A Structural Equation Model:

Thailand’s International Tourism Demand

for Tourist Destination
(Working paper No. 9/2007)

Chukiat Chaiboonsri , Prof. Dr. N. Rangaswamy and Prasert Chaitip Ph.D.

Department of Economics
Bangalore University
 A

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I wish to express my sincere appreciation to the many people who provided sup-
port, direction, and assistance toward the completion of this working paper.
Without their words of encouragement and contributions, this working paper
would not have been finished. First and foremost, a very special “thank you” to
Dr. N. Rangaswamy, Professor & Chairman of the Department of Economics at
Bangalore University. He is both my professor and adviser at Bangalore Uni-
versity for the period from 2005 to 2010. And I would like to thanks ICCR
scholarship (India government organization) that gave funds to me for study a
Ph.D.(Economics) at Bangalore University during the same period. Particularly,
I would like to thank Assoc,Prof. Dr. Prasert Chaitip for making his unlimited
tourism and research knowledge available to me. I am also grateful to my father,
my mother, my wife, my sister, my bother and sister in the hope of God family,
and my friend in Bangalore University for their continued support and encour-
agement during my graduate studies. Their contributions toward sustaining my
initiative near the end of the study are acknowledged. I also wish to thank Mr.
Macus Vigilante is a lecturer at Payap University, Chiang Mai for his sugges-
tions and contributions to improve the quality of the this working paper. So I
would like to thanks you and I hope that you can help me on my next paper. Fi-
nally my special thanks to God because He blesses me in every day when I walk
with Him and any remaining errors are my own.

Mr. Chukiat Chaiboonsri

Department of Economics
Bangalore University
Bangalore, India

2/3/2007
 B

DEDICATION

This working paper is dedicated to God, Jesus Christ . You be with me all time.
 C

Contents

Page

Acknowledgement A
Dedication B
Contents C
Tables D
Figure E
Abstract 1
1. Introduction 2
2. Research Aim and Objective 3
3. Scope of research 3
4. Literature Review
4.1 The Concept Background of the International 3
Tourism Demand Mode
4.2Demographic or Socio-economics Segmentation 4
4.3 Customer Satisfaction and Travel Cost Satisfaction 3
4.4 Tourism Product, Tourism Product Attributes and Tourism Product 5
Management
5. Conceptual Framework 7
6. Research Methodology 8
7. The Results of the Research
7.1 International Tourist Profile Based on Surveying Method 10
7.2 Results of a Structural Equation Model for 17
Thailand's International Tourism Demand for Tourist
Destinations Based on the LISREL Model Approach
8. Conclusion and Implications 18
9. Limitations and Future Research 20
Bibliography 21
Appendix A. 24
Appendix B. 30
Appendix C. 32
 D

Tables

Page

1. Table 1: Demographic Summary of the Research Sample 24

2. Table 2: Travel Behavior Summary of the Research Sample 25

3. Table 3: Summary of International Tourist’s Opinions on Tourism 27

Products or Tourist Destinations in Thailand

4. Table 4: Summary of International Tourist’s Opinions on 28

Tourist Products Attributes or Tourist Destinations
Attributes in Thailand

5. Table 5: Summary of International Tourist’s Opinions on Tourism 29

Product Management or Tourist Destinations Management
in Thailand

6. Table 6: The items within the questionnaire were used in a structure 30

model Summary of International Tourist’s Opinions on Tourism

7. Table 7: The reliability and validity of the items were used

31
in a structure model
 E

Figure

Page
1. Figure 2. Final Model for Relationship Among Travel Cost 32
Satisfaction, Tourists Demographics, Tourism Product,
Tourism Product Attributes And Tourism Product
Management*