A Study of Tourism in Thailand

Chapter 1: Introduction

1.1 Introduction
This dissertation is about small to medium sized hotels businesses in Thailand. It will investigate their use of events as a marketing tool. The study conducted online surveys by selected hundred hotels from the travel trade show in Thailand, 2010. Moreover, two selected hotels are interviewed by telephone and through telephone the results will be analysesis and compared asinto two case studies. The findings of the two different methods will be analysed in order to compareison the use of events as a marketing tool. Furthermore, limitations of this study and recommendations for future research will be given at the end of the project.

Events marketing is one of the marketing tools that the Tourism Authority Thailand (TAT) used to encouraged domestic tourism to travel within Thailand. Due toRegarding to the global financial crisis, health crises and domestic problems, the foreign tourism in Thailand has decreased 4.24% (Department of tourism report, 2005-2010). In terms of developing tourism’s contribution to the in economy, TAT has launched a campaign and co-operated with partners to stimulate domestic and international tourism to travel in Thailand, for example Pattaya International music festival (TAT Release, 2010).

However, to use events as a marketing tool is a the new concept that TAT is using to attempts to promote and develop the tourism industry with new markets as well as domestically travel for Thais (Policy and marketing plan). To engage with domestic tourism TAT attempts to be a host of a travel trade show at least twice a year, which to promotes to travel in Thailand (Policy, 2007-2010). Finally, not only TAT considers the importance of domestic tourism, but there are a number of majority of private company who havehas participated to promote the Thai discovery of Thailand in various activities as well.

With rRegardsing to the marketing events as marketing that TAT used to promote the domestic

References: AGENECE FRANCE-PRESS. 2008. Thai hotel nearly empty after riots. 2008, December 12. BACKMAN, K. F., BACKMAN, S. J. U., UYSAL, M. & SUNSHINE, K. M. 1995. Event tourism and examination of motivations and activities. Festival Management & Events Tourism, 3, 15-24. BOJANIC, D. C. & REID, R. D. 2006. Hospitality marketing management, New Jersdy, John Wilery & Sons. BRYMAN, A. & BURGESS, R. G. 1994. Analyzing Qualitative data, London, Routledge. CARSON, D. & CROMIE, S. 1989. Marketing planning in small enterprises: a model and some empirical evidence. Journal of Consumer Marketing, 7. CHARLES, M. F. 1996. Fundamentals of Selling: Customers for Life, Chicago, McGraw-Hill. CROMPTON, L. J. & MCKAY, S. L. 1997. Motives of visitors attending festival events. Annals of Tourism Research, 24, 425-439. DEPARTMENT OF TOURISM REPORT. 2005-2010. The Economy of Thailand [Online]. Available: http://www.tourismthailand.org/about-thailand/economy/ [Accessed 16/03/11. DELOZIER, M. W. 1976. The Marketing Communications Process, New York, McGraw-Hill. FILL, C. 2005. Marketing Communications: Engagement, Strategies and Practic, Harrow, England, Prentic Hall. FORMICA, S. & MURRMANN, S. 1998. The effects of group membership and motivation on attendance: An international festival case. Tourism Analysis, 3, 197-207. FORMICA, S. & UYSAL, M. 1996. A market segmentation of festival visitors: Umbria Jazz Festival in Italy. Festival Management & Events Tourism, 3, 175-182. FORMICA, S. & UYSAL, M. 1998. Market segmentation of an international cultural-historical event in Italy. Journal of Travel Research, 35, 16-24. GETZ, D. 1991. Festivals, special events, and tourism, New York, Van Nostrand Reinhold. GOLDBLATT, J. & NELSON, K. S. 2001. The international dictionary of event management, New York, John Wiley&Sons. HULTSMAN, W. 2001. From the eyes of an exhibitor: characteristics that make exhibitions a success for all stakeholders. Journal of Convention & Exhibition Management, 3. INTERNATIONAL TRADE STATISTICS. 2010. [Online]. Available: http://www.wto.org/english/res_e/statis_e/its2010_e/its10_toc_e.htm [Accessed 15/03/11]. ISO-AHOLA, S. E. 1980. The social psychology of leisure and recreation, Dubuque, IA, Wm. C. Brown. JOBBER, D. 1995. Principles and Practice of Marketing, London, McGraw-Hill. KING, C. A. 1995. What is hospitality? International Journal of Hospitality Management, 14, 219-234. LEE, C. 2000. A comparative study of Cuacasian and Asian visitors to a cultural Expo in an Asian setting. Tourism Management, 21, 169-176. LEE, C., LEE, Y. & WICKS, B. E. 2004. Segmentation of festival motivation by nationality and satisfaction. Tourism Management, 25, 61-70. LI, X. R. & PETRICK, J. F. 2006. A review of festival and event motivation studies. Event Management, 9, 239-245. LOVELOCK, C. & WRIGHT, L. 2002. Principles of Service Marketing and Management, New Jersey, Prentice Hall. KOZAK, N. 2005. The expectations of exhibitors in tourism, hospitality, and the travel industry: A case study on east Mediterranean tourism and travel exhibition. Journal of Convention & Event Tourism, 7(3/4), 99-116. MCCABE, S. 2009. Marketing Communications in Tourism and Hospitality concepts, strategies and cases, Oxford, Butterworth-Heinemann. MOHR, K., BACKMAN, K. F., GAHAN, L. W. & BACKMAN, S. J. 1993. An investigation of festival motivations and event satisfaction by visitor type. Festival Management & Events Tourism, 1, 89-97. MORIARTY, J., JONES, R., ROWLEY, J. & KUPIEC-TEAHAN, B. 2008. Marketing in small hotels: a qualitative study. Marketing Intelligence & Planning, 26. NEAL, M. & COHEN, E. 2010. Coinciding crises and tourism in contemporary Thailand. Current Issues in Tourism, 13, 455-475. NICHOLSON, R. & PEARCE, D. 2000. Who goes to events: A comparative analysis of the profile characteristics of visitors to four south island events. Journal of Vacation Marketing, 6, 236-253. NICHOLSON, R. & PEARCE, D. 2001. Why do people attend events: A comparative analysis of visitor motivations at four south island events. Journal of Travel Research, 39, 449-460. PINE, B. J. & GILMORE, J. H. 1999. The experience economy, Boston, Harvard Business School Press. POST Reporters, 2008. Shock over tourist murders. Bangkok Post, 2008, March 28, p.1-2. POLICY. 2007-2010. [Online]. The Association of Domestic Travel. Available: http://www.domesticthailand.com [Accessed 15/03/11]. RADIŠIĊ, B. B., PERIŠIĊ, M. & BEREČIĊ, J. 2010. Marketing in selling the hotel product. Tourism & Hospitality Manangement. RALSTON, L. & CROMPTON, L. J. 1998. Motivations, service quality and economic impact of visitors to the 1987 Dickens on the strand emerging from a mail-back survey, Texas, Texas A&M University. RINALLO, D., BORGHINI, S. & GOLFETTO, F. 2010. Exploring visitor experiences at trade shows. Journal of Business & Industrial Marketing, 25. ROBSON, C. ed. 2002. Real world research. Oxford: Blackwell. SAUNDERS, N. M. 1997. Analyzing qualitative data, Research Methods for Business students. London, Pitman Publishing. SCHLENTRICH, U. A. 1996. Business Travel Marketing, London, International Thomson Business Press. SCHMITT, B. H. 1999. Experiential Marketing, New York, The Free Press. SCHNEIDER, I. E. & BEACKMAN, S. J. 1996. Cross-cultural equivalence of festival motivations: A study in Jordan. Festival Management & Events Tourism, 4, 139-144. SCHRAMM, W. 1954. How communication works, Urbana, University of Illinois Press. SCOTT, D. 1996. A comparison of visitors ' motivations to attend three urban festivals. Festival Management & Events Tourism, 2, 121-128. SHANNON, C. & WEANVER, W. 1962. The mathematical theory of communication, Urbana, IL, University of Illinois Press. SLEIGHT, S. 1989. Sponsorship: What Is It and How to Use It, Maidenhead, McGraw Hill. SMITH, P. R. & TAYLOR, J. 2004. Marketing communications: an integrated approach, Kogan Page Ltd. SNEATH, J. Z., FINNEY, R. Z. & CLOSE, A. G. 2005. An IMC Approach to Event Marketing: The Effects of Sponsorship and Experience on Customer Attitudes. Journal of Advertising Research, 45, 373-381. SRITAMA, S. 2009, April, 16. Tourism industry asks for global campaigns. The Nation. TAT RELEASE. 2010. [Online]. The Tourism Authority of Thailand. Available: http://tatnews.org/tat_release/index.asp [Accessed 16/03/11]. THAI GOV’T offering loans to ease liquidity problem among tourism operators. 2009, March 18. China Economic Net. THE FIVE SENSES. 2006. NZ Marketing Magazine, 25, 42-43. UYSAL, M., GAHAN, L. & MARTIN, B. 1993. An examination of event motivations: A case study. Festival Management & Events Tourism, 1, 5-10. VAREY, R. J. 2002. Marketing Communication Principles and practice, London, Routledge. WILLIAMS, A. 2006. Tourism and hospitality marketing: fantasy, feeling and fun. International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, 18, 482-495. YIN, R. K. 1981. The case study as a serious research strategy. Knowledge: Creation, Diffusion, Utilisation, 3, pp. 97-114. YIN, R. K. eds. 1994. Case study research: design and methods. Thousand Oaks, Calif: Sage.