Exploratory Factor Analysis on Tourists’ Motivation at Wat Phra That Phanom, Nakhon Phanom Province, Thailand

Abstract

     The purpose of this study was to conduct an exploratory factor analysis of the motivations of tourists who visit Wat Phra That Phanom. Utilizing the Khazanie formula (1996) and collecting accidental sampling, 384 tourists were surveyed using questionnaires. As part of the qualitative research, two village headmen, one layman and five vendors participated in structured interviews. As a result, the Index of item objective congruence (IOC) value was 0.79 and the value for Cronbach’s Alpha for the survey was α = 0.96. Furthermore, descriptive statistics were used to analyze the data such as the number, percentage, mean and standard deviation. It was determined that the exploratory factor analysis (EFA) would be analyzed by Principal Component Analysis and rotated by Varimax. The outcomes demonstrated that 1) Most of the tourists were female, 20-39 years old, marital status and a bachelor's degree. Being a company employee, earning 15,000-30,000 baht. 2) Most of them travelled to worship the relics by private cars; the cost was 1,501-3,000 baht. Most of them travelled on Saturday - Sunday.   3) Tourists were most motivated by status and reputation. And 4) Sixty-five percent of the variance was due to four main motivations and seventeen sub-components; the physical, religious, and reputation components accounted for 45.20% of the variance, which influenced most on the motivation of tourists visiting the temple; and second component is 19.99%. It was found that the majority of informants after be interviewed were in agreement on the motivating factor for tourists to visit the temple, and that the community could benefit both economically, socially, and generating income in the community as well as using the knowledge gained to develop the destination for the sustainability in the future