COMPETENCY

Purpose: Food tourism has become great potential in the tourism industry, especially in Thailand. When foreign tourists come to travel and witness the diverse gastronomic experience at local levels, however, in 2022, Thailand received 11.15 million foreign tourists, and only 19.45% came because of food attractions. Therefore, this study aims to develop competency in food tourism in Thailand. Theoretical Framework: This study examines and reviews the concepts of competitive advantage and food tourism. Competitiveness in terms of human resource is the ability to sell his or her ability over other competitor’s employees. Competitive Advantage in human resource is developed either by himself or by company attitude and resource. Competitive Advantage can be developed by (1) Elevating productivity, (2) Purposeful collaboration, (3) Learning Agility, (4) Social binding, (5) well-being. Moreover, food tourism is defined as “visitation to primary and secondary food producers, food festivals, restaurants and specific locations for which food tasting and/or experiencing the attributes of specialist food production region are the primary motivating factor for travel”. Food tourism is also defined as cultural turn from those early management-focused studies to more wholesome and exploratory discussions of food and culture. Not only did the frequency or volume of the studies significantly increase, but so did the variety of research approaches and concepts be explored. Design/Methodology/Approach: This quantitative research collected data from food tourism stakeholders in Thailand 400, including foreign visitors, local visitors, restaurant owners, culinary academic institutions, and tourism authorities. Data were analyzed in descriptive and inferential statistics, and a structural equation model tested the hypothesis. Findings: The findings reveal that (1) Tourism policy must include food tourism in the tourism event and public relation scheme of tourism authorities, (2) Unique local cultural experiences must be embedded into food stories, and


INTRODUCTION
Tourism has been an essential sector for social development and economic growth for advanced and developing nations.A strong tourism industry enhances job creation, raises national income, and benefits the general competitiveness of economies through infrastructure improvements.All direct, indirect, and induced impacts combined; accounted for 9% of the global Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and 9.1% of international jobs (Kururatchaikul, 2021).Food is considered a vital component of the tourism experience, together with climate, accommodation, and scenery.Food tourism involves food and eating experiences when a person travels.Food tourism is a subset of cultural tourism, as cuisine manifests culture.
Individuals have different preferences; thus, their participation and contentment with the food aspect of tourism vary correspondingly.When travelling abroad, some travelers prefer to try local foods, while some are reluctant to and select food options they are acquainted with.Even though they are exposed to similar activities or dine in the same places, foreign tourists obtain different experiences, and their satisfaction levels vary.
From a global perspective, global international tourist arrivals reached 1,035 million tourists crossing borders in the year 2020, while Asia and the Pacific region alone shared 23% of international tourist arrivals and 30% in global receipts Thailand shared as a percentage of Asia and Pacific region, 9.6% in term of number of tourists (international tourist arrivals) and 9.3% in period of tourism revenue (international tourism receipts).Accordingly, Thailand shared 2.2% of the global number of tourists and 2.8% of global tourism revenue in 2020 (World Tourism Organization, 2021).Regarding worldwide travel and tourism competitiveness, Thailand ranked ninth in the Asia Pacific region and 43rd in the overall ranking in 2019.The competency of Thailand in terms of tourism is high.However, food is not the priority in attracting tourism to Thailand.This study aims to explore the status of food tourism and factors affecting the competitiveness of food tourism in Thailand to develop the competency of food tourism in Thailand.

Concept of competitive advantage
Competitiveness in terms of human resource is the ability to sell his or her ability over Elevating productivity can be done in 9 ways: 1. Less control over work.Sometimes it can help increase productivity for employees.By granting the right and authority to make decisions in an appropriate scope and let the employees try to manage their own work.An approach in this manner may seem infuriating to management in the concept but there are many studies out that companies that give their employees autonomy.It will help encourage The issue of compatibility with corporate culture is considered a very important aspect of doing business.Hiring an employee requires due diligence and consideration for compatibility with co-workers and Business entities guidelines so it's not just about being good at work alone, but also about ideas, character, compatibility with co-workers to create an atmosphere in the Business entities to create energy and positive thinking to drive business and employee productivity will easily occur (Lyngso, 2014).3. Improve the workplace environment.Everything related to work has an effect on increasing productivity, especially the workplace, which is like a second home.So, it needs to be landscaped to promote a working atmosphere whether it is the color scheme of the office conference room color scheme used furniture.The temperature of the office, all affect the performance.Therefore, designing an atmosphere to suit the workplace is another method to help enhance mental and physical feelings at the same time.4. Efficiency of the work process.Check to see if the work processes around the employees are missing anything.Some processes may take too many steps and affect the productivity of employees, so it is necessary to improve the process to be more compact and faster.The company may need to bring some tools to speed up some processes that helps to achieve the goals of work and business goals.work according to the given position and may do better than expected.But some people may not be able to do that, it will become a failure and may cause the productivity to be greatly reduced to the point of affecting the mental state.Therefore, looking at who is suitable for responsibilities and accepting various tasks will help to distribute tasks and distribute responsibilities appropriately and directly to that employee.Until it becomes beneficial to increase productivity for both employees and the Business entities.

Concept of Food Tourism
The subject of food tourism has been a visible tourism research area for the past three As food tourism literature began to develop, the field experienced a shift, that is, a 'cultural turn' from those early managementfocused studies to more wholesome and exploratory discussions of food and culture (Everett, 2012).Not only did the frequency or volume of the studies significantly increase, but so did the variety of research approaches and concepts be explored.

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
Quantitative research methods are employed to collect and analyze numerical data.This section provides a detailed description of the various steps undertaken to ensure the reliability and validity of the data to achieve the research objectives.
The population comprises 400 samples, including foreign visitors, local visitors, restaurant owners, culinary academic institutions, and tourism authorities.The researcher used Non-Probability Sampling by Quota Sampling to request cooperation in answering questionnaires from sample groups using the Online questionnaire.
Instruments: structured questionnaire collecting data from online Google form.
Analysis: Once the information has been collected, the researcher checked the number and filled out each questionnaire that was returned.The researcher analyzed the data by taking the information from the questionnaires and processing them using a computer with the SPSS package, statistics used in data analysis include: Analysis using Descriptive Analysis is statistics used to When considering the standard component weight (λ) for each component, it was found that the observed variable had the highest component weight.Reliability factor, weight value of 0.79 and 1.153% of common variance; food safety, weight of 0.63 and 0.396% of common variance; price, weight of 0.625 and total variance together 0.391%, the place of sale must be clean, hygienic, and diverse, weight value 0.642 and a standard variance of 0.412%, organize promotional programs, weight value of 0.62, and an expected variance of 0.385%, attractive, safe, portable packaging with comprehensive information, value weight 0.568 and a standard variance of 0.322%; personnel with good personalities, knowledgeable, competent, and serviceminded; a weight of 0.506 and a shared variance of 0.256; a process of controlling the quality of the goods to maintain a high standard while communication of the benefits of the product; a weight of 0.514 and a standard variance of 0.264.the quality of natural ingredients, a weight value of 0.586 and an expected variance of 0.343 per cent; adequate service, a weight of 0.475 and a scheduled variance of 0.226; customer service, a consequence of 0.241 and a standard variance of 0.058 and equality of services, the weight value was 0.457, and the joint variance was 0.209 per cent, shown in Table 1.

DISCUSSION
The findings reveal that (1) Tourism policy must include food tourism in the tourism event and public relation scheme of tourism authorities, (2) Unique local cultural experiences must be embedded into food stories, and (3) Nutrition and herbal nutrition must be presented for health-conscious tourists.The observed variables had component weights between 0.241 and 0.79 and were significantly different from zero at the 0.01 level; latent variables were between 0.058 -1.153, and 2) the harmonization of the hypothetical model and the empirical data found that all criteria were within the acceptable range (Pass) structural equation model analysis (Chi-Square = 44.113,df = 35, p = 0.139, RMSEA = 0.026, GFI = 0.026, AGFI = 0.960) which in line with the study of Sarayuth Chaileuangleu that the competency of a professional chef has a positive effect on their instructional competency, while the instructional competency also has an impact on learning competency; these three key factors were found to be influential variables affecting the development of a culinary arts program.The results will be applied as a guideline for culinary arts program development in Thailand.The study also contributes new knowledge, skills, competency standards, implementation, and evaluation for the success of the chef profession, which is limited in the food service industry, particularly in

CONCLUSIONS
The results showed that the majority of interview respondents had the same behavioral opinions and needs, which were: 1) pay attention to the quality of natural ingredients and food safety for the benefit of the body; 2) price at an appropriate level depending on the quality of raw materials used and the quantity received; 3) the place of sale must be clean, hygienic, and diverse; 4) organize promotional programs that are as interesting as selling regular products and have public advertisements about the benefits and details of the goods that are advertised; 5) attractive, safe, portable packaging with comprehensive information; 6) personnel with good personalities, knowledgeable, competent, and service-minded; 7) there is a process of controlling the quality of the goods to maintain a high standard while communication of the benefits of the product reaches the target group.The guidelines to develop tourism potential to respond to healthy food tourists in Bangkok have been summarized.Those are: 1) enhancing the image by raising the quality of natural raw materials and safety for health as a selling point, 2) pricing products that are diverse and appropriate compared to the value and quantity received; 3) creating diverse, safe, and dependable sales channels; 4) providing promotional items that meet the needs of tourists; 5) creating packaging that is appealing, convenient, and safe; 6) clear communication, comprehension, and standard inventory control; and 7) personality training and skills.
Food tourism has become great potential in the tourism industry, especially in Thailand.
Bhanityanakorn, K., Rattanamanee, K., Tangsuvanrangsee, T., Kheawmesuan, R., Konwai, S. (2024) Competency Development of Food Tourism in Thailand employees to feel relaxed and create better productivity, depending on what kind of work is suitable for what type of work as well (Simkus, 2022).2. Hire employees to match the corporate culture.

5 .
Training skills for employees.One of the best and most commonly used methods is skill training for employees.If employees are trained in skills related to increasing work efficiency, it will help create productivity with employees and the business at the same time and there are many ways to train employees to have better working skills, such as On the Job Training (OJT), training with interactive activities, practical training, coaching and mentoring links, by looking at which skills are needed to be developed for employees.6. Bring tools to increase productivity.Sometimes the company needs to bring in additional tools and technologies to make task management and various processes faster, such as applications or programs to track tasks job opening processing of tasks including the use of tools to communicate between teams, data file sharing including various meetings.It will help employees have more productivity.7. Reduce distractions.Many times, employees are distracted from their work by being on the social media world or talking to friends via Line.These things can cause that productivity to decrease that is the duty that Business entities need to have some policies in place to control their use.Company should guide how to manage the use of these things, just find a way to manage these stimuli to focus on using it for work before personal matters.8. Proper distribution of work duties.The employee does not know what the Bhanityanakorn, K., Rattanamanee, K., Tangsuvanrangsee, T., Kheawmesuan, R., Konwai, S. (2024) Competency Development of Food Tourism in Thailand goals and expectations of what they do.It may affect productivity as well; some people can

9 .
Looking forward to a bright future together.Having realistic goals and building strength and willpower to work, it will contribute to increasing the productivity of employees.Business entities must value and appreciate employees.Goals are clearly communicated.Opportunity for employees to give opinions on setting work goals and processes for working together, focused on driving the future of business and the goal of supporting the work of employees to create a part of the employees with the Business entities itself (Mohammad Talari and Mina Khoshroo, 2022).
decades, but its unprecedented growth and popularization in the tourism literature has witnessed in the more recent years(2008)(2009)(2010)(2011)(2012)(2013)(2014)(2015).This increased prominence is demonstrated through a series of recent special issues of tourism academic journals such as the special edition of Journal of Heritage Tourism (2013) concerning food heritage, and the special edition of Scandinavian Journal of Hospitality and Tourism (2014) exploring food and tourism synergies.Major international publications such as the United Nations World Tourism Organization's (2012) Global Report on Food Tourism, and popular academic books such as Food Tourism around the World (Hall, Sharples, Michell, Macionis, & Cambourne, 2003), Foodies & Food Tourism (Getz, Robinson, Andersson, & Vujicic, 2014), and The Future of Food Tourism (Yeoman, McMahon-Beattie, Fields, Albrecht, & Meethan, 2015) further illustrate this point.It is also important to note that there have been increasing numbers of major international conferences exploring food and tourism including: 2005 Second International Conference on Culinary Tourism held in San Francisco, 2013 World Food Tourism Conference held in Gothenburg, and 2015 World Food Travel Summit and Expo in Portugal.All these scholarly and industrial activities further illustrate the increased interest in food and tourism.Whilst food tourism represents a growing field of tourism research, there Bhanityanakorn, K., Rattanamanee, K., Tangsuvanrangsee, T., Kheawmesuan, R., Konwai, S. (2024) Competency Development of Food Tourism in Thailand remains much debate over what this phenomenon is, hence this paper is to critically review the literature and conceptualize food tourism.What is food tourism?As a starting point, from a definition perspective Hall and Sharples (2003, p.10) provides an excellent preliminary understanding of food in tourism which is the major motivation, describing food tourism as "visitation to primary and secondary food producers, food festivals, restaurants and specific locations for which food tasting and/or experiencing the attributes of specialist food production region are the primary motivating factor for travel".Many authors such as Chang and Yuan (2011), Park, Reisinger, and Kang (2008), Presenza and Iocca (2012), Sanchez-Canizares and Lopez-Guzman (2012), and Smith and Costello (2009) are seen to adopt this definition.
describe or explain various characteristics in the overall sample or population by analyzing the data to know the general characteristics of the respondents.The basic statistics used in the analysis include calculating Mean, Percentage, Frequency and Standard Deviation.It will be used to analyze various parts of the questionnaire by general information questionnaire of respondents analyze data by presenting it in a table to find Percentage and Frequency.Bhanityanakorn, K., Rattanamanee, K., Tangsuvanrangsee, T., Kheawmesuan, R., Konwai, S. (2024) Competency Development of Food Tourism in Thailand Rating Scale data questionnaire, opinion level, and the opinion level that was obtained were ranked by item by finding Frequency, Percentage, x̄, S.D., Skewness and Kurtosis in the analysis.Test the relationship hypothesis using Pearson Correlation of influence at significance level of 0.05, with the level of relationship according to the meaning of the correlation coefficient (Wongratana, 1991).Test hypotheses by coding the obtained data using the package SPSS Version 23.0, analyze data with Descriptive statistics and Inferential statistics using Structure Equation Model (SEM) statistics and Path Analysis with the package program LISREL Version 9.20.RESEARCH FINDINGS The researcher analyzed the development factor model of the Competency of food tourism in Thailand to increase the competitiveness of Thai food tourism from the perspectives of foreign tourists.The results of measurement model analysis, Chi-Square = 44.113,df = 35, p = 0.139, RMSEA = 0.026, GFI = 0.026, AGFI = 0.960 can be described as follows.The results of the weight analysis of the components of the observed variables found that there were positive values of 12 variables ranging in size from 0.241 to 0.79 and differing from zero at a statistically significant level of 0.01.11 variables were significantly different from zero.At the statistical level of 0.05, there was one variable.The observed variable with the highest component weight was the reliability factor, the weight value was 0.79, and the joint variance was 1.153%; for equality of services, the weight value was 0.457, and the joint variance was 0.209 per cent.Every observed variable (R2), which indicates the covariance of the externally observed variable, is from 0.058 -1.153.
Bhanityanakorn, K., Rattanamanee, K., Tangsuvanrangsee, T., Kheawmesuan, R., Konwai, S. (2024) Competency Development of Food Tourism in Thailand the context of Thailand (Chaileuangleu, Chaiya, Batra, & Barnes, 2021) and in line with the study of Kritchakhun (2021) stated that the behavior of using digital media in marketing for food tourism among foreign tourists consists of searching for information, making reservations or payments for accommodations, and sharing or exchanging travel-related information.Furthermore, most respondents used more than one type of digital media, primarily utilizing online promotional press, followed by online advertisements and sales promotion.The frequency of using digital media is at least once or twice a week.Moreover, digital media marketing factors affecting food tourism decision-making behaviors of foreign tourists visiting Thailand found that culinary tourism primarily emphasizes local food and showcases the interdependence between culinary experiences and the local community.As a result, culinary tourism experiences differ depending on geographical destinations, food preparation practices, cultural aspects, and the types and qualities of food and food-related tourists.The research findings have identified 5 main dimensions of culinary tourism experiences, which include (1) Unique local cultural experiences, (2) Interpersonal relationships, (3) Excitement, (4) Sensory perception and (5) Health issues.The study results showed that the key independent variables of professional chef, instructional, and learning factors are significantly related as underlying dimensions of the foundational standards of Thai culinary arts program development.Additionally, the three factors were found to be essential variables influencing the success of program development in Thailand.For this purpose, food service operators and educational institutions can use the results of the current study as a guideline for culinary arts operation and management in the culinary arts field, particularly for planning the development of staff in the kitchen department by using professional standards of chef training, as well as for developing chef learners through a new trend of learning in culinary arts education with a critical requirement for the professional chef competency components that were found to be important indicators of culinary arts program development.Foodservice operators and culinary arts educators need to implement professional chef competency in the professional chef development process as they are the keys to success for the achievement of future professional chefs and to improve professional chef competencies and capabilities of cooking skills to meet international standards as qualified professional chefs in the food service industry in Thailand.Bhanityanakorn, K., Rattanamanee, K., Tangsuvanrangsee, T., Kheawmesuan, R., Konwai, S. (2024) Competency Development of Food Tourism in Thailand When foreign tourists come to travel and witness the diverse gastronomic experience at local levels.However, in 2022, Thailand received 11.15 million foreign tourists; only 19.45% came because of food attractions.Therefore, this study aims to develop competency in food tourism in Thailand.This quantitative research collected data from food tourism stakeholders in Thailand 400, including foreign visitors, local visitors, restaurant owners, culinary academic institutions, and tourism authorities.Data were analyzed in descriptive and inferential statistics; a structural equation model tested the hypotheses.The findings reveal that (1) Tourism policy must include food tourism in the tourism event and public relation scheme of tourism authorities, (2) Unique local cultural experiences must be embedded into food stories, and (3) Nutrition and herbal nutrition must be presented for health-conscious tourists.