Service marketing mix and foreign tourists decision making : The case study of Phuket accommodations in Thailand

Abstract

The main aims of this study are to examine the service marketing mix and foreign tourist decision making on the accommodation in Phuket, Thailand by following the objective study marketing mix service toward tourists' decision on accommodation and investigate demographic decision toward marketing mix factors on choosing accommodation services of foreign tourists in Phuket, Thailand. The research samples are 400 foreign tourists travelling in Phuket. They were selected by Quota sampling method with analyze the use of logistics Regression, T-test and F-test (One Way-ANOVA) for data analysis. The results showed that the majority of tourists are male aged about 36 - 45 years, working as career government employees with revenue US$ 1,001 - US$ 3,000 per month. They normally prefer to stay at resort and spend time on living in Phuket more than 7 days. It also found the relationship between marketing mix and decision marking on accommodation selection, including price, people, place, promotion, and process factor affects the accommodation selection in Phuket. However, the study of demographic and marketing mix decision toward accommodation service selection of foreign tourist in Phuket found that (1) gender difference leads different decision on physical evidence (2) age difference leads different decision on place, promotion and people (3) education difference leads people and process difference (4) occupation difference leads different promotion decision, and (5) nationality leads the difference of decision about the price that influences accommodation in Phuket selection of the tourists.