PATA Grand and Gold Award 2012 Winners

HeritageHeritageBan Na Ton Chan CommunityTourism Authority of Thailand, Thailandwww.tourismthailand.orgThe Ban Na Ton Chan Community is located in Sukhothai province, established more than 200years ago. Most of the people are descendants from the ancient Lanna kingdom. The villagers herebelieve that “humans are a part of nature and, therefore, everything should go to maintain a balancebetween humans and nature”.The villagers of Ban Na Ton Chan formed the Career Development Fund and Ban Na Ton ChanHomestay Tourism Community with participation in management by all villagers. The Ban Na TonChan Homestay Project has 20 member families and can accommodate up to 70 people.The “Elephant Sanctuary” is a house providing safety and rehabilitation for tortured and neglectedelephants. It is located around 2 km from the community. Stray elephants in big cities will bereturned to nature here, with philanthropists donating money to rehabilitate the elephants. Theelephants here will be allowed to roam freely and feed themselves naturally, with no human controlby hooks, chains, training to haul logs, or for shows. There are around nine elephants here now.Female villagers show tourists how to cook Thai food and provide knowledge on how to prepareherbs and vegetables grown locally.All members of the Ban Na Ton Chan Homestay Group share the responsibility to take visitorsto stay at their houses. The host family leads tours of the village. The benefits from the sales ofproducts such as woven-cloth and others are divided equally among the members. All the membersbring their products to store at the exhibition building of the community. The marketing departmentis in charge of selling them and dividing the profits among the members. Ten per cent of the incomeis deducted to be the costs on maintaining the environment and tourist attractions in the community.Some of the amount is spent on training to educate the members and the youth in the village abouttourism, while the rest is kept as a common fund for communal affairs.“The Ban Na Ton Chan Community programme is a very noteworthy one from the standpoint ofheritage” - Judge’s comment