Images of Thailand from the perspective of German tourists in German-language online travel reports

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Suwana Buapan
Korakoch Attaviriyanupap

Abstract

The objective of this research is to analyze the pattern of German tourism activities when German tourists visit Thailand and the images of Thailand from their perspectives. By studying from German-language travel report forums that shared experiences about Thailand, including Thailand Reisetipps, Thailand Asienforum, and Pattayaforum, a total number of 75 threads posted from 2011 to 2019 were analyzed. The result represented that German tourism activities can be divided into 10 main categories: cultural tourism, sea sun sand tourism, gastronomy tourism, entertainment tourism, mountain & forest tourism, wellness tourism, shopping tourism, sex tourism, motorcycle tourism, and water-based tourism. The most favorite activity for German people is sightseeing temples, which is classified as cultural tourism. As for the image analysis, it was found that there are 7 positive aspects of Thailand: the land full of various services, the land of flavors and food diversity, the land of paradise for vacation, the land of Buddhist capital, architecture and tradition, the land of smiles and friendliness, the land of tropical forest, and the land with a fascinating capital. The most positive image of Thailand is the land full of various services. On the other hand, 5 negative aspects of Thailand are the land of prostitution, the land of plastic waste, the land of traffic problems in the capital, the land with service faults, and the land of heat. The image that appears most often is the land of prostitution.

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Section
บทความวิจัย (Research Articles)

References

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