Applying Classic Literature to Facilitate Cultural Heritage Tourism for Youth through Multimedia E-Book

Abstract

The majority of cultural heritage tourism globally lacks the diversity of young tourists since there is a universal trend among youth worldwide considering that cultural and heritage stories are unrelated to their lifestyles and not designed for them. This research therefore makes use of classic Thai literature that the target group (grade 12) has studied, “Khun Chang Khun Phaen (KCKP)”, which includes actual heritage places in the province of Suphan Buri. It aims to create and evaluate design guidelines applying classic literature to facilitate cultural heritage tourism and interest in learning classic literature and history, specifically for youth, in three phases. In Phase 1, design guidelines are developed based on the answers of on-site questionnaires distributed to 600 young people. In Phase 2, a multimedia KCKP e-book is created, and in Phase 3, this multimedia KCKP e-book is evaluated using the results from 100 on-site questionnaires—serving as the research’s success criterion. The findings indicate that this e-book may spark a strong interest in youth for KCKP literature (mean = 4.53/5), cultural heritage tourism (mean = 4.56/5), and history (mean = 4.72/5). These findings affirm that the design guidelines effectively engage young tourists and promote an appreciation for cultural heritage, history, and classic literature.