A STUDY OF CHINESE TOURISTS’ MOTIVATION, SATISFACTION, LOYALTY: THE CASE STUDY OF BANGKOK, THAILAND BY MISS LIYING JIANG AN INDEPENDENT STUDY SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF ARTS (ASEAN STUDIES) PRIDI BANOMYONG INTERNATIONAL COLLEGE THAMMASAT UNIVERSITY ACADEMIC YEAR 2018 COPYRIGHT OF THAMMASAT UNIVERSITY Ref. code: 25615827040097VQG A STUDY OF CHINESE TOURISTS’ MOTIVATION, SATISFACTION, LOYALTY: THE CASE STUDY OF BANGKOK, THAILAND BY MISS LIYING JIANG AN INDEPENDENT STUDY SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF ARTS (ASEAN STUDIES) PRIDI BANOMYONG INTERNATIONAL COLLEGE THAMMASAT UNIVERSITY ACADEMIC YEAR 2018 COPYRIGHT OF THAMMASAT UNIVERSITY Ref. code: 25615827040097VQG (1) Independent Study Title A STUDY OF CHINESE TOURISTS’ MOTIVATION, SATISFACTION, LOYALTY: THE CASE STUDY OF BANGKOK, THAILAND Author Miss Liying Jiang Degree Master of Arts (ASEAN Studies) Department/Faculty/University ASEAN Studies Pridi Banomyong International College Thammasat University Independent Study Advisor Associate Professor Artorn Fungtammasan Academic Years 2018 ABSTRACT As a significant proportion of national income, tourism is now playing an increasingly important role in the development of the Thai economy. The development of tourism not only increases tourism job opportunities for people, but also raises the GDP (Gross Domestic Product) of other related businesses. Thailand receives more and more foreign tourists every year, and China is one of the main sources of tourists. Bangkok, the capital of Thailand, has become the primary choice for Chinese tourists. In order to promote the steady growth of Chinese tourists entering the country and increase the consumption of tourists, the success of the tourism industry should be guided by a thorough analysis of tourist motivation, satisfaction and loyalty. This study takes the mainland Chinese tourists visiting Bangkok as the survey object, adopts the empirical research method (questionnaires and interview), to analyze Chinese tourists’ motivations, satisfaction and loyalty, in order to provide Ref. code: 25615827040097VQG (2) useful suggestions and references for the Thai government and tourism operators, to formulate effective marketing strategies. In order to study tourist motivation, this investigation utilizes push and pulls motivation variables. The push motivation is related to internal motivation, while the pull motivation is associated with external forces. The integrated and simultaneous approach for measuring tourist satisfaction consists with the items of “expectation”, “worthwhile to visit” and “comparison”. The study of destination loyalty contains 2 variables which are “revisit” and “recommend to the other”. Consequently, tour managers should establish a higher tourist satisfaction level to create positive tourist behavior and create new motivation to simulate tourists to come back again, in order to improve and sustain destination competitiveness. Keywords: Tourism motivation, Tourism satisfaction, Tourism loyalty, Chinese tourists, Bangkok Ref. code: 25615827040097VQG (3) ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This thesis would not have been accomplished without the people who always support me and cooperate in every part to complete this thesis. I would like to take this chance to express my appreciation to them. It is with immense gratitude that I acknowledge the support and help of my supervisor Associate Professor Dr. Artorn Fungtammasan who has supported me throughout my thesis with his patience, support and knowledge. I would like to express sincere gratitude to my external examiner Associate Professor Dr. Somsak Tambunlertchai, who made significant contributions to this thesis with his very helpful comments and suggestions. I would like to offer my special thanks to my friends for their kind help in distribute questionnaires to Chinese tourists in Bangkok, and to every enthusiastic respondent for helping me fulfill the questionnaires. Moreover, I would like to thank the staffs in ASEAN Studies, Pridi Banomyong International College (PBIC), who are always kind and helpful. Last but not least, I am deeply grateful to my beloved parents who have always understood what I was doing and have been encouraging throughout my difficult times. I will be grateful forever for your love. Liying Jiang Thammasat University Year 2018 Ref. code: 25615827040097VQG (4) TABLE OF CONTENTS Page ABSTRACT )1) ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS )3) LIST OF TABLES )6) LIST OF FIGURES )7) CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION 1 1.1 Background of the Study 1 1.2 Significance 6 1.3 Objective 7 CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW 8 2.1 Tourism Motivation 8 2.2 Tourism Satisfaction 9 2.3 Tourism Loyalty 10 CHAPTER3 QUESTIONNAIRE DESIGN AND DATA COLLECTION 11 3.1 Questionnaire Design 11 Ref. code: 25615827040097VQG (5) 3.2 Data Collection and Analysis Methods 15 3.2.1 Questionnaire Distribution and Collection 15 3.2.2 Data Analysis Methods 15 CHAPTER 4 SURVEY RESULTS AND DISCUSSION 17 4.1 Descriptive Statistical Analysis of Respondents’ Basic Data 17 and Survey Data 4.2 Tourism Motivation 21 4.2.1 Tourism Motivation (push factors) 22 4.2.2 Tourism Motivation (pull factors) 24 4.3 Tourism Satisfaction 26 4.4 Tourism Loyalty 27 4.5 Analysis of Survey Results 28 4.5.1 Gender & Tourism Motivation 28 4.5.2 Monthly income & Tourism Motivation 28 4.5.3 Age & Tourism Motivation 29 4.5.4 Tourism Satisfaction 29 4.5.5 Tourism Loyalty 29 CHAPTER 5 CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS 33 5.1 Summary of Major Findings 33 5.2 Recommendations 35 5.3 Limitation of Study 37 BIBLIOGRAPHY 39 APPENDIX A 42 APPENDIX B 49 Ref. code: 25615827040097VQG (6) YHPARGOIB 50 Ref. code: 25615827040097VQG (7) LIST OF TABLES Tables Page 1.1 Top 5 Arrivals by Nationality (2008-2018) 3 3.1 Questionnaire Design 12 4.1 Basic Information of Respondents (N=194) 20 4.2 Tourism Motivation (Push Factors) 23 4.3 Tourism Motivation (Pull Factors) 25 4.4 Tourism Satisfaction 26 4.5 Tourism Loyalty 28 Ref. code: 25615827040097VQG (8) LIST OF FIGURES Figures Page 1.1 Thailand Tourist Arrivals in Millions (2008-2018) 2 Ref. code: 25615827040097VQG 1 CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION 1.1 Background of the Study Tourism is an important economic activity in most countries around the world. Thailand is a traditional tourist site with advantageous location, natural landscapes, cultural resources, splendid and magnificent Buddhist temples, beautiful Royal palaces, beautiful mountains, silver-white sand beaches, and so on. With the advantages of such rich resources, Thailand attracts a large number of tourists every year. The Thai tourism industry has developed at a fast pace and has become one of the country’s pillar industries. Thailand, as an important tourist country, its tourism industry is directly or indirectly associated with the economic development of Thailand. It is widely known that the service sector now has the biggest proportion in contributing highest GDP of the country, and the tourism industry contributes a big chunk to the service sector’s GDP. The direct contribution of Travel & Tourism to GDP in 2017 was THB1, 433.5bn (9.4% of GDP). It is forecasted to rise by 7.8% to THB1, 545.2bn in 20181. 1 Adapt from TRAVEL & TOURISM ECONOMIC IMPACT 2018 THAILAND: https://www.wttc.org/-/media/files/reports/economic-impact-research/countries-2018/thailand2018.pdf Ref. code: 25615827040097VQG 2 (Source: www.tradingeconomics.com: Bank of Thailand)2 Figure 1.1 Thailand Tourist Arrivals in millions (2008-2018) The international arrival to Thailand from 2008 to 2018 shows a significant rise from 2008 onwards. If we take the year 2008 as an easy benchmark with 14.58 million visitors at the time, we reached 26.55 million visitors in 2013, an increase of 119.70%. Arrivals decreased by 6.54% during 2014, a year that saw massive political demonstrations, followed by the military taking over the government. Recovery occurred in the final quarter of that year, and 2015 saw a boom in arrivals, almost up to 30 million. In 2015 some segments of Thailand's hospitality industry enjoyed their best year in over two decades, according to the research firm STR Global3. Thailand closed with an overall hotel occupancy of 73.4%, an increase of 13.6% over 2014, as arrivals rose to near the 30 million mark, driven by demand from the Chinese market. December 2015 was a particularly strong month as occupancy levels reached 77.4%, the highest level since 19954. Also, according to the Thai Ministry of Tourism and Sports（MOTS）5, in 2016, the number of Thailand inbound tourists and tourism revenue increased significantly over the last year. In 2016, 2 Adapt from Trading Economics http://www.tradingeconomics.com/thailand/tourist-arrivals 3 Adapt from STR Global https://www.strglobal.com/ 4 "Thailand's hotel occupancy hits 20-year high". eTN Global Travel Industry News. 2016-01-25. Retrieved 26 January 2016. 5 Adapt from Thai Ministry of Tourism and Sports（MOTS） http://www.mots.go.th/mots_en57/main.php?filename=index Ref. code: 25615827040097VQG 3 Thailand received 32.57 million inbound tourists, with an increase of 8.86% than last year’s; inbound tourism revenue reached 1637.8 billion baht, up 12.4% compared to 2015. International tourist arrivals rose 8.8% in 2017 to a record 35.38 million, equivalent to half of Thailand's population. From 2012 onwards, China has been taking the top spot as far as providing tourists to Thailand, now way ahead of Malaysia in the second place.6 Thailand saw the tourism revenue of more than 1.8 trillion baht (56 billion U.S. dollars) in 2017, a rise of nearly 12% from that of 2016, the Ministry of Sports and Tourism announced. Malaysia ranks the second in international tourist arrivals to Thailand with an amount of more than 3.3 million, followed by South Korea with about 1.7 million visitors to the Kingdom, said the ministry. Table 1.1 Top 5 Arrivals by Nationality (2008-2018) (Source: "Visitor Statistics, 1998–2016". Department of Thailand Tourism)7 From table 1.1, we can see that China and Malaysia are the top 2 tourist source countries for Thailand.