DESIGNING TOURISM IDENTITY COMMUNICATION IN SATUN UNESCO GLOBAL GEOPARK

• Main Author: Budsarin NANTAKAT
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Editura Universităţii din Oradea 2021-04-01
• Series: Geo Journal of Tourism and Geosites
• Subjects: tourism; tourism identity; identity communication; mascots; satun unesco global geopark
• Online Access: http://gtg.webhost.uoradea.ro/PDF/GTG-2-2021/gtg.35202-648.pdf

Satun Geopark, located in the south of Thailand, was recently designated as UNESCO Global Geopark in 2018. The geopark is well known for its abundance and variety of Paleozoic fossils with many outstanding geological tourist sites, incl uding specular karst landscapes, stunning caves, and remarkable sea caves. To promote Satun Geopark as tourist destination, its tourism identities must be communicated to wider audiences. This will convey the unique value of local communities to draw attention to new visitors and attract existing ones for a revisit. This research conducted in-depth interviews with community leaders and surveyed on-site signage systems to find out an improvement on tourism identity communication. The design of identity mascot was proposed as a new tool to communicate its identity with visitors in various channels.