SPATIAL DISTRIBUTION OF THE BUDDHISM FAITH-BASED CULTURAL TOURISM ATTRACTIONS IN NAKHON SI THAMMARAT, THAILAND

Cultural tourism in the form of faith-based tourism is becoming very popular among both Thai and foreign tourists. This can be seen from the religious activities that occur almost all year round. This type of tourism often creates encouragement for tourists who come to experience it. Nakhon Si Thammarat is an ancient city with cultural and artistic significance. With its potential in tourism, Nakhon Si Thammarat has become a city that tourists have continuously traveled to experience up until now. The objective of this research is to find the spatial distribution of cultural tourism sites of the type of faith-based tourism in Buddhism in Nakhon Si Thammarat Province, Thailand, and to create a map of the cultural tourism route of faith-based tourism in Buddhism using geographic information technology. The methodology was obtained from field surveys by recording the coordinates of faith-based cultural tourism attractions with Global Positioning System (GPS) and using geographic information systems for mapping. It also adopts the principle of analyzing the density of attractions with Kernel Density. The results of the study found that the Kernel Density showed a high level of density in the eastern coastal plain region of the study area. It can be divided into 3 zones: the northern zone, the central zone, and the urban zone. The northern zone showed that the density of cultural tourist attractions is between 0.002-0.006 km2 . The central zone showed that the density of cultural tourist attractions was between 0.006-0.014 km2 . And the urban zone showed that the density of cultural tourist attractions was more than 0.014 km2 . In addition, there are as many as 16 Buddhist faith-based cultural tourist attractions, including temples, ancient sites, antiques, government offices, and naturally occurring sites. The tourism planning map can be organized within 4 days and 3 nights for tourism in 3 zones in Nakhon Si Thammarat Province. For planning each day's tourism, it can be seen that on the first day, it is recommended to finish touring the northern zone first, because it takes time to travel to various places because they are far apart. On the second day, it will be touring the central part of the study area, mostly ancient cities, important historical sites. On the third day, it will be touring the Nakhon Si Thammarat city area, where each tourist attraction is close to each other. This research is useful for tourism agencies, local communities, local tour guides, and both Thai and foreign tourists.