THE INFLUENCE OF MEDIA EXPOSURE TO THAI DRAMA IN SINA WEIBO ON THE PRECAUTION AND INTENTION TO TRAVEL TO THAILAND AMONG CHINESE TOURISTS THE INFLUENCE OF MEDIA EXPOSURE TO THAI DRAMA IN SINA WEIBO ON THE PERCEPTION AND INTENTION TO TRAVEL TO THAILAND AMONG CHINESE TOURISTS Qin Jielin This Independent Study Manuscript Presented to The Graduate School of Bangkok University In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Master of Communication Arts 2019 ©2019 Qin Jielin All Right Reserved Jielin, Q. Master of Arts in Communication Arts, June 2019, Graduate School, Bangkok University. The Influence of Media Exposure to Thai Drama in Sina Weibo on the Reputation and Intention to Travel to Thailand Among Chinese Tourists ( 86 pp.) Advisor: Assoc. Prof. Pacharaporn Kesaprakorn, Ph.D. ABSTRACT This survey research aimed to examine the relationship between storytelling techniques in the Thai drama “Love Destiny” and Chinese audience’ perception toward Thailand, and the influence of the perception of Chinese audience toward Thailand on their intention to travel to Thailand after viewing the drama. Two hundred respondents were selected using purposive sampling method. The sample were Chinese Weibo users who have seen the Thai drama “Love Destiny”. The data was tabulated using Multiple Regression to test the hypotheses with significance of 0.50. The findings found that (1) The exposure to storytelling techniques in the Thai drama “Love Destiny” is positively correlated with Chinese audiences’ perception toward Thailand. Thereinto, the high correlation is visuals, other constructs is all medium correlation; (2) The Chinese audiences’ perception toward Thailand significantly influence their intention to travel to Thailand after viewing the drama. The perception of price and historical and cultural sites are positive. The perception of safe, Thai people are friendly, festivals and food are negative. Keywords: Television-induced tourism, Thai drama, Chinese tourist, Weibo, Tourist Destination Image vi ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS First of all, I would like to express my sincere gratitude to Assoc. Prof. Dr. Pacharaporn Kesaprakorn, my advisor for her continuous advices and useful suggestions for my Independent Study. During my writing, she gave me a lot of useful guidance and advice, and encouraged me to finish the whole paper. It will not be possible for me to work on my own on this academic work without her valuable help. I am deeply grateful of her help in the completion of this report, and it's a great honor to have this advisor during the period of my Master’s degree. Thanks those who participated in my research and helped me to collect data unconditionally, thanks for their precious time. And thanks to my family and friends for their support and encouragements. vi TABLE OF CONTENTS Page ABSTRACT ................................................................................................................. iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENT ............................................................................................. v LIST OF TABLES ...................................................................................................... viii LIST OF FIGURES ....................................................................................................... x CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION ................................................................................... 1 1.1 Problem Statement and Rationale ........................................................................ 1 1.2 Objective of Study ................................................................................................ 4 1.3 Scope of Study ..................................................................................................... 4 1.4 Research Questions .............................................................................................. 6 1.5 Significace of Study ............................................................................................. 6 1.6 Definitions of Terms ............................................................................................ 6 CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW ...................................................................... 10 2.1 Related Literature and Previous Studies ............................................................ 10 2.1.1 Past Studies on Film-induced Tourism ........................................................... 10 2.1.2 The influence of film and television works on the image of the prime destination ................................................................................................................ 11 2.1.3 The influence of film and television prime destination on tourists' attraction 12 2.1.4 Celebrity Effects .............................................................................................. 13 2.1.5 Story Plot and Storytelling Techniques ........................................................... 14 2.1.6 The Influence of Movie element toward tourist destination image and tourists’ willingness ................................................................................................................ 17 2.1.7. The influence of the Internet on the spread of Thai drama in China ..... 18 2.2 Related Theories ................................................................................................. 19 2.2.1 Tourist Destination Image Theory .................................................................. 19 2.2.2 Concept of the theories of branding as a tourism destination 20 2.3 Hypotheses ......................................................................................................... 21 2.4 Theoretical Framework ...................................................................................... 22 CHAPTER 3 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY .......................................................... 24 3.1 Research Design ................................................................................................. 24 vii TABLE OF CONTENTS (Continued) Page 3.2 Population and Sampling Method ...................................................................... 25 3.3 Research Instrument ........................................................................................... 25 3.4 Research Pretest ................................................................................................. 30 3.5 Data Collection Procedure ................................................................................. 31 3.6 Data Analysis and Interpretation ........................................................................ 32 3.7 Demographic Data of the Samples ..................................................................... 34 CHAPTER 4 RESEARCH RESULTS .................................................................... 38 4.1 Summary on Findings of Descriptive Analysis ................................................. 38 4.2 Hypotheses Findings and Testing ...................................................................... 45 CHAPTER 5 DISCUSSION .................................................................................... 53 5.1 Summary of the Descriptive Findings and Discussion ...................................... 53 5.2 Hypothesis Testing Summary and Discussion ................................................... 55 5.3 Conclusion of the Research ................................................................................ 59 5.4 Limitations of the Study ..................................................................................... 60 5.5 Recommendation for Future Application ........................................................... 61 5.6 Recommendations for Future Research ............................................................. 62 BIBLIOGRAPHY ........................................................................................................ 64 APPENDIX .................................................................................................................. 68 BIODATA ................................................................................................................... 78 LICENSE AGREEMENT……………………………………………………………79 viii LIST OF TABLES Page Table 3.1: The comparison of Cronbach alpha…………………..………….….……31 Table 3.2: Criteria for the storytelling techniques in the drama “Love Destiny”, Chinese audience’ perception toward Thailand and the perception of Chinese audience toward Thailand after viewing the drama …………………………………………………….…….….…..…33 Table 3.3: Gender of the samples…………………………..……….………….….…34 Table 3.4: Age of the samples …………………………………..…………..….……35 Table 3.5: Occupation of the samples………………………...………….….….……35 Table 3.6: Marriage status of the samples...……………….…………………………36 Table 3.7: Education background of the samples……………………….….…..…….36 Table 3.8: Income per month of the samples…………..………………….…….……37 Table 4.1: The number of Thai dramas watched among respondents in the past six. months……………………………………………………………………..39 Table 4.2: Criteria to interpret the opinion of respondents about each statements of storytelling techniques in the Drama “Love Destiny”..……..…………….39 Table 4.3: Analyzing the degree of Chinese perception of Thailand after viewing the. drama and tourist’s intention to travel to Thailand.…………….…………40 Table 4.4: Exposure to Storytelling Techniques in the Drama “Love Destiny”……..41 Table 4.5: Chinese perception of Thailand after viewing the drama………………...44 Table 4.6: Chinese audiences’ Intention to Travel to Thailand……….……..……….46 Table 4.7: The criteria