ATTITUDES AND BEHAVIORS OF TOURISTS TOWARDS GASTRONOMY TOURISM IN CHIANG MAI, THAILAND

Abstract

The purpose of this paper was to investigate: (1) Tourist attitude towards gastronomic tourism behavior. 2) Behavior of gastronomic tourism and food purchases (3) Factors influencing tourists' attitudes toward gastronomic tourism in Chiang Mai province; and (4) The marketing mix is used to obtain the appropriate local food marketing strategies. The sample size was 629 tourists from the Chiang Mai Province. The statistical tools used for data analysis were percentage, mean, standard deviation, t-test, and one-way analysis of variance. The results of the research found that: (1) Tourists have a positive attitude towards gastronomic tourism. (2) The majority of tourists purchase food in the range of 501 to 1,000 baht per meal. (3) With an average marketing mix of 5.492, the total marketing mix is critical in order to make local food available to tourists. And (4) general characteristics such as age, status, income, travel experiences in Chiang Mai, local dining experiences, and marketing elements all influence tourists' attitudes towards gastronomic tourism (p ≤ 0.05).