Factors Affecting their Health Tourism Behavior in Nakhon Si Thammarat Province
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Abstract
The objectives of the study are to (1) examine the elderly’s health tourism behavior relating to their personality traits (2) interests in the health tourism activity model and to (3) investigate factors affecting their health tourism behavior in Nakhon Si Thammarat Province. A quantitative research design employing questionnaires was used to collect the data from a sample of 400 senior citizens in Nakhon Si Thammarat Province. The data were analyzed and expressed as frequency, percentage, means, standard deviations, exploratory factor analysis, and multiple regression analysis.
The results showed that:
1. The elderly’s health tourism activities in Nakhon Si Thammarat Province consisted of Thai massage, traditional massage, herbal massage, and essential oil use. The reasons for travelling were to relax and visit relatives and friends, and the time spent for travelling was about twice a year. Top tourist attractions were natural tourist destinations such as seas, waterfalls, and mountains.
2. Receiving tourism advice from family and relatives, the elderly spent the money economically during the travel with them by car. Most of them travelled for convenience sake and had no need to travel during the tourism festival. The expenses for each travel were below 2,000 baht and most senior citizens obtained the tourism information from television media.
3. Factors affecting the elderly’s health tourism behavior were age, educational level, income, and health conditions. In addition, no significant differences were found among respondents’ sex on their health tourism behavior. Those with introvert personality traits had more health tourism behavior than those with extrovert personality ones.
Article Details
Academic articles, research articles, and book reviews in the Ph.D. in Social Sciences Journal are author’s opinions, and not the publisher’s, and is not the responsibility of the Ph.D. in Social Sciences Journal Philosophy Association, Ramkhamhaeng University. (In the case that research is done on human, the researcher has to be trained in Ethics for Doing Research on Human Training and has to produce the evidence of the training).
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