Chapter 2
Literature review

This chapter reviews related literatures on overview of International and Thai tourists, general information about Phuket, current situation of tourist industry, attractions and activities, concept of tourist behavior and tourist perception, marketing concept, as well as previous research. Its purpose is to provide general knowledge and overall concept regarding the theories and previous research related to this research.

2.1 Overview of International and Thai tourists

According to Tourism Authority of Thailand (2011), the international tourist arrivals to Thailand figure for 2011 reached 19.09 million, an increase of 19.84%. The number of tourists had shown an accumulative growth rate over the first ten months. The flooding crisis late in the year, however, slowed down the growth in the number of tourist arrivals in October, and caused shrinkage of 18% in November 2011. Fortunately, all market groups still retained an increasing growth at the good level, including East Asia at a 32.30% increase, ASEAN at a 21.96% increase, the Americas at a 12.85% increase, Europe at an 11.40% increase, Africa at a 6.73% increase, and the Middle East at a 5.95% increase. Domestic tourism by Thais in 2011 was estimated at 98 million tourists/trips, generating an income of 407.6 million Baht which was less than the target of 421.1 million Baht. The purchasing power dramatically shrank in the second-half year due to the flooding crisis, which abruptly halted the positive growth trend of the first half of the year (TAT, 2011).

Furthermore, the study of Euromonitor International reported that in 2011 Thailand posted strong growth in arrivals, in particular from China and Russia and received a large number of tourists from Malaysia, China and Japan. Despite the earthquake and tsunami in Japan, the number of arrivals from Japan increased. Domestic tourism received a negative impact from the severe flooding. The key impact was on transportation, car rental and travel accommodation, but it did not affect inbound and outbound trips. Although there were serious natural disasters in Thailand and other countries, the number of arrivals continued to see strong growth, as the country is rich in culture, tourism resources and attractive historic buildings/sites, and it remains a value for money destination for shopping, dining and accommodation. (Euromonitor, 2012)

From the above information, the overview of international and Thai tourists travelling in Thailand from 2011 statistics is provided for understanding about major tourist groups in Thailand and their travel behavior in last year.

2.2 General Information about Phuket

There are many beautiful beaches and islands where thousands of visitors preferred to spend their leisure time every year. Thailand is blessed with most precious natural resource where many popular beaches and islands, such as in Phuket, Krabi, Ranong, Phang Nga and Trang, are located at right side of Andaman sea. The beaches and islands in these areas are featured in its beauty for the powdery sand and crystal clear water (TAT, 2013). Phuket is the most popular beach in Thailand that has over 5.3 million tourists visiting each year. Phuket is the largest island in Thailand comprises approximately 590 square kilometers, including 39 surrounding islands. Phuket Island is mainly granite, with low forested mountains and a series of fine white-sand beaches. Phuket is a tourism place suitable for a short break or a relaxing vacation. Phuket has a wide variety of activities; snorkeling, scuba diving, swimming, boating and elephant riding are the most popular activities for tourists. The number of international tourists to Phuket is increasing, with more than six million expected in 2013.

According to Phuket.com (2013), the official census shows 231,206 people living in Phuket. Since this figure only includes those registered as resident in Phuket province and there is a significant (semi-permanent) work force from other provinces of Thailand and as many as 35,000 visitors at any one time, it is likely that a more realistic figure would be much higher. Phuket Town, the main town, has over 60,000 inhabitants. Phuket comprise of some ethnic groups such as Thai, Chinese, Muslim (originally of Malay descent), sea nomads, European, and Indian Arabic. Climate and temperatures on Phuket vary between 21-34 ˚C. The northeast monsoon season, roughly November till April, brings consistently sunny weather, cool breezes and low humidity, with moderate seas. The southwest monsoon, May till October, sees the rainiest and most unpredictable weather along with frequent swells off the Indian Ocean.

2.3 Current Situation of Tourism industry in Phuket

In the past decade, Phuket has welcome about 3 million visitors every year. Phuket has received benefits from their tourism industry resulted in infrastructure development and well-being of people in the area. However one of the main problems facing Phuket is how to maintain a balance between the benefits of tourism while sustaining the natural environment. Eco-tourism and marine conservation is an important issue to be concern in Phuket nowadays. According to the TAT (2013), Responsible and community-based eco-tourism focuses on responsible travel and involves the local population in providing ecotourism services to visitors, offering an alternative income so that local people can benefit from preserving nature. Ecotourism is intended as a low-impact alternative to large-scale tourism. There is also an article from Phuket Gazette (2013) that supports the impact of mass tourism in Phuket. It indicated that the growth of the tourism industry in Phuket is the source of many problems at its natural tourist attractions. Land and beach encroachment, as well as air and water pollution, are all serious concerns that affect the tourism image of the island. Moreover vendors harassing and taking advantage of tourists, as well as excessive numbers of beach chairs and umbrellas were also having a negative impact on tourists’ experiences.

2.4 Attractions and activities in Phuket

The island has a rich heritage that is shown through the prism of its temples, Sino-colonial architecture and old town - all worth visiting. Nature abounds in Phuket and there are still some beautiful spots to visit and admire the views and flora. With an abundance of beaches, parks and forests to explore, a rich history and culture to discover, and fantastic dining and nightlife choices, the only thing you'll find lacking is the time to see all that the island has to offer. Most visitors to Phuket generally spend their first few days relaxing on the beach and enjoying sunbathing, but to discover the beauty of the island, many tourists rent a motorcycle or a car to visit the more remote regions. According to Tourism Authority of Thailand (2013), as one of the premier desitnations in Thailand, Phuket has innumerable attractions, ensuring that tourists with any interest will find something to keep them entertained on their Phuket holidays. The followings are some of the most popular attractions for tourists in Phuket:

Laem Phromthep
Laem Phromthep is known to be the best place in Phuket to watch sunset as it is a headland forming the extreme south end of Phuket, so people can see sunset clearly and can see full scenary on Laem Phromthep. When it is nearly the sunset time, there will be a lot of local people and tourists coming here to watch sunset.
Thai Village and Orchid Farm
It is located on Thepkasattri Road, approximately 3 kilometers from Phuket City. Thai Village and Orchid Farm is an extraordinary place for culture lovers. The village provides stunning classical Thai dance performances, sword-fighting, Thai boxing, southern customs and elephant shows. Handicrafts and traditional mining techniques are also featured. The orchid farm outside is worth exploring and tourists can be entertained with Cultural shows that are performed daily.

Hat Karon
One of the most beautiful beaches in Phuket, Hat Karon, is a 4-kilometre long straight beach. It is the second largest of Phuket's beaches, some 20 kilometres from town. Large resort complexes line the road behind the shoreline. The sand is very white, and squeaks audibly when walked upon. The southern point has a fine coral reef stretching toward Kata and Ko Pu. Restaurants, bars, tour companies and other non-hotel businesses are at the north end, near the traffic circle, and at the south end, on the little road connecting the back road with the beach road. The narrow road between Kata and Karon has a number of small businesses as well as the Dino Park Mini Golf facility. Karon is the most up-scale of Phuket's beaches. There is a regular daytime bus service to and from Phuket town.

Phuket Thaihua Museum
It has been renovated to be one of the historical tourist attractions of Phuket. The 74-yaer old Sino-Portuguese architecture displays a photo exhibition and video media which tells the history of the Chinese people in Phuket, mining, local costumes, Sino-Portuguese architecture, local foods, tradition and culture of Phuket. It is located on 28 Krabi Road

In addition to attractions in Phuket, there are some interesting and exciting activities in Phuket that tourists should not miss. The range of activities in Phuket continues to grow in sophistication and variety, offering visitors of all budgets, tastes, ages and abilities something to enjoy.
Phuket has a wide range of activities as a tropical island it has all sorts of possibilities when it comes to land and at sea activities. According to the tastes and choices of most people visiting the island the top ten activities are scuba divings, spa/massage, Phuket golf courses, snorkeling, surfing, flying hanuman, Thai boxing, Dino Park, cable ski and wakeboarding and splash jungle waterpark (Phuket.com, 2013).

There are more other interesting and adventurous activites in Phuket such as canoe tours, horseback riding, running and bungee jumping (Carl Parkes, 2000).

2.5 Concept of Tourist behavior and Tourist perception
Model of tourist behavior

Zaltam and Burger (1075) define a model as a simplified but organized and meaningful representation of an actual system or process. It specifies both the key elements in a system such as tourist beliefs and attitudes, situational factors, and purchasing behavior and the relationships between these elements.

Schmolll (1977) built a model based on the Howard and Sheth (1969) and Nicosia (1966) models of consumer behavior. Schmoll’s model was based upon the following premises:

* The decision process ad its eventual outcome are influenced by four sets of variables: customer goals, travel opportunities, communications effort, and intervening or independent variables,

* It is possible to identify these sets of variables and their individual components.

* The eventual decision is in fact the result of a distinct process involving several successive stages or phases.

Mayo and Jarvis (1981) believe that individual travel behavior can be explained by the length of the decision process and by the influence of psychological factors on a person’s choices. After the decision to leave home has been made, other decisions such as where to go and what to do are made, utilizing several different decision-making approaches, ranging from the highly routine to the very extensive.

Tourist perception can define as a process translating tourist information from the external world into the internal, mental world that each of us experiences. Three basic cognitive operations make perception a very selective process: sensation, attention, and memory. (Decrop, 2000) Tourist Perception is the most direct route to evaluate a tourism destination, or a scenic area and its service for tourists. People provide and share their true views and their own news through the digital technology and the global knowledge system. It’s the most direct and effective investigation way in the internet age. Perception change is treated as an intervening variable which can influence the choice of tourist destinations (Pearce, 1982).

2.6 Marketing concept

According to Consumer Behavior in Travel and Tourism (2000), Understanding the consumer’s needs and buying process is the foundation of successful marketing. By understanding how buyers proceed through the decision-making process, the various participants in the buying procedure, and the major influences on buying behavior, marketers can acquire many clues about how to meet buyer needs. Consumer behavior research in tourism has focused on motivations, typologies, destination choices, and the decision process itself.

2.7 Previous research regarding Tourist behavior and perception in Thailand/Phuket

Many researches have been conducted related to Tourist behavior and perception towards Thailand and Phuket. These studies are substantial source of information for tourism marketers, tour operators and researchers. In this research, some of the previous researches have been reviewed, for example An Analysis and Comparative Study of Travel Motivations and Travel Behaviors of International Tourists to Thailand (Sangpikul, 2008). The result of the study indicated that travel motives (push factors) and the perception of Thailand's destination attractions (pull factors) differed among international tourists to Thailand, particularly between Asian and European tourists. In relation to travel behaviors, the study revealed some differences of travel behavior between Asian and European tourists in some aspects for example, trip arrangement. The study found that most European tourists were independent travelers and they arranged their own trip to Thailand while many Asian tourists bought package tour from tour agency, though some arranged their own trips. Another aspect, the author observed that most European tourists were first-time travelers to Thailand whereas Asian tourists were repeat visitors. Although most European were first-time travelers to Thailand, they were more likely to stay longer than Asian tourists, particularly the trip of 11-15 days or more. Asian tourists also differed from European tourists in terms of preferred leisure activities, spending behaviors and source of travel information.

Another research studied about Travel motivations, behavior and requirement of European senior tourist to Thailand (Esichaikul, 2012). Senior tourists are one of the important tourists’ segmentation in Thailand and Phuket, therefore the study of their behaviors was chosen to be reviewed. The results of the study showed that the majority of respondents traveled to Thailand for the first time, whereas 31.86% had visited Thailand more than 4 times. More than half of the respondents planned to stay in Thailand for 15 days or more. Most of them traveled with their spouse, and arranged their trip by themselves. The destinations that they visited are Bangkok (59.77%), Chiang Mai (40.93%) and Phuket (34.88%). The major intended activity was leisure and sightseeing (72.56%). Half of the respondents preferred to stay in a 4-star hotel, and used a car to travel around Thailand. The major source of information was family and friends. Their estimated daily expenditure was below US$ 100. The results of this research provide some insight information of senior tourists for planners and marketers. Provision of safety protection for senior tourists, physical improvement of tourist accessibility, support for accommodation and attractions, and facility improvement for senior tourists should be taken into consideration if Thailand wants to attract more senior tourists from European countries.
In addition to the research in Tourist behavior, there are some studies related to Tourist perception towards a destination image. One of them was reviewed which is Australian and Russian Tourists, Perceptions of Phuket’s Destination Image (Thongkundam & Promsivapallop, 2012). The study examines the differences between Phuket’s destination image perceived by Australian and Russian. The authors indicated that cultural diversity and individual’s characteristics are highly influenced the perception of both nationality. Russian has more positive favor about Phuket in almost all aspects as they were more likely enjoying richness of cultural, natural sceneries, experienced good social safety condition and fair transportation. But, Australian perceived good wide varieties of tourist infrastructures and attractions as their best perception more than other counterparts. The result indicted that nationality in some context influenced the way people think about destination. It was concluded that “Natural and Cultural of Phuket” played the strongest relations that much affected to its overall image, intention to revisit and intention to recommend for Australian tourists. Likewise, “Social and Safety of Phuket” played the strongest relations that much affected to its overall image, behavioral intentions for Russian tourists. Overall image has a positive and direct relationship with future behaviors of tourists.

In conclusion, the previous researches regarding Tourist behavior and perception in Thailand and Phuket provide a clear understanding of travel needs and wants as well as perceptions of tourists towards travel destination’s image. In order to understand more about the concept of tourist behavior and perception, the information which has already collected by the previous research is needed, as it provides a variety of views from different authors. With a collection of data about tourist behavior and their perception provided by the previous researches, the researcher who is interested in doing research in the same area can utilize the benefits of this information in conducting a better research. In this research, the results of these studies are also very useful to apply as a guideline of doing the research.

Bibliography

Abraham Pizam and Yoel Mansfeld. (2000). Consumer Behavior in Travel and Tourism, The Haworth Press,Inc page(18,19,21,29,104)

Pichamon Thongkundam, Australian and Russian Tourists’ Perceptions of Phuket’s Destination Image, Prince of Songkla University, Phuket 83000

Hou Zhiqiang, Tourism perception to Thailand of the Chinese mainland tourists——Content analysis on the We Media, Paper presented to First Thai-Chinese Strategic Research Seminar, Bangkok, 24-26, Aug., 2012

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