The changing face of Thai tourist decision-making and, consumption responses and behavioral changes post-COVID 19

Abstract

The global pandemic “COVID 19” has created a crisis by crippling the whole world, nations in it, and its living beings as well. During this pandemic, many Thai Tourists were affected which brought a change either demographically, through psychographic, or brought upon behavioral changes. People got affected by this problem and it has put fear inside many Thai consumers for them to travel back again. This research aimed to understand the Thai tourist nature of traveling post-COVID, including the understanding of Thai consumers' feelings and expectations to travel back again. The researcher used a mixed-method mostly focusing on the qualitative data through an in-depth interview with 11 participants and a short online survey was distributed among 17 participants to understand on what level in-depth interview provides clarity. In-depth interview results were analyzed with thematic analysis and quantitative data were analyzed with google form graphs. Results showed that Thai tourists believe the tourism sector for inbound and outbound will be booming again but it all depends on the act of tour operators, government, and the local community. This study will be helpful to understand the expectations, needs, and interests of consumers and what precautions should be taken to make Thai again post Covid-19.