Bangkok University and ThaiBev Launch Khlong Sam Tourism Route and Smart Dried Bananas

Bangkok University, in collaboration with Thai Beverage Public Company Limited and the Sufficiency Economy OTOP Nawatwithi Community of Ban Khlong Sam, Khlong Luang District, Pathum Thani Province, visited the area to follow up on the second consecutive year of their academic service project on 30 September 2026. By drawing on knowledge from nine faculties of the university to co-develop solutions for real community challenges, ranging from tourism routes and food offerings to agricultural processing technology, they are laying the foundation for the Khlong Sam community to become a model for sustainable development.

This project allows the community to own the challenges and co-design the development guidelines from the beginning. Assistant Professor Sansern Milindasuta, Senior Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs at Bangkok University, stated that this collaboration not only benefits the Khlong Sam community but also serves as a learning space for students to apply experiences from real challenges to other areas in the future. Meanwhile, Mr. Adisak Thepasn, Chairman of the Disaster Relief and Volunteer Project at Thai Beverage Public Company Limited, noted that Khlong Sam truly preserves agricultural lifestyles according to sufficiency economy principles, making it an ideal area for elevating community-based tourism standards to stimulate household economies.

Developing green tourism routes and Khlong Sam cuisine

The Department of Tourism Management, School of Humanities and Tourism Management, visited the area with students to design a green day-trip tourism route based on the community's existing assets, including organic farming lifestyles, cork trees, azolla ponds and sacred lotus ponds, alongside creating digital media to tell the community's story to younger generations. The team also developed Khlong Sam cuisine, taking local ingredients and flavours to present them in a contemporary format, while the School of Architecture designed landscapes and interpretive signage to connect with the area's story.

Smart banana greenhouse expands community income

The School of Engineering, together with the School of Information Technology and Innovation, developed a solar drying greenhouse equipped with an IoT smart control system, which helps make the dried banana process more consistent and standardised, to the point that the community's dried banana products have become so popular they cannot meet order demands. The School of Accounting, School of Business Administration, School of Entrepreneurship and Management, and School of Law stepped in to supplement knowledge on income and expense systems, cost calculation, branding and trademarks, while the School of Digital Media and Cinematic Arts created a 3D map using drones covering approximately 14,000 square metres to serve as a database for future spatial development planning.

Ms. Rungnapa Kaewtham, a Khlong Sam community leader, shared that previously, villagers had been practicing mixed farming according to sufficiency economy principles for many generations, but the results were difficult to measure concretely and were not widely known. Upon collaborating with Bangkok University and ThaiBev, the outcomes became clearer, allowing them to be presented as a model to government agencies, and resulting in two awards this year. Both parties are preparing to move forward to continually elevate community-based tourism standards, increase the variety of products, food, beverages and souvenirs, and develop this model to expand its impact to other communities in the future.

This news is of interest to community-based tourism organisers and planners looking for new travel routes near Bangkok, tourists who enjoy agricultural lifestyle and nature day-trip experiences, as well as community development workers seeking a cooperation model between a university and the private sector for adaptation.