THAI TOURISTS BEHAVIORS IN ELECTRONIC WORD-OF-MOUTH COMMUNICATION AFFECTING THE INTENTION TO SELECT POOL VILLA CHA-AM, PHETCHABURI

Abstract

This research aimed to 1) Study personal factors, behaviors, and word-of-mouth communication on social media; 2) Compare accommodation selection intentions classified by personal information; 3) Study the relationship between Thai tourist behaviors and accommodation selection intentions; and 4) Study the factors of word-of-mouth communication on social media that influence the accommodation selection intentions in the form of pool villas in Cha-am District, Phetchaburi Province. This research was a quantitative research. The instrument used was a questionnaire. The sample group was 400 Thai tourists living in Bangkok and its vicinity, aged 20 and over, and able to use social media to search for information, such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Line, TikTok, and Instagram. The statistics used for data analysis included the mean, standard deviation, t-test, and multiple regression analysis. The results of the study found that 1) Personal factors and behaviors were mostly women, and word-of-mouth communication on social media was at a high level overall, as the accommodations were designed with a corner for taking pictures to post on social media, which is something women are good at. 2) Tourists with different ages, monthly incomes, and education levels had different accommodation selection intentions. 3) Tourist behavior in terms of information search The frequency and duration of social media use were significantly related to accommodation selection intention, and 4) word-of-mouth communication on social media in terms of quality, quantity, and expertise of the sender had a statistically significant influence on the accommodation selection intention of pool villas in Cha-am District, Phetchaburi Province of Thai tourists at the 0.01 level.