Behavior and Travel Patterns of International Tourists Visiting Chiang Rai Province

Abstract

  This quantitative research has 3 objectives: 1) to study the behaviors of international tourists; 2) to study the travel patterns of international tourists; and 3) to compare the behavior and travel patterns of international tourists. Data collection involved 324 international tourists visiting Chiang Rai recruited by stratified sampling technique and they involved in responding to the questionnaire by accidental sampling method. Frequency, percentage, mean, and standard deviation were employed to analyze the demographic data, while Chi-square, t-test, One-way ANOVA, and LSD were employed to test the hypotheses. The results revealed that majority of the tourists travelled with their loved ones and friends, and the main travel objective was travel and leisure. The main information sources that the tourists relied on making travelling decision were suggestions from friends/family, guidebook, and Internet. The tourists refrained from using services from travel agency. They preferred to manage the trip on their own, travelled by public bus, and chose to stay at the guesthouse pricing lower than 500 Baht per night for 2-3 days. The tourists held distinctive travel patterns that included: choose to travel to novel destination, prefer to change the travel plan and itinerary, seek for adventuresomeness from travelling, travel to places where convenient facilities are not yet built or sub-standard. For hypothesis testing, the tourists with different demographic backgrounds held different tourism behaviors, and they also showed different travel patterns at the significant level of .05. The findings could provide insight information for strategic planning and development of tourism projects of Chiang Rai in order to meet authentic demands of the tourists and thus encourage the success in tourism operation of the province.