FACTORS RELATED TO THE THAI AGING TRAVELERS’ BEHAVIOR IN SELECTING WELLNESS TOURISM SERVICES DURING THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC
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Abstract
The objectives of this research were (1) to study the behavior of Thai aging travelers in selecting products and services in the wellness tourism sector during the COVID-19 pandemic and (2) to study the services marketing mix factors and the awareness of the Safety and Health Administration (SHA) standard and how they influence the behavior of Thai aging travelers in selecting wellness tourism services. In this quantitative approach, our sample comprised 400 male and female citizens of Thailand aged 60 or above who used health-motivated products and services at hotels and establishments providing health-related and spa services in the Mueang District of Chiang Mai Province. We developed a questionnaire specifically to collect data to form a judgmental sample and employed Chi-square statistics to analyze the relationship on how the decision-making behavior of Thai aging travelers was influenced by the services marketing mix factors of 7P’s and awareness of SHA.
Our research has shown that the type of wellness tourism that has most strongly attracted Thai aging travelers is the promotion of good health among healthy tourists. The top three most popular activities among Thai aging travelers are (1) spa/Thai massage, (2) meditation, and (3) exercises and sports. In each session of the activities, friends or colleagues partaking with the respondents often have a key role in selecting; a majority of these activities are planned to coincide with festivals or high season for tourism. We find the average frequency of health-related touristic activities to be 2 times/month. The services marketing mix factors that have statistically significant influences on the behavior of Thai aging travelers in selecting wellness tourism services are product/services, place, promotion, and process with the significance levels being .015, .001, .029, and .024, respectively. Our research has shown that products and services themselves are the most crucial factors for elderly Thai aging travelers. This underscores the vital importance for businesses to improve their products and services and tailor them to ensure compliance with target group, especially in the case of Thailand’s Thai aging travelers. Promotions and offers are also crucial to be employed, especially one that is targeted at the Thai aging travelers. To this end, the sector can greatly benefit from relevant governmental agencies’ efforts to raise awareness of the proper strategies, as shown in this research, to improve health tourism.
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