Study of Tourist Behavior Toward Nature-Based Tourism Activities

¶ … Tourist Behavior Toward Nature-Based Tourism Activities

For most of the developing countries tourism industry is playing a very important role in boosting their economies. In 2004, it was found out that Asia Pacific was one of the fastest growing tourism regions (Cruey, 2005). According to WTO, up to 3% of world's tourism market is made up of Thailand, Indonesia, India and Sri Lanka. It was in 1970's that the development of Thai international tourism started (Mcdowall and Wang, 2007). Tourism industry accounts for 5.1% of Thailand's National Gross Domestic Product (Tourism Authority of Thailand, 2009). For the purpose of providing a proper development direction, the National Economics and Social Development Plan (NESDP) served as a guide (Mcdowall and Wang, 2007). The result of the survey which was conducted by the Universities of USA and Thailand, showed that Thailand stood on the first place as best hospital city for all the visitors. Not only this, it is also ranked as the first country with greatest value for money; in terms of shopping. Moreover, Thailand is also ranked on the first position as the tourism capital of Asia, with 34%. China and Japan, with 17% and 13% stood at the second and the third position, respectively, in this category (as cited in Chaiboonsri and Chaitipa, 2008). This survey was conducted in 30 countries, where 121 people were questioned through e-questionnaires. Thailand is considered as a safe destination for the visitors. It has many other features like, scenic beauty, nice hotels, healthy cuisines, adventure activities and most importantly good shopping facilities. These features according to Rittichainuwat et al. (2006), attract most of the tourists. Ryan, Qu and Tavitiyaman (2007) found out that Thailand's image as tourist spot is still positive and is in competition with other countries. Visitors still have a strong liking for Thailand because of its hospitality, its unique culture, its restaurants, hotels and services (Chaiboonsri and Chaitipa, 2008).

The government of Thai took many initiatives in order to promote the tourism industry of Thailand. Government launched a project for the year of 1998 and 1999 with the name of "Amazing Thailand." For 2003 and 2004, a project by the name of "Unseen in Thailand" was introduced. "Thailand Happiness on Earth" and "Unforgettable Thailand" was the two projects which were launched in 2005 and 2006, respectively. Tourism industry needs to continue its development to enable Thailand reach its peak. Major focus is to be laid on the tourist destinations of Thailand so that a greater number of visitors are attracted (Yau and Chan (1990), Rittichainuwat et al. (2008), Tavitiyaman, Qu and Ryan (2007)). According to the design of the research the tourist target places must include three parts; which are; tourism product itself, its attribute and its management. If continuous development of these three parts take place and that also as per the demand of the tourists then it would be highly likely that the tourists would not only be attracted towards the place once but would be more than willing to revisit the place (Yau and Chan (1990), Rittichainuwat et al. (2008), Tavitiyaman, Qu and Ryan (2007), Mcdowall and Wang, 2007)). This study thus focuses on an outlook analysis of domestic tourist behavior toward nature-based tourism activities.

Nature-based tourism, adventure travel and ecotourism are the names given to the travelling which takes place to those areas which conserve the environment. This article would be making use of the term nature-based tourism to define the travel or to refer the activities of the residents and the visitors who make use of resources sustainably (Rennicks, 1997).

Nature-Based Tourism

Under nature-based tourism (and also ecotourism), parks play a very important role. Whatever earning is made through these parks is first taken up by the governing agencies and very less amount reaches the protected area in the end. The tourist's revisits and the quality of the service tend to suffer when the rate of return from the total collected income is less. Most of the governments take ecotourism as vital economic tool for a durable environment. But sadly, these governments spend less on infrastructure and on training of their personnel and even on other essential resources of the tourism industry. Less expenditure in these essential areas leads to ruining of the protected areas (Costencu, 2008).

No proper figures have been disclosed by the national agencies about ecotourism, therefore we cannot exactly quote the impact of this tourism on the country's economy. Many studies are found with regards to ecotourism, and most of the studies are on the basis of the data which is collected from individual parks (Costencu, 2008).

Through the comparative data which was obtained from Canada and USA, we get to know that parks are playing a very important role in terms of economy. Despite of the benefits and the impressive figures that the parks were generating for the countries, the governments of these countries were reluctant to invest more in the functioning of the parks. Figures showed that increased attention towards the parks may bring an increase in the amount of income. The research work which took place in USA, Canada and Australia also demonstrated the importance of parks on the borders. This fact cannot be denied that proper and complete information with regards to the parks is not available. A continuous flow of information is required to get a complete know-how about the economic impact that similar functions in Thailand would result in. It is recommended to carry out work on it at least once a year. If trimestrial studies are performed then that would become more profitable, but if Thai government bodies and agents are not in favor of trimestrial studies then they should go for the other option (Costencu, 2008).

When the term nature-based tourism was initiated, the travelers were not responsible at all rather they used to disturb the lives of the civilians and even damaged the resources. In 1970's, Stanley Selengut, a New York-based developer took some initiative and started building Harmony. It was a resort on St. John's Island which looked into the matters of environmental sensitivity, responsive usage of resources and human comfort. According to Selengut, the target of harmony is to reveal that a balance of ecotourism can be maintained between culture and nature, in fact if efforts are made then enhancement could also take place (Rennicks, 1997).

Nature-based tourism is attracting the mass tourists, who build in themselves the experience of nature as a secondary activity during their vacations. On the other hand there are ecotourism specialists who are attracted towards nature for their research activities. A number of natural resources are seen in South Carolina. Quite a many nature based activities can also take place in this region, like; hiking on mountains, watching birds on rice fields, paddling in white water, fishing etc. (Rennicks, 1997). Though the actions change considerably, a sustainable tourism sector based on nature demands the approval and exercise of various main philosophies:

Offering an experience of partaking and information gathering;

Preserving the natural reserve base;

Fostering thoughtfulness and collaboration amongst various players;

Informing everyone like industry, governmental groups, visitors and communities; and Promoting ethical and moral duties and attitude in the direction of cultural and natural atmosphere (Rennicks, 1997)

Rennicks (1997) is of the opinion that nature-based tourism is a rapidly advancing sector. As per American Traveller Survey carried out in 1995-96 by Plog Research Inc., there was observed a sudden rise in the nature-based tourism. This increase was considerable when compared with the previous data as it was 7.5% of the travelling people in 1994 while in 1995, it rose to 13.5%. This phenomenal increase in nature-based tourism can be accredited to the progress in the field of speciality travel and the rising consciousness about the environment. The Bureau of Economic & Business Research at the University of Utah carried out a survey, according to which 78% of the American population regard themselves as ecologists. It is not a surprising fact that most of these people enthusiastically take part in the nature-based actions for vacation and leisure. In reality, the survey named American Traveller Survey conducted in 1995-96 shows that more than 34 million Americans made plans about going and some of them did g o to a nature-based vacation trip (Rennicks, 1997).

The nature-based tourism market has been initiated as a modification and replacement for the conventional tourism markets. It has been of great benefit to the rural areas through

Fostering the expansion of infrastructure,

Developing the need for regional services and goods,

Modification of regional economies,

Fostering the economic steadiness in the future and Expanding the conventional season of tourism (Rennicks, 1997).

Ecotourism

The last 20 years have witnessed the growth of ecotourism as an area of investigation within the wider research of tourism. In spite of the fact that a greater volume of periodicals are dedicated to the subject of tourism, agreement still needs to be done in order to reach a definition which is acceptable to all. Nevertheless, Fennell (2008) indicates that there are various common concepts that are the part of different definitions. The primary concept that is a part of ecotourism is that it entails consciousness and admiration of the Mother Nature and the activities based on it (Fennell, 2001, 2008).

Another concept that is a vital part of ecotourism is pertinent to the regional communal groups like contribution (Ross and Wall, 1999), prospective advantages (Honey, 2008) and authorisation (Scheyvens, 2002). The next concept is related to knowledge (Honey, 2002) and such tourism in which people consider themselves accountable (Fennell and Dowling, 2003). Lastly, ecotourism fosters maintainability (Blamey, 2001; Cole and Sinclair, 2002) and preservation (Wood, 2002).

Although various experts have investigated the definition, influence and shortcomings of ecotourism, comparatively less have discovered the viewpoints and behaviours of players dealing with the supply chain connecting a traveller to the services of ecotourism. This section of the paper is aimed at offering a viewpoint on the supply side of ecotourism through the investigation of the manner in which ecotourism is conceptualized by the operators and the travel agents in Chiang Mai, Thailand. Chiang Mai is amongst the largest cities in the north of Thailand and is a very famous tourist spot. Every year, 1.8 million overseas tourists and 3.6 million Thai came to this city in the year 2007 (Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT), 2009). Apart from containing various religious, retail and historical places, Chiang Mai, in particular, and northern Thailand, generally act as a hub for both ecotourism based on rafting, meeting with wildlife, specifically elephants and cultural tourism as in visiting the villages of 'hill tribe'(Kontogeorgopoulos and Chulikavit, 2010) .

Many writers have explored tourism in the northern part of Thailand (Nimmonratana, 2000) and have particularly focused on ecotourism (Hayami, 2006). There are, however, merely two researches on this topic. One of them was printed (Cohen, 1989) while the other one was not (Northrop, 2007). These were a part of English literature and discussed the contribution of tour operator and travel agents in providing nature-based trips to the tourists or ecotourism. Moreover, Thai opponents (Shepherd, 2002; Vivanco, 2002) of ecotourism complain that the tourism industry has only used ecotourism as a ploy to attract visitors by showing concern for the environment whereas no one has methodically gathered experimental data to evaluate the manner in which tourism industry in Thailand viewed ecotourism. By employing data collected from surveying 300 tour operators and travel agents, the researcher is in a position to validate that actions related to nature-based tourism constitute a considerable chunk of the tourism industry of Chiang Mai and debates that the concept of ecotourism amongst operators and travel agents is massive, changeable and in various ways paradoxical (Kontogeorgopoulos and Chulikavit, 2010).

Similarly, in Phuket after a long time period, ecotourism has appeared after the formation of a traditional tourism industry. Apart from exhibiting the manner in which the nature of tourism has undergone a change in a place like southern Thailand in relation to the varying inclinations of the tourists, the last historical occurrence of ecotourism opposes the shared evolutionary notions that rules out the probability of particular types of 'alternative' tourism involving ecotourism to grow with their corresponding types of tourism (Cazes, 1987; Pearce, 1989). The latest appearance of ecotourism in Phuket is the recent most phase of a splendid path of progress seen by the local tourism industry. As soon as Phuket progressed towards the global tourism of sea, sand and sun, its conventional contribution as a place for raw materials started to decline during 1970s (Uthoff, 1997). In 1976, one of the first and the largest hotels was constructed in Phuket and till 1979; the Thai government had constructed an international airport. It, at the same time, financed additional construction of various hotels in the town of Phuket and over the west coast of Patong Beach (Kontogeorgopoulos, 2004).

Phuket is one of the most favorite places for tourism in Thailand. Because of its attraction for tourists, it enjoys many benefits for its local community development. Though they are not equally qualified, the people living in Phuket enjoy many advantages which are not available to the people living in other parts of Thailand. The workforce in Phuket has grade six education but they deal with tourists effectively. In return, the tourists pay more than double wage to the drivers, cooks and Sea Canoe guides. It is almost 3 times more than the national average wage as earned by sales, services and clerical staff. They also enjoy fringe benefits like life insurance, health insurance, free language, disability allowances, tourism certificate training and paddling (Kontogeorgopoulos, 2004).

The revenue generated through tourism is spent on the local development of Phuket. In this way, Phuket enjoys much of its development expense on its own. The specialized equipment which includes inflatable canoes are imported from USA, rest of the cost is incurred locally which makes it around 98% of the total cost. The total revenue is distributed among very few heads of workers' wage and shared with the owners of escort boats. The total earning is around two million baht equivalent to USD 46,500 out of which USD 15,500 are given away as workers' wages. There are two freelance and three contracted escort boats whose owners get collectively around three to four thousand baht. The entrepreneurs for tourism in Phuket accept the fact that they charge higher than many other tourism firms serving in Thailand. They quote high wage rates and costs as the reason for higher charges (Kontogeorgopoulos, 2004). A daytrip in Phuket is charged around USD70 to USD90.

Furthermore, Siam Safari and Sea Canoe enjoy the portion of eminence because of natural beauty which is the most cited component found in the definitions of ecotourism. There are certain characteristics which distinguish Siam Safari and Sea Canoe from many other tourism companies. The other companies are labeled as mass while ecotourism enjoy its spatial nature which is the point of special attention (Kontogeorgopoulos, 2004).

Overall, nature-oriented tourism has been the focus of many tourists in the past. Many of them also enjoy visiting wild life spots. Yet, it is observed that a huge number of tourists are attracted by the mass attention places like urban centers and hotel complexes. Particularly speaking about Phuket, this trend is increasing (see Kontogeorgopoulos, 1998). If the hotel complexes are situated near the natural beauty, the companies like Siam Safari and Sea Canoe offer much more attractive tourism packages. The tourists can enjoy both the natural beauty and the places of mass attraction in a single trip. The straight route between the two places adds to the beauty of travelling and the tourists do not feel exhausted or uncomfortable because of long journeys (Kontogeorgopoulos, 2004). The two most famous areas of recreation in Phuket are Patong beach and Ko Phanak. There is only the distance of 8 miles between these two points. Ko Phanak is an island satisfying the thirst for natural beauty while Patong is the most developed resort area in Phuket.

There is a negative point associated with the fact that in Phuket both natural beauty and developed resorts are situated close to each other. It does not satisfy the concerns of those tourists who are interested in geography or are at Phuket for its comparison with other regions of the world or even Thailand (Dearden, 1991). This point is important to ponder as the basic definition of ecotourism given by Ceballos-Lascurain (1988, p. 2) is about visiting natural and undisturbed areas. This visit can be for the specific purpose of studying and enjoying the natural beauty, wild life and cultural manifestations. It is quite impossible to demarcate 'undisturbed 'and 'disturbed' areas on the basis of activity prevalent in those areas and the specific criteria used for it. In other words, it is difficult to assess the extent to which an enclosed landscape can be considered 'uncontaminated' or 'undisturbed'. However, it is highly probable that an area like Ao Phangnga would be considered as uncontaminated or undisturbed with its fishing trawlers and constantly flooding tourists along the coasts through the long-tail boats and speed boats present in the open seas of the bay. The rain forest areas with Siam Safari and Sea Canoe operating in them, lagoons and caves are all regarded as tranquil, uninhabited and 'natural' areas. However, all these micro-environments are a part of landscapes surrounded by heavy human activity and form an integral part of mass tourism environments (Kontogeorgopoulos, 2004).

Adventure Tourism

Thailand caters the tourists with authentic and adventurous experiences and is thus considered as a destination for adventurers. Cohen believes that the highlanders' visit provide a cultural and thrilling adventure experience to the change-seeking tourists (Cohen, 1983). The tribal people who have secluded themselves from the modern western world are highly visited by tourists through jungle trekking tours which take them to the tribal villages. The local tour companies were specialists in organizing 'jungle tour' and hence they played a great role in the image formulation of these tribal villages (Cohen, 1983).

Travel motivations are well explained through push and pull factors. Dann considers push factors to be internal drivers for motivating people to travel. These include the need for novelty, the need for escape and the need for self-esteem (Dann, 1981). The need for novelty describes one's desire to discover unknown places and experience new thrill and adventure (Lee and Crompton, 1992). The need for escape implies one's own desire of getting away from routine work and finding a change in the lifestyle (Lee and Crompton, 1992). The need for esteem refers to one's need for recognition like telling other friends about overseas trip to places which have not yet been visited by them (Oppermann and Chon, 1997).

So, push factors comprises of signs observed in situations, events and objects, which cause the tourists to reduce the promise of prevalent drives (Gnoth, 1997). On the contrary, pull factors describe the destination's attractiveness which plays a pivotal role in motivating people. These factors revolve around the destination's scenic beauty, shopping experiences and entertainment. Pull factors are generated through friends referrals, marketing advertisements and word of mouth. Travel behavior is highly influenced by pull factors like electronic mass media, advertising, entertainment and spectacle (Rittichainuwat et al., 2008).

Push and pull factors work hand in motivating people to travel. These factors can be considered as two sides of the same motivational coin, linked with the concept of emotion (Goossens, 2000). Experiential and emotional needs are an important part of choice behavior and pleasure seeking (Rittichainuwat et al., 2008). Tourists are pushed by emotional needs, while emotional benefits of leisure services and relaxation pull them towards a destination.

Pearce developed a travel-needs model on the basis of Maslow's hierarchy of needs (Pearce, 1988). He suggested that individuals have their own travel motives which are in their travel behavior. The lower level of travel needs to be satisfied prior to the higher level of travel needs. These level of travel needs change with their life cycle. Money and health constraints are the core hurdles in inhibiting one's travelling decisions. The model stresses out a variety of motives behind people seeking holiday experiences. Various level of travel needs work hand in hand for multiple motivations (Rittichainuwat et al., 2008).

Situations and time impact motivation to a great extent. The choice of destination is greatly influenced by a traveler's motivation as suggested by the travel-needs model. Individuals prefer destinations on the basis of experiences and motivations relevant with their motivational and psychological interests. Market segmentation also uses travel motivations as a variable. Crompton (1997) believes that motives are vital in segmenting or sub-dividing people travelling for their own pleasure. Tourists can also be categorized on the basis of their psychographic motives. Plog (1974; 1987; 1991; 2001) classifies tourists into three categories on the basis of their travel motivation. Allo-centrics are the tourists who look for thrill, excitement and adventure in travelling. Psycho-centrics are the ones who are in favor of non-adventurous trip. The last category is mid-centrics, who are evenly distributed between the former two types (Rittichainuwat et al., 2008).

In the same way, 6 tourist segments were identified by Loker and Perdue (1992) relating benefit seeking with travel motivation. These six segments include: 1) lay stress on escape and excitement, 2) are highly excitement seekers, 3) are family - and friends oriented, 4) appreciate nature by enjoying natural surroundings, 5) want escape from itself and value it, and 6) enjoy all benefits to the fullest (Loker and Perdue, 1992). Leiper put forward eight types of tourist's attractions which are not present simultaneously in one trip and are quite different from each other. They comprise of: relaxation and stimulation, low-key break vs. adventure, luxury versus 'roughing it' and seeing vs. doing (Leiper, 2004). Leiper (2004) believed that tourists seek a balance of the two components and thus lie between the two extremes. There are also some other factors that encourage people to travel. Some of them are: Have a relaxing, comfortable and tension-free environment; Have an open-air and natural atmosphere; Fulfil self-actualization, adventure and socially active life in outing; Have to spend pleasurable time with family and friends; Have to think about life in a relaxing way; Spend time for shopping & tourism; Need to know about different parts of the world and interaction with different people (Leiper, 2004).

Tourist Behavior

The Tsunami in Andaman Sea on December 26, 2004, disrupted the world very badly. Only in Thailand, the tsunami killed more than 5,395 individuals in which more than half were international tourists. This natural disaster was hence also a catastrophe for foreign tourism. Soon after this disaster, the rate of occupancy in different hotels dropped down to as low as 10% in January 2005 (Business Day, 2005). Many Western government authorities including Sweden, Denmark and Norway issued advisory notes for their people not to visit those affected areas so that they can prevent any mishaps (Intarakomalyasut, 2005). According to Mr. John Tung, who was working as Executive Director of Travel Industry Council in Hong Kong at the time, stated that more than 70% of the tourists dropped down their vacations in Phuket for the China New Year compare to the same period in the previous year (Thai Press Reports, 2005). Many tourists cancelled their plan to visit Phuket, and preferred other surrounding locations as well as some European countries to spend their vocations (Thai Media Reviews, 2005). Juthamas Siriwan, governor of the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) at the times, stated that many tourist-related companies especially those which were operating in affected areas, were affected very badly and finally they had to lay off their employees to meet their fixed expenses (Thai Media Reviews, 2005).

Rittichainuwat for his study personally conducted unstructured interviews with more than fifty seven international tourists from July 12 to 15, 2005 in Pattaya at GEM Galleria, one of the largest jewellery shops, and speedboat's pier from Pattaya to KohLan. He find out that most of these tourists have switched their travelling plan from Phuket to Pattaya (Rittichainuwat, 2006).

During his visit in July, he worked as a tour guide in a visiting-spouse program. His findings showed that the international tourists prefer to move. So, he discovered that most of the Western visitors select Pattaya for their holidays rather than Phuket. The main reason is that they were waiting for the deadline of the tsunami alert system. Moreover, they also wanted to make sure that the sea water is clean and seafood is healthy to eat in Phuket because many deceased were recovered in the sea after this deadly disaster. Tourists also said that their journey advisories from their government authorities had stopped them from visiting these tsunami-affected places. There are also many tourists who were not familiar with the geographical location of this Phuket Island and thought that the whole island had been destroyed by the tsunami (Rittichainuwat, 2006).

In his informal conversation with different Asian tourists (Most of them came from Hong Kong, Singapore, China and Taiwan) exposed that they did not want to go to those places where tsunami killed many people because they have heard that there are many ghosts of those dead people. Some of them were very superstitious and stated that demons and bad luck would come with them to their homes. So that is why they changed their plan from Phuket to Pattaya. The reason of their coming back to Thailand was those attractive tour packages and discounts which were offered by different tour operators (Rittichainuwat, 2006).

Rittichainuwat (2006) in his study thus gathered the following data and showed the possible frequencies that existed amongst international tourists in terms of their travel behavior (see exhibit 1 below taken from Rittichainuwat, 2006) and their motivation to travel to Thailand since the incidence of the Tsunami disaster (see exhibit 2 below taken from Rittichainuwat, 2006).

Lessons Learned

It is safe to say thus that it is very important to consider the security and safety in these places. This Tsumani highlights those weak points of the Government of Thailand which were very useful to deal with any natural disaster. It is the responsibility of the government to provide safety to their local residents and foreign tourists.

It is also quoted in the Thai Press reports of Mr. Smith Dharmasaroja, who at the time was chairman of the Committee for the National Disaster Warning Administration (NDWA) press conference that billions have been invested by hotels for rebuilding the vicinity, however, they are still reluctant in spending just half a million of baht for an effective warning system. This warning system will be linked with government system so that guests can be notified about any possible mishap. As there is no legal requirement to implement the system, hotels are not doing it (Thai Press Reports, 2006). Dharmasaroja predicted the 1998's tsunami which was severely criticized by the government of Thailand of terrorizing the tourists. He also points out that he has a doubt on Tsunami Warning System. He also stated that installing the system is useless if public is unaware regarding the usage of system; hence, government should first educate the people regarding its use (Thai Press Reports, 2006).

He also found out with a Hotel Executive that they were worried about the inefficient alarm system. They also wanted to assess the performance of this program to make sure that it would not irritate or disturb the visitors when there is no disaster. One day, in mid of December, this alarm system was turned on which got instructions from the National Center and set up on some sea shores, went off suddenly. More intense, international visitors know about this security system but have no idea what it is or what it will do because they have no guidelines regarding its operations (Rittichainuwat, 2006).

Rittichainuwat also observed in his findings that many tourists remained away from Krabi, Phuket and PhangNga after this devastated tsunami. Low prices on different tour packages are not the solution of this deteriorating industry. On the other side, many European visitors are also worried about this imperfect tsunami Alert System. Asian visitors are reluctant to come over here because they are thinking that they would encounter some deadly ghosts in these areas. As a result, many Asians changed their plan of their New Year holidays from the Andaman Coast to other locations. This research work can also address the conclusions of Sonmez and Graefe, according to which risk or protection issues are the most important things to handle for the tourists (Sonmez and Graefe, 1998). The Thai government noticed that it is very essential to deal with travellers' issues and give them the safety and security. To persuade Asian visitors, government should advertise that tsunami-affected areas are now free of any ghost. Government should also arrange some spiritual ceremonies to put these ghosts in rest. To develop assurance of protection among European visitors, the Thai government has to set up the tsunami Alarm system in Phuket as soon as possible. Although this system is not yet finished but government has to make sure to the visitors that a certain level of protection has been obtained by this system (Rittichainuwat, 2006).

Role of Tourist and Environment Conservation

According to Chaiboonsri and Chaitipa (2008), various demographical elements such as age, gender and employment play vitalS role in changing demand. Moreover, additional researches indicate that age plays the most vital role in choice making on holidays as in young age people tend to be more adventurous and enjoy beautiful resorts. However, with the growth of maturity in a person, the choice of resorts and holiday business changes as mature people tend to be more interested in learning something new out of their immediate environment and outside world (as cited in Chaiboonsri and Chaitipa, 2008; also see Sim et al., 2006; Ryu and Han, 2007).

Along with age, education and career also increase the need for learning outside of an individual's own world (Yang et al., 2007) as this is the very reason that educated travelers go for some specific and highly unique activities. Greater social engagement is also a result of greater social status as people in that stratum of society have access to power and information centers (Pan and Dunn, 2007).

Greater purchasing power helps people make better and more luxurious choices as handsome cash pushes people to search for facilities and luxurious life (Pan and Dunn, 2007). This section of the paper also highlights the positive impact and relationship between better demographical positions on total expenses because tourism requires expenditures and money (Chaiboonsri and Chaitipa, 2008).

Customer Satisfaction and Travel Cost Satisfaction

Looking at the satisfaction level of tourist, we find that personality type, expected and actual results, facilities and behavior have greater impact on the tourists' satisfaction level (Jafari, 2000). This is a vital factor that cannot be ignored in the whole marketing program for tourism because customer satisfaction is central for success (Spreng et al., 1996; Yi, 1990). Only those firms earn profits which deliver superior quality and ensure satisfaction (Yi, 1990). Although different researchers have given a different definition of customer satisfaction but there is a general consensus among the researchers that an assessment procedure is an integral part of customer satisfaction (Yi, 1990). Satisfaction has been defined by Hunt (1997) as an assessment carried out in manner which judges whether the product experience was what it was intended to be (p. 459). Engle and Blackwell (2005) basing their research on the past empirical and theoretical data, theorized satisfaction as an assessment that tells whether the selected substitute is in line with the past views related to that substitute. According to Murphy and Enis (1986) cost can be defined as financial price of the service and service duration within which a service is rendered. Price sensitivity can be regarded as impact of price and is analogous to price elasticity which affects the buying behaviour of the customer (Dodds et al., 1991; Zeithaml, 1985). Keeping in view the cost and benefit analysis, it can be said that if the cost is greater than the benefit then the customer may not want to buy that product and may change his or her preference for a particular product (Lee & Cunningham, 2001). In the light of the literature review that has been mentioned earlier, it can be deduced that the tourists are highly satisfied with their tour when the cost of travelling is lower. On the contrary, when the tourist satisfaction is lower, then, this means that the travelling cost is greater. This study anticipates a greater travel cost satisfaction will positively influence the entire expenses owing to the inclination towards tourism destination and tourism product (as cited in Chaiboonsri and Chaitipa, 2008).

Tourism Product, Tourism Product Attributes and Tourism Product Management

Gnoth (2005) regards tourism product as the supposed experience of a tourist spot having the facilities of various different services. Besides these attractions, the main services include hospitality, lodging and transport. The tourism products include tourist resources including a single day travelling, tourist spots and support services. According to Brass (1997), tourism products can be divided into two core categories of attractions and facilities. Attractions include natural and man-made features and events that stimulate people towards visiting a destination. Tourism product is thus the result of blend of facilities and destination attractions which lead to a set of intangible subjective experiences for the tourists (Tourism Research Group, 1992). Places, events, properties, persons, services, organizations, ideas and information contributing to traveler satisfaction, and physical goods all are a part of the tourism product (Smith, 2001; Kotler, 2001). The tourism products can be divided in two levels: a) the total tourism product which comprises of all the service elements used or consumed by the tourist during his/her entire stay. This product may include a frame of mind, or an expectation at the point of sale; b) the explicit products comprise of transport, attractions, accommodation and other facilities, which are also a part of the total tourist product. The customer's decision regarding purchasing a particular product is highly influenced by product attributes which describe its various characteristics (Swanson and Horridge, 2004). Tourism product attributes are also based on the definition of product attributes and describe the various characteristics of tourism product on the basis of which a tourist makes the decision of purchasing or not purchasing the tourism product (Chaiboonsri and Chaitipa, 2008).