The Development Approach for Tourism Souvenir Products in Ayutthaya Province

Abstract

          This study aims to 1) investigate Thai tourists’ behavior in purchasing goods, gifts and souvenir products in Ayutthaya, 2) explore their satisfaction with these purchases, and 3) present an approach to develop the quality of these products. To achieve these objectives, a questionnaire was administered to visitors to the province. The questionnaire contains demographic questions as well as questions about tourists’ behavior and their satisfaction with the purchase of the products. The statistical data used in the study were percentage, frequency, mean, standard deviation, and content analysis.
          The analysis showed that most of the tourists studied were female and between 21 and 30 years old. Most of the tourists live in Bangkok and surrounding areas. More than half of them have a diploma of higher vocational education, while the rest have a bachelor’s degree. Most of them are temporary workers while others are full-time employees in a company. Many of the tourists receive a salary of 5,001 to 10,000 baht per time. Friends and family members are people who influence purchasing decisions. Tourists’ satisfaction with the products they buy is higher than that with the prices, advertising and distribution channels. As for the development of product quality, public agencies are crucial for quality improvement, apart from enabling the private sector to recognize the importance of product and service quality and work together to improve their quality according to tourists’ expectations. This is being done under OTOP’s community tourism project ‘Nawatwithi’, which aims to bridge social gaps, promote greater income and economic empowerment, and achieve sustainable economic growth of the concerned area.