The Success of Using Social Media for Tourism Purposes in Thailand

Abstract

The tourism industry is one of the most important economic drivers for the development, prosperity and wellness of the country. The changes in the past generation have seen technological advancement create a new tourism market where the tourists’ desires are inspired by the influence of watching social media tourism pages and other social media platforms to choose a travel destination to visit. This paper proposes a new model for the tourism market by using social media. A mixed methodology approach was applied by using the elements from the Rough Set Delphi Technique to measure the consensus of 21 experts by exploring the interrelationship among the eight components for the success of using social media for tourism purposes. A 7-point rating scale survey of 800 tourists is used to collect data and CFA to analyze data. This study’s results shed light on information quality, perceived benefits, push travel motivation, pull travel motivation, trust, satisfaction, customer loyalty and the intention to recommend, by considering the variables the study concluded interpretation that a better understanding of the cause and effect has led to the social media success for tourism purposes in Thailand. The findings are important for the private and public tourism sectors.