclusive goal of this historic site management. Ban Tha Chin, located on the Gulf of Thailand, is ideal for trade and fishery and has a continuous life with its remains as historic evidence of its past. It is also a place which has associative value of tangible and intangible heritages expressed in its built environment, customs, traditions, and way of life related to the cultural route of the Mahachai Canal and the Mae Khlong- Mahachai Railway. These heritage value and significance need to be revealed for the tourist’s impression and simultaneously maintained for the inheritors. Tourism has the potential to benefit a place, and also ruin it if the management of heritage site is not appropriate considered. The management of the Ban Tha Chin Historic site requires the integrated conservation and tourism in physical, spatial, and social dimensions for sustainable development. There are many circumstances involved in development of a management plan and they need coordination and collaboration with the business sector, the public sector, the nonprofit sector, professional consultants, and locals to achieve the management goals.