Gastronomic experience as a community development driver: the study of Amphawa Floating Market as community-based culinary tourism destination

This paper investigates the connection between culinary tourism and community development through a case study of Amphawa Floating Market, a touristic evening market in Samutsongkram, Thailand, that has been developed in an economically depressed historic trade community. It aims to examine the role of gastronomic experiences offered in the market as a means of improving the well-being of local residents, and critically discuss the potential for the market to become a viable community-based culinary tourism destination. The research involved a number of field trips to Amphawa Floating Market during 2012–2014, during which venue observation was undertaken and semi-structured interviews conducted with local stakeholders, including members of the management unit, food traders and visitors. The paper reveals that gastronomic experiences in which the locals actively take part in the construction and promotion, have positive economic, social and cultural impacts on Amphawa District. Nevertheless, the commodification of food as a tourism offering has negative impacts on the host community and can, to an extent, threaten the quality of experiences, and these shortcomings need to be addressed to assure the long-term commercial viability of the attraction. The research found that Amphawa Floating Market could benefit from the significance of food as a primary tourist experience, the quality of locally-available culinary resources, the strong embeddedness of food in the context of domestic leisure, and the emerging significance of food in the promotional strategy of Thai tourism. Nevertheless, factors that impede the market’s positioning as gastronomic attraction should be addressed.