Abstract:
The objectives of this independent study were to examine and the relationship between personal factors and the ecotourism behaviors and compare the mean difference, classified by person factors of the number of days spent and travel expenses of tourists in Khaolung NaionalPark, Krungching Waterfall, Nakhon Si Thammarat Province. Four hundred questionnaires were collected and SPSS for windows (was employed) to examine average, frequency, percentage and standard deviation. Hypothesis testing was conducted with Chi-square, t-test and One-way ANOVA statistic.
The study result showed that most of samples were single women aged between 20 s 34 years old with bachelorts degree, student/employee occupation, monthly income between 10,000 s 12,000 baht and Nakhon Si Thammarat residens. Most of tourism information sources from others recommendation, the travel objective is for relaxation. The tourists mostly travelled for the first time with their family by taking a private vehicle and stayed overnight at the national park and private accommodations. Tourists choosing the national park accommodations because of natured touch and accommodation facilities. The reasons for choosing private accommodations, mostly at Tham-Hong resort, was low price accommodation rate. Accommodation booking was done by a travel agency mostly on weekend. The ecotourism activities were mainly focused on bird watching and forest tour. Most of tourists had intended to revisit and will invite as well as share the ecotourism information with other people. The mostattractive thing for ecotourism tourists at Khaoluang National Park, Krungching Waterfall is the touch of nature.
The analysis of the relationship between personal factors such as gender, age, education level, status, occupation, income and birthplace and the ecotourism behaviors showed that the ecotourism behavior related to all personal factors.
The analysis of the mean difference of the number of days to travel and the travel expenses of tourists showed that the personal factors such as age, education level, occupation, income and birthplace were different in ecotourism behavior concerning on the number of days to travel and the travel expense with significantly. Tourists who are different in status rated no important difference in the travel expenses. Tourists who were different in gender rated no significant difference in the number of days to travel and the travel expenses.
WALAILAK UNIVERSITY. CENTER FOR LIBRARY RESOURCES AND EDUCATIONAL MEDIA