The Influence of Social Media on Thai Fully Independent Travellers’ Travel Decision to Emerging Cities
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Abstract
The objectives of this research were. 1) To study the influence of social media on independent travel decisions among Thai tourists in secondary cities. 2) To investigate the consistency of social media in affecting travel decisions. And 3) to examine the relationship patterns and social media influences on independent travel decisions among Thai tourists in secondary cities. This research is a mixed-method study. Quantitative research will use a questionnaire to collect data from a sample of 400 Thai independent tourists who travel to secondary cities. This research uses AMOS to estimate parameters with maximum likelihood method, and quantitative data analysis using descriptive statistics, inferential statistics to test hypotheses and use structural equation model analysis. In qualitative research, it was studied from documents, theoretical concepts, related research, interviews with 10 tourism experts, and qualitative data analysis by content analysis.
The results of the research found that. 1) The level of influence of social media on the independent travel decision-making of Thai tourists in the second-tier cities is high in all aspects, including online communication process, media exposure, and attitudes towards social media sources. 2) The consistency of social media on the independent travel decision-making of Thai tourists in the second-tier cities is high at the statistical significance level of 0.05. The most consistent aspect is media exposure, followed by online communication process and attitudes towards social media sources. And 3) the relationship and influence of social media on the independent travel decision-making of Thai tourists in the second-tier cities is that social media is an effective tool for communicating information about tourism in the second-tier cities to Thai tourists. Tourism operators should use social media to present information and experiences that meet the needs of Thai tourists.
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