CHAPTER AA V

CONCLUSIONS

Summary of the Study The study aimed to investigate the overall satisfaction of tourists who visited Baan Pang Dang Homestay in Chiang Mai Province and analyzed the differences in the overall satisfaction levels of tourists in respect to tourists’ demographics and travel behavior characteristics. Earlier studies of tourism research have focused on investigating the demographics and travel behavior characteristics of tourists who traveled to the destinations. (Philipp, 1993, p. 301; Glasson, 1994, p. 142; Silberberg, 1995, p. 362; Light, 1996, p. 187; Pearce and Lee, 2005, p. 228; Peleggi, 1996, p. 342; Richards, 1995, p. 270). Some researches have investigated the relationship between the attributes and tourists’ satisfaction (Glasson, 1994, p. 141; Light, 1996, p. 185). From these studies, it has been emphasized that an investigation of the relationship between the travel behavior characteristics and tourists’ satisfaction is needed. This current study was conducted with these observations in mind. These studies help tourism planners and shareholders to have a better understanding of tourism and create better strategies for developing homestay tourism.

Methodological Standpoint From methodological perspectives, Baan Pang Dang Homestay was selected as research area because Baan Pang Dang Homestay received the homestay standard award from Sports and Tourism Ministry of Thailand in 2006. The conceptual framework was presented. Tourists who visited Baan Pang Dang Homestay in July, 2007 were surveyed. The questionnaire consisted of tourists’ demographics, travel behavior characteristics, knowledge of homestay tourism, and the overall satisfaction with homestay tourism. A total of 451 tourists were surveyed in the research areas. Two main hypotheses were proposed, independent t-test and Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) were performed in order to test the study hypotheses.

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Findings In total, 451 questionnaires were collected and utilized for the study. The demographics and travel behavior characteristics on homestay were presented. In general, most of the respondents were female and almost 59% of respondents were between 19 and 25 years old. Most of the respondents were Thai people. Most of the respondents were students with education levels of diploma. Income levels of the respondents were less than 25,000 baht per month. Most respondents had no previous experience with homestay tourism and 83.1% of them visited Baan Pang Dang Homestay for the first time. Their purpose for this trip was travel and recreation. They usually spent 1 to 2 days at the destination. Most of the respondents visited homestay with friends and relatives. Moreover, they obtained information about Baan Pang Dang Homestay from the internet and magazine. In terms of overall tourist satisfaction of Baan Pang Dang Homestay, the respondents were satisfied with homestay attributes both locals’ way of life and various services. Findings of hypotheses testing Based on the objectives of the study, two main hypotheses were presented and tested. Independent t-test and Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) were performed for hypothesis testing. Independent t-test and Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) were also used in order to analyze the differences in the level of overall satisfaction in relation to demographics and travel behavior characteristics. The results of independent t-test and ANOVA were represented as follows: With regard to overall satisfaction with homestay and locals’ way of life, the results showed that there was a significant difference by age (F=4.845, p<0.05), country (F=2.469, p<0.05), and level of education (F=2.210, p<0.05) and by demographic characteristics of the respondents in the overall satisfaction. Moreover, the results indicated that there was a significant difference by time of traveling in this place (F=5.897, p<0.05), by source of information (F=2.552, p<0.05) and by travel behavior characteristics of the respondents in overall tourists’ satisfaction. In terms of overall satisfaction with various services, the results revealed that there was a significant difference by gender (t=0.324, p<0.05), age (F=2.865, p<0.05), country (F=9.907, p <0.05), education level (F=21.060, p <0.05), occupation (F=4.760, 78 p<0.05), by total income (F=3.577, p <0.05) and by demographic characteristics of the respondents in the overall satisfaction. Furthermore, the results showed that there was a significant difference by main purpose of this trip (F=12.071, p<0.05), length of stay (F=23.092, p<0.05), and by membership in a group (F=4.327, p<0.05) in the overall satisfaction of homestay services.

Discussion The study of tourists’ satisfaction on Baan Pang Dang Homestay focused on the locals’ way of life and various services to tourists. The results showed the following: Overall satisfaction with locals’ way of life Most of the tourists were satisfied with locals’ lifestyles in terms of local food. This indicated that the majority of the tourists enjoyed their trips, as they experienced new things including new tradition and even tasting of local food. The information on homestay tourism provided by travel agents and the services these travel agents offered as package tours, were instrumental to the level of tourists’ satisfaction. Travel agents used to make preparations in advance in order to meet the expectations of their customers. With their useful information on homestay tourism and the services they provide, travel agents are an important factor affecting tourists’ visitation to homestay. Travel agents arrange various activities in the tourism itinerary. Although the program cannot be called excellent, many tourists are satisfied with the services of the travel agents. The time tourists take to prepare their journey has an impact on the level of satisfaction. If tourists take a long time to arrange their trip, they will be satisfied with their trips. Decision time affects tourists’ satisfaction because they have time to prepare their trips in terms of collecting enough tourist information and finding out what their actual demands are, in order to meet the purpose of their trip effectively. In terms of past experience, tourists who had previous tourism experience were more satisfied with homestay services than tourists who never visited homestay before. This result was not different from the study by Chaiwatchara Promjittiphong (Chaiwatchara Promjittiphong, 2005, p. 95) who studied foreign tourist satisfaction with homestay services in Royal Project Development Center Teen-Took, Chiang Mai 79

Province. His study showed that tourists who had visited the area before had higher satisfaction levels with natural resources than tourists who had no previous experience with tourism in Royal Project Development Center. However, tourists were dissatisfied with locals’ dress and local products or souvenirs. This assumes that the hill tribes wear their traditional custom when tourists visit their homes. When there are no tourists, the hill tribe community dresses in private shirts as a demonstration effect. As Manning and Dougherty (Manning and Dougherty, 1995, p. 30) stated, “tourism is often attacked as one cause of cultural decline in Thailand and some rituals, ceremonies and cultural events have become commercialized”. For instance, some cultural events in Baan Pang Dang were organized with the express purpose of attracting foreign tourists. Overall satisfaction with homestay services Looking at each part, the study showed that there was a slight difference in tourists’ satisfaction between the variables, such as satisfaction with human relations of the host, accommodation, food and drink, and community regulation. The results illustrated that tourists were satisfied with services in terms of nice and friendly characteristics of locals, quality of food and taste, cleaned bedding, bathroom, cleanliness of community and garbage collecting areas, and safety in their life and assets. Moreover, the tourists were satisfied with the general services because these were sufficient and effective and the service charge was moderate .

However, both tourists’ demographics (gender, age, countries, education levels, occupation, and total income) and travel behaviors (main purpose of trip, length of stay, and travel party) had an effect on tourists’ satisfaction, although on different levels. For instance, gender and past experience affected tourists’ satisfaction on a different level. Female tourists were more satisfied with homestay services than male tourists. This result was in accordance with the study of Huh (Huh, 2002, p. 95) who studied tourist satisfaction with cultural/ heritage sites in The Virgina Historic Triangle. The study showed that female tourists have higher satisfaction levels with cultural sites than males.

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Recommendations Based on the results of this study, several recommendations can be made to increase tourists’ satisfaction with Baan Pang Dang Homestay. The results of the study indicated that there were differences in the overall satisfaction of tourists in terms of gender, decision time to travel, past experiences, and purpose of trip. It is hoped that the results of the study will provide some insights that may help tourism planners develop effective strategies to improve tourism. For example, according to the homestay department of the tourism development office, family vacation plans to visit homestay are made by women. The study revealed that female tourists were more satisfied than male tourists. Therefore, tourism marketers and planners should keep this in mind in order to create special products and services for their market. The study also revealed that the respondents who had previous experience with homestay were more satisfied than the respondents without previous experience. Therefore, this finding can be useful to tourism planners to improve and create key attributes such as infrastructure, accessibility and facilities for repeat and first time visitors. Also, tourism planners may develop the special services and products that make tourists revisit and be satisfied. For example, marketers can send promotional packages to repeat tourists in order to induce and maintain their interest in the destinations and attract potential visitors to visit homestay. The study identified satisfaction attributes into the categories of satisfied and dissatisfied. This classification will help tourism marketers and planners to maintain or enhance their strengths and improve their weaknesses. For example, the study suggests that marketers should maintain satisfied attributes (tradition, local food, human relation, accommodation, community regulation, etc.). Also, they should pay attention to low-satisfaction attributes as dissatisfied attributes (dress and local products) to meet tourists’ expectations. Furthermore, in order to create effective marketing strategies for products and services in homestay tourism market, it is necessary to understand the characteristics and behaviors of tourists visiting homestay.

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Directions for future research The study provided a general picture of the level of overall satisfaction with homestay tourism by demographics and travel behavior characteristics. However, apart from the demographics and travel behavior, this study did not include other factors that affect tourist satisfaction with homestay tourism. This study did also not deal with the relationship between tourist satisfaction and intention to revisit a destination. Future research should investigate these factors and the relationship between tourists’ satisfaction and intention to revisit a destination because repeat visitation to a destination is an important issue for tourism marketers and researchers.