Recreational Value of Namtok Sam Lan National Park, Saraburi Province

Abstract

The socio-economic characteristics of tourists visiting Namtok Sam Lan National Park, Saraburi province were investigated and the recreational value was evaluated based on the zonal travel cost and the individual travel cost methods. Data were collected from 400 tourists who traveled to the Namtok Sam Lan National Park during January–April 2022. The descriptive statistics were applied including the frequency, percentage, minimum and maximum numbers in each tourist group, in conjunction with stepwise multiple regression analysis at the 0.05 significance level.

 The results showed that the average age of the tourists was 40.42 years and the majority were female (51.25%). Most tourists were at the educational level of a bachelor’s degree (63.75%). The main tourist occupation was private company/employee (37.00%) with the average salary for the respondents being 36,030.13 baht/month. Most visitors were first-time tourists (59.25%), while 87.75% came for recreational purposes. Furthermore, 72.00 % of the tourists traveled with their families, with the average number of people per group being 3. Most of the respondents (96.50%) traveled using personal vehicles and 94.75% intended to come back to the park again. The recreational value of the park based on the zonal travel cost method was 16,119,850.05 baht/year. Overall, the number of tourists visiting was related to their trip expense with the total individual travel cost was 33,624,910.30 baht/year. The other factors relating the number of tourists to the national park were travel distance and age of tourists.