Marine National Parks are the most preferable tour destinations among Thai and foreign tourists, those
interested in natural eco-tourism. Naturally, Thailand has abundant tourist attractions, mainly tour sites within
National Parks’ boundaries. Nonetheless, promoting and developing tourism without proper management may
deteriorate and damage tourism resources, which eventually affect many people. (Komgrit, 2002). Koh Chang
Island and Trat coastal areas are the most preferable destinations among tourists because of their locations and
abundant natural resources. Particularly, beautiful islands and coastal areas have become major tour attractions
for many tourists. (DNP,2003).
The aimed of the study was to develop specific indicators do, the environmental performance evaluation
(EPE) and process of organization including participation of people concerned. It was expected that applying
such Environmental Performance Indicators (EPI) to evaluate environmental performance of Koh Chang Marine
National Park (KCMNP) could provide more the island’s potential to support more tourists in the future
appropriately, such as pollution and environmental problems decreasing. Besides, natural resources should be
well managed and the National Park would gain good image about the environmental and national resources
management with the participation and cooperation of people concerned.
The developed performance indicators for this research were based on the principle of EPE, which was
considered to be suitable for KCMNP management. The concept of this application was coincided with the
research findings of Kingkaow (2006) who had identified the environmental indicator suitable with Automotive
Service Center, using EPE principles to identify indicators. But it could not be used appropriately for the National
Park performance because of differences in the functions and operations of each organization.
Moreover, this research shown differences from the research of Atthapol Jitpukdee in identifying
environmental performance indicators of Erawan National Park, Kanchanaburi province. Even though his work
identified the National Park environmental performance indicators, but they were indicators for In-land National
Parks which showed the differences from KCMNP, depending on coastline features