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iv
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Dr. Sinee Sankrusme is currently an associate professor of International Business at
Department of International Business, Faculty of Business Administration, Ramkhamhaeng
University, Thailand. She held position as head department of international business. She has
authored almost one hundred articles and several books related to international business
communication, international business and trade documents, international business and
effects on changes, organizational behavior and management, agribusiness, agricultural
marketing, agricultural business, management and human resource management, etc.
Especially, her textbook entitled International Business Correspondence was published in
Germany. Most of her research focuses on international business, marketing, human resource,
business, organization and management, etc. She is widely recognized for numerous
publications in the international business journals and also joined the international business
conferences as below:
INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS JOURNAL
1. An Analysis of Business Leaders in Thailand. The Business Review: Cambridge, Vol. 8, No 1,
Summer 2007, pp. 114-120.
2. Analysis of Colored Local Liquor Marketing Strategies among Companies before Liquor
Liberalization. The Business Review: Cambridge, Vol. 8, No 1, Summer 2007, pp. 114-120.
3. Competitive 4P's Strategy Analysis before Liquor Liberalization. The Journal of American
Academy of Business, Cambridge, Vol. 17, No. 1, September 2011, pp. 94-103.
4. Analysis of ASEAN Economic Change, Consumer Behavior, Marketing Trends and International
Trade with NAFTA. Journal of American Academy of Business, Cambridge, Vol. 17, No. 2, March
2012, ISSN 1540-1200, pp. 50-57.
5. Marketing Strategy Competition among Beer Companies before Liquor Liberalization. Journal of
Marketing Development and Competitiveness Vol. 5(6), 2011, pp. 65-82.
6. Development Strategies on Taking Thailand's Health Healing Related Tourism Business into the
Global Market. Review of European Studies, Vol. 5, No. 5, December 2013, pp. 220-232. ISSN
199918-7173 (Print), ISSN 1918-7181 (Online).
7. Development Strategies on Taking Thailand's Health Promotion Related Tourism Business into the
Global Market. International Business Research Journal, Vol. 5, No. 11 November 2012, pp. 83-94.
ISSN 1913-9004 (Print), ISSN 1913-9012 (Online).
v
8. Potential Development Strategies on Cultural Tourism. Social Science Research Network (SSRN),
2017.
INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS CONFERENCE
1. Analysis of Alcoholic Beverage Marketing History in Thailand. International Conference on
Business. The 6
th
Hawaii International Business Conference, May 24-28, 2006, Honolulu, Hawaii,
USA.
2. The Changing Nature of Marketing in Japan. International Conference on Business. The 6
th
Hawaii
International Business Conference, May 24-28, 2006, Honolulu, Hawaii, USA.
3. An Analysis of Business Leaders in Thailand. International Business Conference. The Global
Business & Finance Research Conference, July 11-14, 2007, London, England.
4. A Study of the Beer Market Leader, Challenger and Niche Strategies. The 2008 International Joint
Conference on e-Commerce, e-Administration, e-Society, and e-Education (e-CASE 2008), March
27-29, 2008, Bangkok, Thailand, Organized by International Business Academics Consortium
(IBAC), Knowledge Association of Taiwan (KAT), Faculty of Commerce and Accountancy,
Chulalongkorn University, Thailand.
5.Whisky Marketing Strategy Analysis among Market Leader, Challenger and Niches. International
Conference on Business and Information, September 24-26, 2008, Heidelberg, Germany.
6. Case Study Analysis of Wine Marketing Strategies. International Business Research Conference,
December 2-4, 2009, Sydney, Australia.
7. Comparison of the Marketing Environment before and after Thailand's Economic Crisis: Case
Study of Alcoholic Beverages. International Business Research Conference, December 2-4, 2009,
Sydney, Australia.
8. Case Study of the C.V.S Syndicate Company: Marketing Strategy before Liquor Liberalization.
International Conference on Business and Economic Sciences, January 25-27, 2011, Dubai, United
Arab Emirates.
9. Case Study of TIS Worldwide Marketing (1997) Company: Marketing Strategy before Liquor
Liberalization. International Conference on Business and Economic Sciences, January 25-27, 2011,
Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
10. Relationship among Public Management, Service Quality, and Overall Attractiveness that Affects
Foreigners' Perception Regarding the Potential of the Thai Medical Tourism Industry. 21
st
Annual
World Business Congress, July 4-8, 2012, Helsinki, Finland.
11. Marketing Strategy Analysis of Boon Rawd Brewery Company. International Conference on
Business, Management and Economics, July 30-31, 2013, Zurich, Switzerland.
12. Marketing Strategy Analysis of Thai Asia Pacifica Brewery Company. International Conference
on Business, Management and Economics, July 30-31, 2013, Zurich, Switzerland.
vi
13. Marketing Strategy of Seagram (Thailand) Limited. 2
nd
Global Conference on Business,
Economics, Management & Tourism, October 30-3,1 2014, Prague, Czech Republic.
14
.
Market Leader of Beer Chang. Entrepreneurship, Responsible Management, and Economic
Development, March 14-18, 2016, Cairo, Egypt.
vii
CONTENTS
Page
PREFACE i
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS iii
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
iv
LIST OF TABLES ix
LIST OF FIGURES
x
CHAPTER 1
INTRODUCTION
1
Background of the Problem
6
Segmenting Revisit
10
Purpose of the Study
12
Scope of the Study
12
Hypotheses
12
Organization of the Presentation
12
Definition of Terms
13
CHAPTER 2
LITERATURE REVIEW
14
Perceived Value
14
Satisfaction
17
Revisit Intention
20
Relationships among Perceived Value, Satisfaction, and Revisit
22
Perceived Value and Satisfaction Relationships
23
Perceived Value and Revisit Relationships
24
Satisfaction and Revisit Relationships
25
The Conceptual Model
27
CHAPTER 3
METHODOLOGY
30
Sample and population
30
Instruments of the Study
31
Perceived Value
34
viii
Overall Satisfaction
34
Intention to Revisit
35
Demographic Information
35
Reliability
35
Data Collection
41
Data Analysis
41
CHAPTER 4
RESULTS OF THE STUDY
42
Demographic Characteristics of the Respondents
42
Tourist Opinion
44
Model Fit
47
Hypothesis Testing
48
Quality of Measurement
51
Convergent Validity
51
Discriminant Validity
53
CHAPTER 5
CONCLUSION, DISCUSSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS
54
Summary and Conclusions
54
Discussion
56
Recommendations
58
Implications
60
Limitations and Recommendations for Future Research
61
BIBLIOGRAPHY
63
APPENDIX
75
ix
LIST OF TABLES
Table Page
1.1 International Tourist
1
1.2 Number of European Tourists
2
1.3 Rank of European Tourists in Thailand
3
1.4 Tourism Receipt from Russian Tourist Arrivals (2015)
4
1.5 Average Expenditure of Russian Tourist (2015)
4
1.6 Tourism from Russian Tourists (2015)
5
2.1 The Items of the Questionnaire Used in the Structure Model
28
3.1 Behavior Measurement, Number of Questions, and Sources
32
3.2 The Reliability of the Items
36
3.3 Reliability of Hospitality
36
3.4 Reliability of Attractions
37
3.5 Reliability of Transport
37
3.6 Reliability of Amenity
38
3.7 Reliability of Destination Image
38
3.8 Reliability of Functional Value
39
3.9 Reliability of Emotional Value
39
3.10 Reliability of Satisfaction
40
3.11 Reliability of Revisit
40
3.12 A 5 Point Likert Scale
41
4.1
Profile of Respondents
43
4.2 Opinions of Russian Tourists
44
4.3
Indices and Statistics Value to Investigate the Proposal Model
48
4.4 The Direct and Indirect Influence of the Model
50
4.5 Summary of Hypothesis Testing Results
51
4.6 The Hypothesis Testing
51
4.7 Convergent Validity and Reliability of the Scales
52
4.8 Discriminant Validity of Scales
53
x
LIST OF FIGURES
Figure Page
2.1
The Conceptual Framework of the Study
27
4.1
Structural Equation Model of Factors Influence Intention to Revisit
49
1
CHAPTER 1
INTRODUCTION
Tourism is identified as one of the most potential industries of Thai economy.
Tourism is considered to be a top priority for the following reasons. Firstly, it is the industry
requiring more labor, thus it provides more jobs for city residents, by which it helps to solve
unemployment for society. Secondly, it is the industry bringing to many important benefits,
improving social-economic situation, enhancing income for people. Thirdly, it can promote
peace, enhancing understanding together and building a unified and sustainable country.
Although Thailand's tourism industry has made progressed and contributed significantly to
economic development and social progress of the nation. In the context of international
integration, the Thailand government has focused on developing for tourism industry,
enhancing service quality, expanding operations scale. The numbers of tourists to Thailand
have increased significantly compare in 2009, 14,149,841 tourists and in 2015, 29,881,091
tourists (Table 1.1 and Table 1 in Appendix B).
Table 1
.1
International Tourist
Year
International Tourist
2009
14,149,841
2010
15,936,400
2011
19,230,470
2012
22,353,903
2013
26,546,725
2014
24,809,683
2015
29,881,091
Source
: Immigration Bureau, Police
Tourism Authority of Thailand reported that the number of European tourists to
Thailand have increased. Specially, there were 3,188,069 tourists in 2009 which increased to
5,629,122 tourists in 2015 (Table 1.2). Among them, the majority in 2015 were from United
Kingdom and Russia (Table 1.2 and Table 1.3). However, Russian is the first rank during
2
2011-2014. (Table 1.2 and 1.3). Towards the tourism industry of Thailand, to survive in
fierce international environment and complete with the tourism development in the region
and the world, the authorities and government need to do many things. Firstly, they have been
establishing the strength based on improving sustainable competitive advantages national.
Secondly, they have been seeking many solution overcome disadvantages of industry and
trying to keep up with the development speed of nations which has more progressive in
tourism. Therefore, what motivate tourists visit/revisit Thailand. The tourism industry needs
to understand tourists preferences and motives for choosing Thailand as their visit alternative.
What are their main motivation for visiting Thailand and how do they evaluate Thailand as a
tourist destination? For the tourism industry, it is also important to know if they intend to
return or revisit Thailand and if they recommend this destination to others.
Table 1
.2
Number of European Tourists
Country
2009
2010
2011
2012
2013
2014
2015
Europe
3,188,069
3,400,547
5,101,406
5,650,619
6,305,945
6,161,893
5,629,122
Austria
74,391
76,898
89,242
94,667
106,278
100,968
97,806
Belgium
61,110
61,268
82,610
94,896
101,109
99,729
106,100
Denmark
105,960
111,122
164,096
167,499
163,186
160,977
159,425
Finland
86,699
79,368
157,046
154,919
141,692
142,425
134,731
France
346,729
366,583
515,572
576,106
611,582
635,073
681,097
Germany
482,449
500,811
619,133
682,419
737,658
715,240
760,604
Ireland
53,675
45,893
58,945
60,305
63,522
63,038
64,716
Italy
143,063
135,693
185,869
200,703
207,192
219,875
246,066
Netherlands
174,929
164,821
198,891
208,122
218,765
211,524
221,657
Norway
86,203
101,336
136,931
148,796
154,049
145,207
135,347
Russia
272,982
467,971
1,054,187
1,316,564
1,746,565
1,606,430
877,120
Spain
65,280
57,992
95,383
113,141
123,084
116,983
150,940
Sweden
197,360
205,073
373,856
364,681
341,398
324,865
321,663
Switzerland
116,920
122,919
170,044
191,147
199,923
201,271
206,454
United Kingdom
682,493
639,855
844,972
873,053
905,024
907,877
946,919
East Europe
157,394
183,794
240,886
280,976
346,230
370,726
364,967
Others
80,432
79,150
113,743
122,625
138,688
139,685
146,545
Source
: Immigration Bureau, Police Départment.
Top five of European countries visited Thailand in 2015 from the most were
(1
st
)United Kingdom, (2
nd
) Russia, (3
rd
) German, (4
th
) France, and (5
th
) East Europe (Table
1.3). However, Russian tourists visited Thailand were the fourth and third rank in 2009 and
3
2010, respectively. However Russian tourists were top one during 2011-2014, they were
much more and became the top one among European tourists. The 2
nd
rank were German in
2009-2010, United Kingdom in 2011-2014, Russia in 2015, (3
rd
) France in 2009, Russia in
2010, Germany in 2011-2015, (4
th
) Russia in 2009, France in 2010-2015 , and (5
th
) Sweden
in 2009-2012, East Europe in 2013 -2015 (Table 1.3).
Table 1
.3
Rank of European Tourists in Thailand
Rank
2009
2010
2011
2012
2013
2014
2015
1
United
Kingdom
United
Kingdom
Russia
Russia
Russia
Russia
United
Kingdom
2
Germany
Germany
United
Kingdom
United
Kingdom
United
Kingdom
United
Kingdom
Russia
3
France
Russia
Germany
Germany
Germany
Germany
Germany
4
Russia
France
France
France
France
France
France
5
Sweden
Sweden
Sweden
Sweden
East
Europe
East
Europe
East
Europe
6
Netherlands
East
Europe
East
Europe
East
Europe
Sweden
Sweden
Sweden
7
East
Europe
Netherlands
Netherlands
Netherlands
Netherlands
Italy
Italy
8
Italy
Italy
Italy
Italy
Italy
Netherlands
Netherlands
9
Switzerland
Switzerland
Switzerland
Switzerland
Switzerland
Switzerland
Switzerland
10
Denmark
Denmark
Denmark
Denmark
Denmark
Denmark
Denmark
11
Finland
Norway
Finland
Finland
Norway
Norway
Spain
12
Norway
Finland
Norway
Norway
Finland
Finland
Norway
13
Austria
Austria
Spain
Spain
Spain
Spain
Finland
14
Spain
Belgium
Austria
Belgium
Austria
Austria
Belgium
15
Belgium
Spain
Belgium
Austria
Belgium
Belgium
Austria
16
Ireland
Ireland
Ireland
Ireland
Ireland
Ireland
Ireland
Source:
Immigration Bureau, Police Département.
Regarding tourism receipt from Russian tourist arrival indiçâtes in Table 1.4, 1.6 and
Table 5-7 in Appendix B. In 2015, there were 877,120 Russian tourist visit Thailand. Most of
them (628,501 persons, 72 %) visit Thailand by non package tour while by package tour,
(248,619 persons, 28% ). Average stay was 17 days, spending 133.93 US$/day, and revenue
2,005.22 Million US$ (Table 1.4 and Table 1.6). On the other hand, expenditure of Russian
tourist arrival was shown in Table 1.5, 1.6 and Table 2-4 in Appendix B. Expenditure of
Russian tourists in 2015 was 4, 587 baht/day classified by shopping 993.38 baht,
4
entertainment 513.93 baht, sightseeing 173.22 baht, accommodation 1,366.94 baht, food and
beverage 1,037.78 baht, local transport 457.20 baht, and miscellaneous 44.55 baht (Table
1.5).
Table 1.4
Tourism Receipts From Russian Tourist Arrivals
(2015)
Country
No of
Arrival
Days
Baht/Day
US$/Day
Million
Baht
Mil. US$
Tourist Arrivals
877,120
17.07
4,587.00
133.93
68,678.73
2,005.22
Package tour
248,619
13.04
4,538.76
132.52
14,71.614
429.62
Non Package Tour
628,501
18.66
4,601.37
134.35
53,954.12
1,575.59
Source: Immigration Bureau, Royal Thai Police
Table 1.5
Average Expenditure of Russian Tourist
(2015)
Unit: Baht/Person/Day
Country of
Residence
Total
Shopping
Enter-
tainment
Sight-
seeing
Accom-
modation
Food &
Beverage
Local
Transport
Miscel-
laneous
Tourist
Arrivals
4 ,587.00
9 93.38
513.93
1 73.22
1,366.94
1,037.78
4 57.20
4 4.55
Group Tour
4,538.76
959.20
402.40
230.41
1,279.75
1,083.37
480.48
103.15
Non Package
Tour
4,601.37
1,003.06
544.88
157.45
1,391.35
1,025.41
450.87
28.35
Source: Immigration Bureau, Royal Thai Police
During the past few decades, recovery of the domestic economy has a long history in
Russia is gradually improving as people begin to open eyes open mouth. They have to spend
more. When the Russians began to gratify his own happiness for themselves and their
families with travel and business travel as covert funding to reduce the cost of travel. It is also
only a short distance to the destination. In the CIS, including Ukraine, Moldova, Georgia,
Armenia, RA Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, even when Russian people are starting to spend more.
Travel patterns will change as a step farther each continent. The most popular destination for
Russians in the world, including Turkey, followed by China and then Egypt and Finland. But
Asia is still ranked first in Turkey. Followed by mainland China followed by the Middle East
and the United States. In 1992, Russian from the earth polar bear expedition to travel abroad
only 4.15 million people, but three years later the Russians out travel increased to 21.33
million, a leap up. 72.58 per cent and reduce the rate of increase would be reversed by the
5
global economic crisis on the Russian Federation. However, in recent years, it would be the
perception of the world. The growing economy of Russia it rose to 6.7 percent which would
be the result of policy stimulus to the middle class people are earning more and more
employment. Contributes to rising domestic consumption coupled with Russia. Escalating
strengthened the economy from the export of crude oil and raw materials from abroad
(https://prezi.com/ufxmcehfzqdq/copy-of). However, top European tourists in Thailand were
Russian. Russian tourists, length of stay, per-capita spending, tourism receipts were as
follows:
Table 1.6
Tourism from Russian Tourists (2015)
Russian Tourists
No. of Arrival
877,120
(Persons)
Length of Stay
17.07
(Days)
Per Capita Spending
4,587.00
(Baht/Day)
133.93
(US$/Day)
Tourism Receipts
68,678.73
(Million Baht
2,005.22
(Million US$)
Source: Immigration Bureau, Royal Thai Police
Note: Exchange rate 1 US$ = 34.25 Baht
The importance of Russian tourists towards Thai tourism Russian Federation is one
of new target markets with high potential for Thai tourism due to higher level of purchasing
power of Russian tourists from their average income of USD 4,100 per person in 2003 to be
USD 5,340 per person in 2004 due to good effect of high level of oil price remained from
2004 (Russian Federal is ranked as the second rank of the world's largest oil producers and
exporters). In addition, Russia also has a large number of populations that is over than 143
million people with higher tendency of overseas traveling after transforming their
administrative system to be democracy in 1992. With such potential of Russian tourists
incorporate with the fact that Thailand is 1 of 20 countries preferred by Russian for travelling
causing over 93,000 Russian tourists visit Thailand per year during 2002 2004 (increased
by 31% per year) with the average travel duration of 12 days, Thailand can earn 3,800 million
baht per year from Russian tourists. As a result, it is considered as an opportunity of
6
Thailand to support the expansion of Russian tourists (https://prezi.com/ufxmcehfzqdq/copy-
of/). Russian tourists are considered as the market with rapid growth and it tends to be more
important. In 2015, Russian tourists market was able to generate income to Thailand in the
approximate amount of 68,678.73 Mil Baht (2,005.22 Mil US$) (Table 1.6 and Table 5 in
Appendix B)
Behavior of Russian Tourists. They prefer family travel style by purchasing the tour
packages from the tour agents. Most Russian tourists are female with the age ranged from 25-
39 years and they were mostly single. Most of them are businessmen and preferred visiting
Thailand during November February. They mostly spend 1-2 weeks for travelling in
Thailand (https://prezi.com/th0abfdyez02/presentation/) and they have good taste on traveling
as well as glad to pay for convenience, comfort, and quality. As a result, they prefer staying
in some luxurious resorts and hotels with complete facilities. They prefer expensive fine
dining and good quality products. Russian tourists are considered as the tourists with high
spending for tourism ranked as the 9
th
rank of the world. For attractions, since Russian
Federation's climate is frozen with landlocked landscape, most tourists preferred travelling to
some attractions with warm weather, especially beaches and coasts. For tourism activities,
activities that can attract Russian tourists, especially who stay in the big city and investors
with high income, are niche activities responding to specific interests, for example, golf,
diving, health activities, and spa. Moreover, participating in some fair trades and seminars are
other activities interested by Russian tourists and its number is clearly increasing upon the
economic expansion. This tourist group spends more money for purchasing products than
other tourist groups (https://prezi.com/ufxmcehfzqdq/copy-of/).
Background of the Problem
Tourism industry is an important source of income for many countries, it has been
considered the second important industry of the 21
st
century. For this reason it is necessary to
find reasonable ways and a disciplined plan to achieve more shares in world market. Tourism
is among the few businesses in which evidences of production and service in plans related to
attraction, maintenance and extension are easily observable. In those countries which rely
much on tourism industry, it stands at the top of all other industries as a green and non-
polluting industry because it fits cultural, sociological, political and environmental conditions
of these countries and has high returns. Although the concept of destination has attracted the
7
attention of many researches working in the fields of marketing and tourism management,
academic and disciplined researches on this subject are relatively dew . Some articles written
about destination brand have not gone beyond conceptual researches. Measuring the
effectiveness of such brands is of high importance and can be determined using customer-
based studies. The global tourism industry has evolved into an area of fierce competition, and
a fundamental challenge for marketers is to comprehend the distinguishing characteristics of
tourist experiences (Perdue, 2002). In the era of globalization almost every company is facing
fierce competition. Perceived value and satisfaction are an important tool to capture
competitive advantage. As markets have become increasingly competitive, tourists have
become more demanding, expecting increasingly to satisfy their needs. Customer perceived
value has been examined in marketing literature for almost two decades (Holbrook, 1999,
Brady & Robertson, 1999). This reflects the centrality of goods and services in everyday life,
and the importance of value decisions within the buying process. Perceived value is
defined as ``the consumer's overall assessment of the utility of a product (or service)
based on perceptions of what is received and what is given (Zeithaml,1988). Yet the
crux of customer-perceived value has not yet been clearly identified, nor have the relative
relationships between price, quality, sacrifice and satisfaction been fully explored. Greater
convenience, competitive prices and time saving there are inevitably implications for how
consumers evaluate perceived value. However satisfaction play an important role in tourism
business. Satisfaction refers to the perceived discrepancy between prior expectation and
perceived
performance
after
consumption when p e r f o r m a n c e
d i f f e r s
f r o m
e x p e c t a t i o n , d i s s a t i s f a c t i o n o c c u r s (Oliver, 1980). It can be defined as the degree
to which one believes that an experience evokes positive feelings (Rust & Oliver,1994). In
t o u r i s m c o n t e x t , s a t i s f a c t i o n i s p r i m a r i l y r e f e r r e d t o a s a f u n c t i o n
o f pre-travel expectations and post-travel experiences. When experiences compared to
expectations result in feelings of gratification, the tourist is satisfied. In tourism research,
similar approach is adopted and tourist loyalty intention is represented in terms of the
intention to revisit the destination and the willingness to recommend it to friends and relatives
(Bigné et al., 2001; Chen & Gusoy, 2001; Niininen et al., 2004). The research investigated
the relationship among customer perceived value, satisfaction and revisit. The link between
customer satisfaction and company success has historically been a matter of faith, and
numerous satisfaction studies have also supported the case (Hill & Alexander, 2000).
Customer satisfaction has always been considered an essential business goal because it was
8
assumed that satisfied customers would buy more. However, many companies have started to
notice a high customer defection despite high satisfaction ratings (Taylor, 1998). This
phenomenon has prompted a number of scholars (Reichheld & Teal , 1996; Oliver 1999) to
criticize the mere satisfaction studies and call for a paradigm shift to the quest of loyalty as a
strategic business goal. As a result, satisfaction measurement has recently been displaced by
the concept of customer loyalty, primarily because loyalty is seen as a better predictor of
actual behavior. Two of the three measures making up most Customer Loyalty Indices (CLIs)
are behavior-based, such as "likelihood to repurchase the product or service" and "likelihood
to recommend a product or service to others". The third element of a CLI is usually "overall
satisfaction" itself (Taylor, 1998). The move to measure loyalty is based on a desire to better
understand retention, which has a direct link to a company's bottom line. Studies have
documented that a 5% increase in customer retention can generate a profit growth of 25
95% across a range of industries (Reichheld & Sasser, 1990). In addition, retaining existing
customers usually has a much lower associated costs than winning new ones (Fornell &
Wernerfelt, 1987), so a larger proportion of the gross profit counts towards the bottom line.
Furthermore, loyal customers are more likely to act as free word-of-mouth (WOM)
advertising agents that informally bring networks of friends, relatives and other potential
consumers to a product/service (Shoemaker & Lewis, 1999). In fact, WOM referrals account
for up to 60% of sales to new customers (Reicheld & Sasser, 1990). With such exceptional
returns, loyalty becomes a fundamental strategic component for organizations. However, in
the context of travel and tourism, a review of literature reveals an abundance of studies on
tourist satisfaction; and destination loyalty has not been thoroughly investigated (Oppermann,
2000). Therefore, it is time for practitioners and academics to conduct more studies of loyalty
in order to have greater knowledge of this concept, to understand the role of customer
satisfaction in developing loyalty, other non- satisfaction determinants of customer loyalty,
and their interrelationships. Understanding the determinants of customer loyalty will allow
management to concentrate on the major influencing factors that lead to customer retention.
A number of studies have examined the antecedents or causes of repeat purchase intensions
(Cronin et al., 2000). Results of this body of research have shown that satisfaction,
quality/performance and different other variables are good predictors of customer intended
loyalty. The more satisfied the customers are, the more likely they are to repurchase the
product/service and to encourage others to become customers. In order to retain customers,
organizations must seek to satisfy them, but a further objective must be to establish customer
9
loyalty. In a tourism context, satisfaction with travel experiences contributes to destination
loyalty (Bramwell 1998; Pritchard & Howard 1997). The degree of tourists' loyalty to a
destination is reflected in their intentions to revisit the destination and in their willingness to
recommend it (Oppermann 2000). Tourists' positive experiences of service, products, and
other resources provided by tourism destinations could produce repeat visits as well as
positive word-of-mouth effects to friends and/or relatives. Recommendations by previous
visits can be taken as the most reliable information sources for potential tourists.
Recommendations to other people (word-of mouth) are also one of the most often sought
types of information for people interested in traveling. Given the vital role of customer
satisfaction, one should not be surprised that a great deal of research has been devoted to
investigating the antecedents of satisfaction. Previous satisfaction research has focused
predominantly on the following antecedents to consumer satisfaction (Oliver & DeSarbo,
1988), disconfirmation of expectations (Oliver 1980), performance (Churcuill & Suprenant,
1982), affect (Mano & Oliver, 1993), and equity (Tse & Wilton, 1988). Customer satisfaction
/ dissatisfaction appears to be influenced independently or in combination by these
antecedents. Most early research work focused on satisfaction at the global level (Oliver
1980). Until recently, there emerges an attribute-level conceptualization of the antecedents of
satisfaction (Oliver 1993). Under an attribute-level approach, overall satisfaction is a function
of attribute-level evaluations. These evaluations typically capture a significant amount of
variation in overall satisfaction (Bolton & Drew 1991). It is important in tourism to
distinguish overall satisfaction from satisfaction with individual attributes. The particular
characteristics of tourism have a no effect on tourist satisfaction (Seaton & Bennett, 1996).
Beyond the generic characteristics that distinguish services from goods, such as intangibility,
inseparability, heterogeneity and perishability (Zeithaml et al., 1985), there are some further
differences between tourism and other services. For example, Middleton and Clarke (2001)
highlighted interdependence - sub-sector inter-linkage of tourism products. Tourists
experience a medley of services such as hotels, restaurants, shops, attractions, etc.; and they
may evaluate each service element separately. Satisfaction with various components of the
destination leads to overall satisfaction (Kozak & Rimmington 2000). Therefore, overall
satisfaction and attribute satisfaction are distinct, though related, constructs (Oliver 1993).
This study focused on overall evaluation, attributes satisfaction, and the relationship between
the two. Furthermore, it has been widely acknowledged that destination image affects
tourists' subjective perception, consequent behavior and destination choice (Milman &
10
Pizam, 1995). Tourists' behavior is expected to be partly conditioned by the image that they
have of destinations. Image will influence tourists in the process of choosing a destination,
the subsequent evaluation of the trip and in their future intentions. Destination image
exercises a positive influence on perceived quality and satisfaction. A positive image deriving
from positive travel experiences would result in a positive evaluation of a destination. Tourist
satisfaction would improve if the destination has a positive image. Destination image also
affects tourists' behavioral intentions. More favorable image will lead to higher likelihood to
return to the same destination. To sum up, the following sequence could be established:
destination image, tourist satisfaction, destination loyalty. Destination image is an antecedent
of satisfaction. Satisfaction in turn has a positive influence on destination loyalty. In an
increasingly saturated marketplace, the success of marketing destinations should be guided by
a thorough analysis of destination loyalty and its interplay with tourist satisfaction and
destination image. Nevertheless, the tourism studies to date have addressed and examined the
constructs of image, satisfaction and loyalty independently (Bigne et al. 2001), lacking are
studies discussing the causal relationships among destination image, tourist satisfaction, and
destination loyalty. To bridge the gap in the destination loyalty literature, one of the main
purposes of this study was to offer an integrated approach to understanding destination
loyalty and examines the theoretical and empirical evidence on the causal relationships
among destination image, tourist satisfaction, and destination loyalty. A research model was
proposed and tested. The model investigated the relevant relationships among the constructs
by using a structural equation modeling (SEM) approach. The primary aim of SEM is to
explain the pattern of a series of interrelated dependence relationships simultaneously
between a set of latent (unobserved) constructs, each measured by one or more manifest
(observed) variables (Reisinger & Turner, 2003).
Segmenting Revisit
In recent years, hospitality and tourism scholars has shown increasing interests in
different market segments based on tourists' demographic profiles and travel characteristics
(Mykletum, et al., 2001; Hsu, 2000). The purposes are to help destination managers develop
better understanding of the specific groups of consumers in order to accommodate their
distinct needs and wants, and establish efficient and effective marketing and promotion
strategies. It has been widely acknowledged that there is a need for market segmentation in
11
order to plan a consumer-oriented marketing strategy and cope with the large diversity of
vacation behavior (Veen & Verhallen, 1986). Segmentation is often based on social-
demographics, psychographics, behavioral characteristics, trip characteristics, or other
variables of interests. One of the most common approaches is to first assign consumers to
groups by using demographic and trip characteristics; and then the similarities and
differences between the matching groups are analyzed. Since many attractions and tourist
destinations rely heavily on the repeat visitor segment, researchers and practitioners find it
meaningful to examine the differences between first-time and repeat visitors, and the impact
of previous visitation experience on tourists' image perception and future behavior. For
example, Milman and Pizam (1995) empirically tested the impact of previous visitations on
consumer's destination image. They found that higher number of visits with a destination
result in more positive image of the destination, and higher interests and likelihood to revisit
it. A number of empirical works revealed that the number of visits to and the length of stay at
a destination influence the perceived image (Baloglu & Mangaloglu, 2001, Chon, 1991).
Previous studies also indicated a close relationship between past experiences and consumer
satisfaction and loyalty. Past experiences of visiting a destination have increased tourists'
intention to travel there again. For instance, Petrick and Sirakaya's empirical study (2004)
suggested that repeat visitors are more satisfied with their travelexperiences, and are more
likely to return and spread positive WOM. Juaneda (1996) and Gyte and Phelps (1989)
confirmed that repeat tourists are more likely than first-timers to return to the same
destination. Oppermann (2000) found a significant relationship between previous experience
and future tourist visitation behavior. Sonmez and Graefe (1998) showed that past travel
experiences have a powerful influence on behavioral intentions. Chen (2008) stated that past
trip experiences often influence tourists' choice behaviors directly and/or indirectly. A few
empirical studies (Juaneda, 1996; Kozak & Rimmington, 2000) investigated the influences
of satisfaction and previous visits on the revisit probability - both previous visits and
satisfaction were found to be determinants of the revisit intentions, although Kozak (2001)
found that future intentions were influenced more by satisfaction than by past experience.
Other researchers (McAlexander et al., 2003) found that customer satisfaction affected
customer loyalty depending on consumption experience. Satisfaction had a significant
influence on loyalty for less experienced group, but its effect in the more experienced group
was not significant, and other determinants replaced satisfaction as drivers of loyalty. They
12
concluded that satisfaction was most effective for developing loyalty among less experienced
customers.
Purpose of the Study
1.To study Russian tourist characteristics
2.To analyze causal relationships among tourist perceived value, tourists' satisfaction
and revisit
3.To study tourism economic development strategies
Scope of the Study
The study investigates Russian tourists' perceived value, satisfaction and revisit who
visiting Thailand by selecting the famous tourism destinations in Bangkok, Thailand.
Hypotheses
Hypotheses came from the literature review in Chapter 2. Hypotheses have been used
to test this presumption:
Hypothesis 1: Perceived value has direct effects on satisfaction
Hypothesis 2: Perceived value has direct effects on revisit
Hypothesis 3: Satisfaction has direct effects on revisit
Organization of the Presentation
The study consists of five parts. The first chapter is the introduction, background of
the study, purpose of the study, scope of the study, organization of the presentation, and
definition of terms will be introduced. Chapter 2 will represent the literature review and
conceptual framework which explains the concepts of some variable in customer perceived
valued, tourists' satisfaction and intention to revisit and their relationships. Methodology will
be in chapter 3 which describes research design, sample and population, data collection, and
data analysis. Chapter 4 is the results from empirical survey will be analyzed and chapter 5 is
the conclusion, discussion and recommendation.
13
Definition of Terms
Perceived value
. It is the value that a customer perceives to obtain by buying a
product. It is the difference between the total obtained benefits according to the customer
perception and the cost that he had to pay for that. The customer will buy the same product
again only if he perceives to be getting some value out of the product. Hence delivering this
value becomes the motto of marketers. See also according perceived value.
Perceived Value = Total Perceived Benefits Total Perceived Costs
Perceived value is a marketing and branding related concept that points out that
success of a product is largely based on whether customers believe it can satisfy their needs
(http://smallbusiness.chron.com/customer-perceived-value-23692.html). Perceived value is
the difference between the prospective customer's evaluation of all the benefits and all the
costs of an offering and the perceived alternatives (http://www.marketing91.com/customer-
perceived-value-cpv/).
Satisfaction. Customer level of approval when comparing a product's perceived
performance with his or her expectations. Also could refer to discharge, extinguishment, or
retirement of an obligation to the acceptance of obligor, or fulfillment of a claim. While
satisfaction is sometimes equated with performance, it implies compensation or substitution
whereas performance denotes doing what was actually promised. See also accord and
satisfaction (http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/satisfaction.html). A happy or
pleased feeling because of something that you did or something that happened to you. The act
of providing what is needed or desired: the act of satisfying a need or desire
(http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/satisfaction).
Behavior Intention or Revisit
. Revisit is to visit again (http://www.merriam-
webster.com/dictionary/revisit). Revisit is to visit a place or situation that you have been in
before http://www.macmillandictionary.com/dictionary/british/revisit). Revisit is to come
back to or visit again (http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/revisit).
14
CHAPTER 2
LITERATURE REVIEW
Tourists' motivation to visit or revisit a tourist destination is often influenced by 3
factors namely - destination image, perceived quality, perceived value and satisfaction (Chen
& Chen, 2010, Bigne et al., 2001; Pike, 2002). Kozak and Rimmington stated that customer
satisfaction has significant effects on tourists' choice of destination, consumption of product
and services, and decision to revisit (Kozak & Rimmington, 2000). It also plays a vital role in
the continuity and future of tourism products and services, hence, many studies in hospitality
and tourism field are focused on customer satisfaction (Gursoy et al., 2003). Many researches
propose that perception of service quality and value affects satisfaction which subsequently
affects loyalty and post-behaviors (Tam, 2000, Anderson & Sullivan, 1993; Chen,
2008, Cronin & Taylor, 1992; De Rojas & Camarero, 2008; Choi &Chu 2001;
Fornell, 1992; Oliver, 1980). This study focuses on the identification of perceived value and
satisfaction which influences revisit. Thus, a comprehensive study on the impact of
satisfaction and perceived value on customer behavioral intentions was carried out in the
course of this study.
Perceived Value
Perceived value has become an object of heightened recognition which is viewed
from different perspectives such as customer utility, perceived benefits relative to sacrifice,
psychological price, worth and quality; thus, there is no definite or generally accepted
definition of perceived value (Zeithaml, 1988, Woodruff, 1997). Again, perception of value is
dependent on types of products or services offered (e.g., manufactured products or tourism
products) and the personal characteristics of customers (Zeithaml, 1988). Compared to
quality and customer satisfaction, the effect of perceived value on customer behavior has
received less attention. This is probably because of inadequacy of concept measures that
define perceived value (Petrick, 2004; Tam, 2000). The definition of perceived value given
by Zeithaml (1988) is commonly used to describe perceived value. Zeithaml (1988)
establishes four aspects of value in an investigative study: (1) low price, (2) whatever I want
in a product, (3) the quality I get for the price I pay, and (4) what I get for what I give.
Zeithaml (1988) goes a step further to merge the four aspects of customer value into a
comprehensive concept: "perceived value is the consumer's overall assessment of the utility
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