TOURIST MOTIVATION TO USE HOMESTAYS IN THAILAND AND THEIR SATISFACTION BASED ON THE DESTINATION’S CULTURAL AND HERITAGE-BASED ATTRIBUTE A Thesis presented to the Faculty of the Graduate School University of Missouri In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Master of Science by KANOKNON SEUBSAMARN Dr. Seonghee Cho, Thesis Supervisor DECEMBER 2009 The undersigned, appointed by the Dean of the Graduate School, have examined the thesis entitled TOURIST MOTIVATION TO USE HOMESTAYS IN THAILAND AND THEIR SATISFACTION BASED ON THE DESTINATION’S CULTURAL AND HERITAGE-BASED ATTRIBUTE Presented by Kanoknon Seubsamarn a candidate for the degree of Master of Science and hereby certify that in their opinion it is worthy of acceptance. Dr. Seonghee Cho, Hotel & Restaurant Management Dr. Dae-Young Kim, Hotel & Restaurant Management Dr. Carla Barbieri, Parks, Recreation & Tourism ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This master thesis is written in the hospitality management program in the department of Food and Hospitality System at the University of Missouri. The thesis has been written during the winter and fall of 2009. This period of hard work has been very interesting and has provided me with a deeper knowledge regarding the field of customer relationship management in the tourism industry. While I have been working on this thesis, many people have supported me and contributed in different ways. First of all, I want to thank Dr. Seonghee Cho, my thesis advisor, for her guidance throughout the process and her support over the years. I also want to thank Dr. Dae-Young Kim and Dr. Carla Barbieri for their advice that helped me improve the quality of this thesis. In addition, this thesis would never been accomplished without cooperation from the industry. Therefore, I am deeply grateful to all homestay owners and homestay managers that helped me and supported me during the data collection process. Finally, I want to express my appreciation to my parents for their support during all my years of academic studies. ii TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ................................................................................................ ii LIST OF TABLES .............................................................................................................. v LIST OF FIGURES ........................................................................................................... vi ABSTRACT ...................................................................................................................... vii Chapter 1. INTRODUCTION ...................................................................................................... 1 1.1 Background ......................................................................................................... 1 1.2 Problem Statement .............................................................................................. 5 1.3 Purpose of Study ................................................................................................. 5 1.4 Objectives of the study........................................................................................ 6 1.5 Hypotheses .......................................................................................................... 7 1.6 Significance of the Study .................................................................................... 8 1.7 Definitions........................................................................................................... 9 1.8 Limitations ........................................................................................................ 10 1.9 Outline of Subsequent Chapters........................................................................ 11 2. REVIEW OF LITERATURE ................................................................................... 12 2.1 Introduction ....................................................................................................... 12 2.2 Tourists’ Demographic Characteristic .............................................................. 12 2.3 Homestay .......................................................................................................... 14 2.4 Tourists’ Satisfaction ........................................................................................ 16 2.5 Culture and Heritage Attributes ........................................................................ 18 2.6 Tourists’ Motivation ......................................................................................... 20 2.7 Summary ........................................................................................................... 24 3. METHODOLOGY ................................................................................................... 25 3.1 Introduction ....................................................................................................... 25 3.2 Purpose of the Study ......................................................................................... 26 3.3 Research Design................................................................................................ 26 3.4 Population and Sampling .................................................................................. 27 3.4.1 Population .............................................................................................. 27 3.4.2 Sample frame ......................................................................................... 27 3.4.3 Sample and Data Collection ................................................................... 27 3.4.4 Sampling error ....................................................................................... 28 3.4.5 Selection error and frame error .............................................................. 29 3.5 Institutional Review Board ............................................................................... 29 iii 3.6 Instrumentation ................................................................................................. 29 3.6.1 Validity .................................................................................................. 29 3.6.2 Measurement .......................................................................................... 30 3.6.2 Reliability ............................................................................................... 32 3.7 Data Analysis .................................................................................................... 33 3.8 Preliminary Evaluation of Data ........................................................................ 34 3.8.1 Data screening and Missing Analysis Procedures ................................. 34 3.8.2 Statistic Assumptions ............................................................................. 34 3.9 Summary ........................................................................................................... 35 4. RESULTS ................................................................................................................. 36 4.1 Introduction ....................................................................................................... 36 4.2 Demographic Characteristics of Subjects ......................................................... 36 4.3 Tourists’ Overall Level of Satisfaction with Homestays in Thailand............... 39 4.4 Testing the Hypotheses ..................................................................................... 40 4.4.1 Hypothesis 1........................................................................................... 40 4.4.2 Hypothesis 2........................................................................................... 45 4.4.3 Hypothesis 3........................................................................................... 52 4.6 Summary ........................................................................................................... 58 5. DISCUSSION ........................................................................................................... 59 5.1 Introduction ....................................................................................................... 59 5.2 Conclusion ........................................................................................................ 59 5.3 Implications....................................................................................................... 62 5.4 Recommendation for Future Study ................................................................... 65 5.5 Limitations ........................................................................................................ 65 APPENDIX A. Signed Permission Letter ................................................................................... 67 B. Informed Consent Form ..................................................................................... 69 C. Survey Questionnaire ......................................................................................... 71 REFERENCES ................................................................................................................. 75 iv LIST OF TABLES Table Page 1. Variables of the study……………………………………………........................31 2. Demographic characteristics of the tourists who visited homestay in Thailand…………………………………….............38 3. Tourists’ Overall Level of Satisfaction with the Homestays in Thailand…….………………….…………………………..39 4. Results on t-test between overall satisfaction with Gender and Country of Resident……………….…….……...……..........42