Research & Article

The Thailand-Burma Railway, which is commonly known as the ‘Death Railway’, has a very highcultural significance, especially in historical value. Although there have been several sites developed astourist attractions, there are still many significant places that can be developed along the railway. The studyof Guidelines for Interpretation and Development of New Tourism Destinations along the ‘Death Railway’took place to survey these potential sites, as well as to find means to interpret these sites to be more knownamongst Thai and international tourists via sustainable cultural tourism management. A qualitative researchmethod is used in the study with 5 sample groups. The techniques of in-depth interview, group-discussionand participant observation are used during the field research to find a list of these sites, its significance,development’s planning and local’s participation.The results show that the sample groups would like to develop 6 sites as new tourism destinationsand are willing to cooperate in the management from the beginning. They also believe that developing thesesites for cultural tourism is one of the best means to interpret this heritage. The cultural tourism managementplan depends on which story will be interpreted and need a further study and discussion. They also illustratethe heritage significance and meaning of each site.Principles in sustainable cultural tourism development can be used in the development’s planning aswell as principles in local stakeholders’ participation. For that matter, this study has gathered their opinionson the most likely sites. The most important concerns during the planning are to record, research, surveyand interpret the heritage significance of all six sites. In doing so, using several techniques in interpretationwill be an appropriate proposal. All these techniques used shall make the heritage significance of the ‘DeathRailway’ better known.