DECISION ON SPA SERVICE SELECTION OF FOREIGN TOURISTS IN KOH SAMUI

Abstract

The purposes of this study were 1) to investigate the decision of foreign tourists in selecting spa service, and 2) to study marketing mix factors (7Ps) affecting on spa service selection of foreign tourists in Koh Samui. The research population for this research was 381,818 foreign tourists who traveled to Koh Samui, Surat Thani province. The samples were 400 foreign tourists selected by the accidental sampling technique. The data collection tool was the questionnaires. The reliabil-ity test of the whole questionnaire was 0.955. The data were analyzed by fre-quency, percentage, mean, and standard deviation. The study indicated that most respondents were females aging 30 – 39. They made their own decision of using spa services for relaxing and anxiety reduction, without a plan in advance. The study revealed that, in term of spa selection, the tourists mostly made a decision based on physical evidence, followed by the staffing, price, process, marketing promotion, location or distribution channel, and product respectively. Cleanli-ness was the highest point to influence them. The spa room should have an aro-ma scents. Service with integrity, special fare, available for advance booking, various levels of fare and services were also the important points for selecting spa service.

Keywords

• Decision,Koh Samui,Spa Tourist

References

1. Chieochankitkan, A. (2013). Developing Service Quality for Spa Estab-lishments in the Active Beach Tourism Cluster, Thailand. Dissertation of the De-gree of Doctor of Philosophy in Integrated Tourism Management. National Insti-tute of Development Administration.
2. Chieochankitkan, A. & Sukpatch, K. (2014). The Customers’ Perception of Service Quality for Spa Establishments in the Active Beach Tourism Cluster, Thailand. Silpakorn University Journal of Social Sciences, Humanities, and Arts, 14 (3), 53-75.
3. Hirankitti, P., Mechinda, P. & Manjing, S. (2009). Marketing Strategies of Thai Spa Operators in Bangkok Metropolitan. Proceeding of the International Conference on Applied Business Research ICABR.
4. Jantaro, O., Longprasert, S. & Changkid, N. (2016). Spa Guests’ Behav-ior towards Spa Service Selection in Surat Thani Province. Suratthani Rajabhat Journal, 3 (1), 185-205.
5. Kandampully, J. (2002). Innovation as the Core Competency of a Service Organization: the Role of Technology, Knowledge and Networks. European Journal of Innovation Management, 5(1), 18-26.
6. Klaysung, C. (2016). Behaviors and Factors Affecting the Selection of Spa Services among Consumers in Amphawa, Samut Songkhram, Thailand. In-ternational Journal of Social and Business Sciences, International Scholarly and Scientific Research & Innovation, 10 (12), 3897-3901.
7. Thaithong, N., Praneetham, C., Noades, M. & Sitthijirapat, P. (2018). Competency Development of the Hotel Staff in Koh Samui, Surat Thani Prov-ince. Chopayom Journal, 29 (3), 41-53.
8. Warichwattana, W. & Mongkol, K. (2013). Factors Affecting Bangkok Tourists’ Behavior on Accommodation Selection in Hua Hin, Prachuap Khiri Khan Province. MBA-KKU journal, 6 (2), 108-118.