Headnote
Abstract
The purpose of this study was to explore tourists' satisfaction level toward cultural tourism products of Thailand. This study compared the satisfaction level between domestic tourists and international tourists towards Chiang Mai Walking Street activities, in regards to the management of activities, the cultural tourism products promotion, and the preferred Lanna cultural tourism products. The results indicated that international tourists have a higher level of satisfaction than national tourists in almost all areas, especially cultural products. Data analysis and implications are discussed and recommendations are provided.
Key words: Tourism, Tourists, customer satisfaction, Lanna style cultural products, Thailand, and Chiang Mai.
(ProQuest: ... denotes formulae omitted.)
Introduction
The Walking Street project originated at Silom Road, the business zone in Bangkok of Thailand, in order to decrease the traffic, air and noise pollutions, and to promote tourism. After the success on Silom Road, the government promoted this activity into the Chiang Mai municipality and named it, Chiang Mai Walking Street. Chiang Mai municipality organized the "Four Year Anniversary of Chiang Mai Walking Street" on February 5, 2002 at the Three Kings Monument Courtyard. It was intended to promote Chiang Mai Walking Street activities, which over the last four years had become a thriving Sunday market for locally-made handicraft products displayed on the street. Unashamedly borrowing the idea from other locations where it had been successful, Walking Street was promoted by the city council to close offa particular city street to vehicular traffic every Sunday. The purpose of the Walking Street project was to develop the community as a center of art, artists, performances, music, and increasingly popular cultural tourism products for both local and international tourists.
The local version had the goal of presenting "good Lanna culture" and promoting energysaving pollution reduction and tourism. Later, in 2004, Walking Street was moved from Thapae Road to its present location on Rachadamnern Road where it provides 1.5 kilometers of stalls selling a bewildering array of handicrafts, and a performance stage situated at the Three Kings Monument Courtyard. The Walking Street event is held every Sunday evening where thousands of people taste different foods, hear diverse music sounds, and purchase different products at great prices.
During the six years that Walking Street has been in operation, it has increased in popularity and has become as widely known as Chiang Mai's famous night bazaar. The number of tourists increased tenfold, with an estimated 150,000 visitors during the high season and 100,000 minimum during the low season; plus, international tourists numbered around 10% which brought minimum revenue of 100 million baht (approximately 3 million dollars) each week. Because of its growing popularity, Walking Street's continuation is assured. But, one unusual trend has already been observed, which is that products and services sold in Chiang Mai Walking Street are not the locally-made handicraftproducts, nor is it a center of local art, artists, performances and music, as was the intended purpose of project; however, the result is fashionable products, such as bags, shoes, cloths, and food that do not represent the Lanna cultural products. In addition, criticism of the inconvenient traffic in and around the Walking Street area increased (Jittawong, 2003).
This research aims to study the current situation and the key success factors of the Chiang Mai Walking Street activities, as well as the satisfaction level of national and international tourists toward the Lanna cultural tourism products. Additionally, it explores recommendations to government offices and related tourism organizations for management improvement. The specific research questions used for this study are as follows:
1. Do Chiang Mai Walking Street activities achieve the purpose of decreasing pollution?
2. Do Chiang Mai Walking Street activities comply with the objective of increasing cultural tourism promotion?
3. Are international tourists satisfied with Chiang Mai Walking Street activities?
4. Are Thai tourists satisfied with Chiang Mai Walking Street activities?
Definition of Terms
Tourism is defined as a short-term movement of people to areas some distance from their normal place of residence in order to indulge in pleasurable activities (Swarbrooke and Horner, 2007). It is the sum of phenomena and relationships arising from the interaction among tourists, business suppliers, host governments, host communities, origin governments, universities, community colleges, and non-governmental organizations throughout the process of attracting, transporting, hosting and managing of the tourists and other visitors (Weave and Lawton, 2002). A tourist is a person who temporarily travels outside of his or her usual environment. Domestic tourist is one whose itinerary is confined to their usual country of residence, and an international tourist is a person who travels beyond their usual country of residence. Lanna cultural tourism product is defined as the handicraftmade by the Lanna local artisan or hilltribe people producing related cultural products, such as cotton, silk, embroidery, silverware, lacquer ware, or woodcarving, etc. and is also represented by the performing arts, such as Lanna Thai classical dance or folk music.
The Importance of Tourist Satisfaction
Satisfying consumers in tourism is important for at least three main reasons (Swarbrooke and Horner, 2007), as shown:
1. It leads to positive word-of-mouth recommendation of the product to friends and relatives, which in turn, attracts new customers.
2. Creating a repeat customer by satisfying them with their first use of the product brings a steady source of income without the need for extra marketing expenditure.
3. Dealing with complaints is expensive, time-consuming and bad for the organization's reputation. Furthermore, it can add direct costs through compensation payments.
Figure 1 illustrates a simplified view or model of the process by which tourists are either satisfied or not.
Sereeratana (2003, p. 50) explained that satisfaction is performed after a buying decision has been made or services have been received. In terms of consumers' expectations, there are comparison results between the perception of service operation and the effectiveness of products and services. If consumers' expectations are not met, they are dissatisfied and will see satisfaction elsewhere (Sangkaworn and Mujtaba, 2010). However, if consumers perceive the services as satisfactory to their expectation, they will be satisfied; and, services that are provided beyond their expectation result in high satisfaction. Chaipanya (1998) stated the following measurement tools for determining satisfaction:
1. Survey questionnaire based on opinions toward various satisfaction factors using multiple choice or open-ended questions.
2. Interviewing that is specifically directed to measure toward satisfaction based on technical question design and true data.
3. Observation to measure a person's behavior based on performance, speaking and manner.
Than Kanwatananon (2004) research entitled, Evaluation of the Walking Street Project, Chiang Mai Province, had objectives to study the following: 1) peoples' satisfaction and opinion towards the Walking Street Project, 2) the income of products' sellers, and 3) problems and obstacles in carrying out the above-mentioned project. The sampling cohort consisted of 200 units that were gathered from street shoppers, causal sellers along the Walking Street and permanent shops on the Walking Street through a purposively structured questionnaire. The data was then analyzed by means of SPSS for Windows.
The study's results indicated that street shoppers, causal sellers and permanent shops on the Walking Street were all satisfied with the so-called project; to which, reliability equals 0.000l (less than 0.050). All of the casual sellers along the Walking Street had more incomes and net profits from their business, to which, reliability equals 0.000 (less than 0.050). However, the Chiang Mai Walking Street Project still had some problems and obstacles to be tackled; such as, the spirit of service officers was still lacking. General problems may have included the following issues: lack of public transportation for the tourists and general people; a shortage of parking spaces, watchdogs for tourist vehicles, and waste bins for garbage from tourists and traders; as well as, the lack of facilities for tourists and traders, such as electricity, drinking and washing water, public phone, etc. Additionally, there were some bicycles and motorcycles running back and forth along the Walking Street which created a safety concern, plus the security measures were at an insufficient level and inappropriate for tourists.
Piemrak Chattanasenee (2003) studied the "Factors Affecting Consumers' Satisfaction of Walking Street Activities at Thapae Road, Chiang Mai Province." The objective of this study was to investigate factors affecting consumers' satisfaction of Walking Street activities at Thapae Road, Chiang Mai Province. The sample size of this study was 200 observations collected from questionnaires using accidental sampling method. This study employed descriptive statistics and the Logit model for the analysis. The technique of Maximum Likelihood estimation and marginal effects were also utilized in this study. Explanatory variables in the model included consumers' satisfaction with the location (place), price, date (time period), sellers' friendship, gender, and the level of the consumers' education and income.
As expected, the empirical results showed that consumers' satisfaction with location, price, and date had a significantly positive effect on consumers' satisfaction of Walking
Headnoteบทคัดย่อวัตถุประสงค์ของการศึกษานี้เป็นการ สำรวจระดับความพึงพอใจของนักท่องเที่ยวต่อผลิตภัณฑ์การท่องเที่ยวทางวัฒนธรรมของไทย ศึกษาเปรียบเทียบระดับความพึงพอใจระหว่างท่องเที่ยวในประเทศและนักท่องเที่ยวต่างชาติต่อกิจกรรมถนนคนเดินเชียงใหม่เชียง ในการจัดการของกิจกรรม ผลิตภัณฑ์ส่งเสริมการท่องเที่ยวเชิงวัฒนธรรม และผลิตภัณฑ์การท่องเที่ยวเชิงวัฒนธรรมล้านนาต้อง ผลระบุว่า นักท่องเที่ยวต่างประเทศได้ระดับที่สูงขึ้นของความพึงพอใจมากกว่านักท่องเที่ยวชาติในเกือบทุกพื้นที่ โดยเฉพาะอย่างยิ่งวัฒนธรรมผลิตภัณฑ์ วิเคราะห์ข้อมูลและผลกระทบกล่าวถึง และให้คำแนะนำคำสำคัญ: ท่องเที่ยว ท่องเที่ยว ความพึงพอใจของลูกค้า ผลิตภัณฑ์วัฒนธรรมสไตล์ล้านนา ไทย และเชียงใหม่(ProQuest:...แสดงสูตรไม่ใส่)แนะนำโครงการถนนคนเดินมาที่ถนนสีลม เขตธุรกิจในกรุงเทพฯ ประเทศไทย เพื่อลดการจราจร อากาศ และเสียง pollutions และ การส่งเสริมการท่องเที่ยว หลังจากประสบความสำเร็จบนถนนสีลม รัฐบาลส่งเสริมกิจกรรมนี้เป็นเทศบาลเมืองเชียงใหม่ และตั้งชื่อมัน ถนนคนเดินเชียงใหม่เชียงใหม่ เทศบาลนครเชียงใหม่จัด "4 ปีครบรอบปีของจังหวัดเชียงใหม่ถนนคนเดิน" ในวันที่ 5 กุมภาพันธ์ 2545 ที่คอร์ทยาร์ดอนุสาวรีย์กษัตริย์สาม สร้างขึ้นเพื่อส่งเสริมกิจกรรมถนนคนเดินเชียงใหม่เชียง ที่สี่ปีได้กลายเป็นตลาดวันอาทิตย์เจริญรุ่งเรืองสำหรับผลิตภัณฑ์หัตถกรรมที่ทำภายในที่แสดงบนถนน Unashamedly ยืมความคิดจากสถานอื่น ๆ ที่เคยประสบความสำเร็จ ถนนคนเดินมีการเลื่อนขั้น โดยสภาเมืองจะปิดจราจรถนนกับยานพาหนะคิรีเมืองเฉพาะ offa ทุกวันอาทิตย์ วัตถุประสงค์ของโครงการถนนคนเดินพัฒนาชุมชนเป็นศูนย์กลางของศิลปะ ศิลปิน แสดง ดนตรี และผลิตภัณฑ์การท่องเที่ยววัฒนธรรมยอดนิยมสำหรับนักท่องเที่ยวทั้งใน และต่างประเทศได้เครื่องมีเป้าหมายของการนำเสนอ "วัฒนธรรมล้านนาดี" และส่งเสริมการลดมลภาวะ energysaving และการท่องเที่ยว ในปี 2004 ถนนคนเดินถูกย้ายจากถนนท่าแพไปยังตำแหน่งปัจจุบันบนถนน Rachadamnern ที่มีร้านขายหลากหลายหัตถกรรมชาว 1.5 กิโลเมตร และขั้นประสิทธิภาพอยู่ที่คอร์ทยาร์ดอนุสาวรีย์กษัตริย์สาม มีจัดกิจกรรมถนนคนเดินทุกเย็นวันอาทิตย์ที่คนลิ้มรสอาหารแตกต่างกัน ได้ยินเสียงเพลงหลากหลาย และซื้อผลิตภัณฑ์ต่าง ๆ ราคาถูกใจในช่วงปีหกที่ถนนคนเดินมีการดำเนินการ จะได้เพิ่มขึ้นในความนิยม และเป็นที่แพร่หลายรู้จักกันเป็นมีชื่อเสียงของเชียงใหม่ไนท์ จำนวนนักท่องเที่ยวเพิ่มขึ้น tenfold ผู้เข้าชมบริการ 150000 ประมาณช่วง high season และต่ำสุดในช่วง low season, 100000 พลัส นานามีตัวเลขประมาณ 10% ซึ่งนำรายได้ขั้นต่ำ 100 ล้านบาท (ประมาณ 3 ล้านดอลลาร์) แต่ละสัปดาห์ ถนนคนเดินต่อเนื่องไม่มั่นใจเนื่องจากความนิยมที่เพิ่มขึ้น แต่ แนวโน้มผิดปกติหนึ่งได้แล้วได้ พบ ซึ่งเป็นที่ผลิตภัณฑ์และบริการที่ขายในถนนคนเดินเชียงใหม่เชียงไม่ handicraftproducts ทำเครื่อง หรือเป็นศูนย์กลางของศิลปะท้องถิ่น ศิลปิน การแสดง และ ดนตรี เป็นวัตถุประสงค์เป้าหมายของโครงการ อย่างไรก็ตาม ผลคือ สินค้าแฟชั่น กระเป๋า รองเท้า เสื้อ และอาหารที่เป็นตัวแทนด้านวัฒนธรรมล้านนา นอกจากนี้ การวิจารณ์การจราจรไม่สะดวกใน และ รอบบริเวณถนนคนเดินเพิ่มขึ้น (Jittawong, 2003)งานวิจัยนี้มีวัตถุประสงค์เพื่อศึกษาสถานการณ์ปัจจุบันและปัจจัยความสำเร็จของกิจกรรมถนนคนเดินเชียงใหม่เชียงใหม่ และระดับความพึงพอใจของนักท่องเที่ยว และต่างประเทศต่อผลิตภัณฑ์การท่องเที่ยวเชิงวัฒนธรรมล้านนา นอกจากนี้ จะพิจารณาแนะนำสำนักงานรัฐบาลและองค์กรที่เกี่ยวข้องกับการท่องเที่ยวการจัดการปรับปรุง คำถามวิจัยเฉพาะที่ใช้สำหรับการศึกษานี้มีดังนี้:1. Do Chiang Mai Walking Street activities achieve the purpose of decreasing pollution?2. Do Chiang Mai Walking Street activities comply with the objective of increasing cultural tourism promotion?3. Are international tourists satisfied with Chiang Mai Walking Street activities?4. Are Thai tourists satisfied with Chiang Mai Walking Street activities?Definition of TermsTourism is defined as a short-term movement of people to areas some distance from their normal place of residence in order to indulge in pleasurable activities (Swarbrooke and Horner, 2007). It is the sum of phenomena and relationships arising from the interaction among tourists, business suppliers, host governments, host communities, origin governments, universities, community colleges, and non-governmental organizations throughout the process of attracting, transporting, hosting and managing of the tourists and other visitors (Weave and Lawton, 2002). A tourist is a person who temporarily travels outside of his or her usual environment. Domestic tourist is one whose itinerary is confined to their usual country of residence, and an international tourist is a person who travels beyond their usual country of residence. Lanna cultural tourism product is defined as the handicraftmade by the Lanna local artisan or hilltribe people producing related cultural products, such as cotton, silk, embroidery, silverware, lacquer ware, or woodcarving, etc. and is also represented by the performing arts, such as Lanna Thai classical dance or folk music.
The Importance of Tourist Satisfaction
Satisfying consumers in tourism is important for at least three main reasons (Swarbrooke and Horner, 2007), as shown:
1. It leads to positive word-of-mouth recommendation of the product to friends and relatives, which in turn, attracts new customers.
2. Creating a repeat customer by satisfying them with their first use of the product brings a steady source of income without the need for extra marketing expenditure.
3. Dealing with complaints is expensive, time-consuming and bad for the organization's reputation. Furthermore, it can add direct costs through compensation payments.
Figure 1 illustrates a simplified view or model of the process by which tourists are either satisfied or not.
Sereeratana (2003, p. 50) explained that satisfaction is performed after a buying decision has been made or services have been received. In terms of consumers' expectations, there are comparison results between the perception of service operation and the effectiveness of products and services. If consumers' expectations are not met, they are dissatisfied and will see satisfaction elsewhere (Sangkaworn and Mujtaba, 2010). However, if consumers perceive the services as satisfactory to their expectation, they will be satisfied; and, services that are provided beyond their expectation result in high satisfaction. Chaipanya (1998) stated the following measurement tools for determining satisfaction:
1. Survey questionnaire based on opinions toward various satisfaction factors using multiple choice or open-ended questions.
2. Interviewing that is specifically directed to measure toward satisfaction based on technical question design and true data.
3. Observation to measure a person's behavior based on performance, speaking and manner.
Than Kanwatananon (2004) research entitled, Evaluation of the Walking Street Project, Chiang Mai Province, had objectives to study the following: 1) peoples' satisfaction and opinion towards the Walking Street Project, 2) the income of products' sellers, and 3) problems and obstacles in carrying out the above-mentioned project. The sampling cohort consisted of 200 units that were gathered from street shoppers, causal sellers along the Walking Street and permanent shops on the Walking Street through a purposively structured questionnaire. The data was then analyzed by means of SPSS for Windows.
The study's results indicated that street shoppers, causal sellers and permanent shops on the Walking Street were all satisfied with the so-called project; to which, reliability equals 0.000l (less than 0.050). All of the casual sellers along the Walking Street had more incomes and net profits from their business, to which, reliability equals 0.000 (less than 0.050). However, the Chiang Mai Walking Street Project still had some problems and obstacles to be tackled; such as, the spirit of service officers was still lacking. General problems may have included the following issues: lack of public transportation for the tourists and general people; a shortage of parking spaces, watchdogs for tourist vehicles, and waste bins for garbage from tourists and traders; as well as, the lack of facilities for tourists and traders, such as electricity, drinking and washing water, public phone, etc. Additionally, there were some bicycles and motorcycles running back and forth along the Walking Street which created a safety concern, plus the security measures were at an insufficient level and inappropriate for tourists.
Piemrak Chattanasenee (2003) studied the "Factors Affecting Consumers' Satisfaction of Walking Street Activities at Thapae Road, Chiang Mai Province." The objective of this study was to investigate factors affecting consumers' satisfaction of Walking Street activities at Thapae Road, Chiang Mai Province. The sample size of this study was 200 observations collected from questionnaires using accidental sampling method. This study employed descriptive statistics and the Logit model for the analysis. The technique of Maximum Likelihood estimation and marginal effects were also utilized in this study. Explanatory variables in the model included consumers' satisfaction with the location (place), price, date (time period), sellers' friendship, gender, and the level of the consumers' education and income.
As expected, the empirical results showed that consumers' satisfaction with location, price, and date had a significantly positive effect on consumers' satisfaction of Walking
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