3.2. Data collection
The target population was inbound international tourists traveling
to Thai beaches. The data collection consists of two stages at
different settings. First, a self-completed questionnaire survey was
conducted at Hua Hin and Cha-Am beaches because most hotels
contacted were reluctant to participate in distributing crisis
management questionnaires on their premises. A self-completed
questionnaire survey was conducted from March 17 to March 21,
2010 and December 29, 2010 to January 2, 2011. Hua Hin and Cha-
Am beaches were used as the research setting because they are
popular beach resorts along the Gulf of Thailand which are not
affected by the December 26, 2004 tsunami. Three research assistants
handed out 500 questionnaires to tourists at the beach based
on a convenience sampling. Moreover, participant observation and
structured interviews with a general manager and an operation
manager of two hotels in Hua Hin and Cha-am beaches (where the
author stayed) were used to collect the data from March 17 to
March 21, 2010 and December 29, 2010 to January 2, 2011.