Innovation Management in Cultural Heritage Tourism: Experience from the Amphawa Waterfront Community, Thailand

Abstract

This paper examines how innovation management could bring greater opportunities for cultural heritage tourism at the community level. A two-stage investigation using indepth, semi-structured interviews with key informants and random, on-site, short, structured interviews with tourists was conducted to uncover the preconditions and categories of innovation that support cultural heritage tourism in the Amphawa Waterfront Community, a renowned tourist destination in Thailand. The results from the study suggest that the "willingness" and "capability" of those involved in a community-based cultural heritage initiative are key to fostering a multitude of innovations but may not guarantee its long-term success. A mind-set towards sustainability that considers economically, socially, and environmentally viable innovations is required for sustainable growth. A call for innovation management from this sustainable angle is proposed at the end.

Sustainable Tourism in the Open Innovation Realm: A Bibliometric Analysis

“…Another aspect that emerged from the co-word analysis is the importance of an open innovation approach. The plurality of stakeholders involved not only in the process of co-creation of tourism products but also in the co-production of sustainable tourism policies requires different efforts connected with local governance, the capability of knowledge-sharing, and the degree of local culture on different aspects of destination components [89,93,95]. The results also show that actors have to own specific knowledge on either tourism products or local expertise and, contextually, have the capability to provoke innovation.…”

“…The results also show that actors have to own specific knowledge on either tourism products or local expertise and, contextually, have the capability to provoke innovation. On the other side, local tourism governance has to capture the generated innovation and transform it into policies and best practices for sustainable tourism [93].…”

“…What is interesting to notice is that one of the most recurring words associated with the theme of experience is "model". The necessity of finding referring models in order to manage sustainable tourism development is claimed within the literature on sustainable destination governance [91][92][93]. Indeed, a strategic model can suggest the right sustainable management practices.…”

Exploring Driving Forces of Innovation in the MSEs: The Case of the Sustainable B&B Tourism Industry

“…Alternatively, these innovative ideas require a group of supporting factors to ensure that the innovation process will be successfully completed. Some studies have examined the determinants or supporting factors of innovation [47,48]. Therefore, differences exist between the driving forces and determinants of innovation.…”

Tourism destination development in Thailand

“…Temples and local heritage, such as the King Rama II garden, were also enrolled in the development of Ampawa as a tourism destination. AsSakdiyakorn and Sivarak (2016) argue, "what makes Amphawa unique is the combination of tangible and intangible heritage. Unlike many other newly built floating markets in Thailand, the Amphawa floating market sits amidst a nineteenth century architectural setback, where the Thai traditional way of life by the river can be explored within the existing community" (p. 227).…”