Behavior and factors affecting to travel at Doi Mae Salong among Thai tourists after the COVID-19 outbreak

Abstract

The purpose of this research was to study behavior of Thai tourists traveling to Doi Mae Salong after the COVID-19 and to study factors affecting to travel at Doi Mae Salong among Thai tourists after the COVID-19. The sample group was 400 Thai tourists who traveled to Doi Mae Salong. Data were collected by questionnaires and analyzed with descriptive statistics such as percentage, mean, standard deviation. T-test statistics and one-way ANOVA were used to compare differences between variables. The results showed that most of respondents were female, aged 21-30 years, graduated a bachelor's degree, average income less than 10,000 baht. The purpose of travel is for tourism, travel during weekends, average travel costs are 2,001 – 3,000 baht, traveling by private car, prefer to stay overnight at hotel, doing activities by taking pictures. The factors affecting Thai people’s decision making to travelling Doi Mae Salong after Covid-19 at the highest level are attraction, accommodation, and facilities, respectively. People with different ages have different effect on attraction, amenities, and accommodation factors. People with different educations have different effects on accommodation factors. People with different occupations and average monthly incomes have different effect on activities, accessibility, amenities, and accommodation factors. Doi Mae Salong should improve tourist attractions to be interesting, create novelty, and develop a variety of tourism activities along with develop standards of facilities, accommodation services, and public health measures to attract and ensure tourists have confidence and feel safe to come back to travel in the future.