Keywords

Destination Strategic, Positioning, Marketing Strategy, High-Quality Tourist

Introduction

The tourism industry is considered an important issue for the Thai economy and society as it has increased Thailand’s income consistently for the last 20 years; from 145,211 Million Baht in 1994 up to 1,207,145 Million Baht in 2013 (Ministry of Tourism and Sports, 2015). However, almost all of the increase in the tourism industry’s income has been the result of the increase in tourist numbers rather than the price of tourism products. It is obvious that the ratio of increasing tourist numbers for the past 20 years (from 6,166,496 tourists in 1994 up to 26,546,725 tourists in 2013) is much bigger than each tourist’s expenses (from 3,373 Baht per tourist in 1994 to 4,616.49 Baht per tourist in 2013). Such a situation shows that the Thai tourism industry has grown through the increase in numbers but decrease in selling for a good price.

Even though the tourism industry has been a part of creating many good deeds to the country in the economy, society, and environment as well as an important section recognized by all government in position and one strategy to move Thailand’s economic growth forward; the tendency of Thai tourism industry’s development and growth points out the unsustainability in development (the growth in numbers but regression in quality) in many ways such as the decrease in the rank of the capability to compete internationally (according to World Economic Forum’s evaluation), the decrease in tourists’ average period of staying, the decrease in each tourist’s average income, the deterioration of natural tourist attractions, tourists’ structure alteration to the group who give less importance to sustainable development, etc. (World Economic Forum, 2013).

Once the Thai tourism industry’s development quality is becoming poorer, the effects are the diminution of Thai tourism products’ position and the lower quality tourists. Nevertheless, both government and private sectors’ needs to move the tourism industry further have resulted in the move through quantitative expansion; the cost of tourism products being devalued followed by the deterioration in tourism development.

Moreover, the tourism industry in Thailand has been facing internal challenges, for example, Thailand has not earned the most proportion of tourists’ spending on international traveling and accommodation as it is considered a spending leakage out of the country. This is because most tourists have been traveling to Thailand by foreign airlines where most of those airlines' costs are rental and fuel fees. Therefore, tourists’ spending on traveling is leaking out of Thailand. Like spending on accommodation, many tourists have chosen to stay at foreign chain hotels resulting in such income leaking out of the country as well. Another factor is that entrepreneurs’ behaviors in the competition are to focus on the use of the Undercut strategy causing the diminution of entrepreneurs’ capability to create value-added (Ministry of Tourism and Sports, 2015). In addition, the Thai tourism industry’s external factors have been challenging towards tourism industry development in many ways including the rapid expansion of airline business and low-cost airlines’ flight routes attracting more travelers especially, the group with high susceptibility towards the price. In addition, the study found that factors influence the decision to travel in Thailand. With 5 independent variables: transportation, tourist attractions, information, personnel, and utilities And the dependent variable is The decision to travel in Thailand was found that the independent variables of tourist attractions and Information Aramsri (2014) said Push factors are the motivating factors in social psychology. Or needs within the person who Causing tourists to want to travel for tourism or is the internal cause of the person who ignites the need for travel according to the travel motive hierarchy theory.

From the development of the tourism industry and the future challenge explained above, it is to conclude that if the Thai tourism industry is still growing without Strategic Positioning; growing according to the world growth trend and external factors without Managing Growth, the Thai tourism industry may face more severe price competition, barely increasing tourists’ spending and more deterioration on natural resources because of an increasing number of tourists.

Conceptual Framework

The research process of this study consists of 1) the research to identify term and characteristic of high-quality tourists in Thailand using segmentation Research methods for each aim are as follow.

Research Objectives

To define the term and characteristics of high-quality tourists in Thailand from the use of segments to classify tourists according to different criteria.

Hypothesis

1. Attributes of Tourists characteristics of high quality of Tourist Decision Making, Information Sources.

2. Attributes of Tourists characteristics of high quality of Tourists Tourist Decision Making ????

3. Attributes of Tourists characteristics of high quality of Tourist Decision Making ???? Length of Reserve.

Literature Review

Tourism Development Goal

From World Commission on Environment and Development: WCED at Rio de Janeiro, Brazil in 1987, sustainable development was defined as the development in response to the need of people in new generation and not to cause people in the future generation the loss in the opportunity to get the response they need. Then, from the World Summit Sustainable Development meeting at Johannesburg, South Africa in 2002 of the United Nations’ World Commission on Environment and Development, sustainable development was defined as development that can fulfill all current needs and not cause any harm to the future generations’ ability to develop. Such sustainability consisting of economy, environment, and society (United Nations, 2002) is already applied to many human activities including tourism. The general form of sustainable development is shown as below Figure 2:

United Nations World Tourism Organization has defined sustainable tourism development as the tourism development in response to the needs of both the tourists and the locals with the providence of prevention and the increase of tourism potential within the area in the future. However, the development idea above needs all related sections’ participation including tourists themselves, administration, tourist attractions, other tourist service businesses, government organizations both from the central and the local as well as tourism service management businesses (UNEP & WTO, 2005).

From the definition above, it can be concluded that sustainable tourism development means tourism development that can create the balance among three tourism elements; environment, economy and, society and culture. Moreover, sustainable tourism development should contain important characteristics as follows:

1. There should be the most suitable use of natural resources that is tourism development should come along with the ability to preserve the ecosystem and partly help in natural heritage and biodiversity conservation.

2. There should be the attention and conservation to social and cultural condition of community in tourism area where there are living culture and descendent tradition value. There should also be an understanding of the cultural differences between the locals and the visitors.

3. It should create long-term economic and social benefits with all related sections. The benefits include fair benefit incidence, employment security, stability in earning opportunities for people in the host community, and elimination of poverty.

To develop sustainable tourism as mentioned above, all related sections must acknowledge and participate in this development. It also depends on the leader with strong leadership. Moreover, the development needs consistent propulsion including planning, operating, and following up the effects from the operation. So that there is an immediate action to prevent or solve the unexpected negative effects. However, in marketing, sustainable tourism must be able to consistently maintain tourists’ high satisfaction level through the providence of precious memories and, the improvement of acknowledgment and understanding about tourism behaviours related to the sustainable tourism concept (UNEP & WTO, 2005).

How the Thai tourism industry can survive needs development which depends on its internal mechanism. It is to encourage the tourism industry’s development to meet the country’s expectations including sustainable development, higher capability in competition, and higher capability in creating value-added. So, Thai tourism moving direction in the future must be developed to Stability, Prosperity, and Sustainability. Stability is the ability to drive tourism effectively despite any crisis either domestic or international. Prosperity is tourism being able to provide income and economic stability for the country. Finally, Sustainability is the development in response to tourists’ needs without causing negative effects to society, the environment, and the community. Therefore, to create effective and sustainable growth, Thai tourism's moving direction must respond to tourism trends in the world market. Market share must be increased to build the balance in tourism from the increase in income earned, spending, and the number of night stays as well as tourists’ distribution to other attractions in other provincial parts. As a result, it is to distribute income thoroughly to the community and locals as well as to increase competitive capability and advantages for Thai staff and entrepreneurs. Therefore, improving the capability to compete should be seen as an essential matter. To consider factors affecting Thailand’s competitive capability in either industry through Michael E. Porter’s Diamond Model, it is found that demand condition is an important impulsion towards the improvement of competitive capability in either country’s industry (Figure 3).

In the case of the tourism industry, the demand condition which is important to the improvement of competitive capability is not the number of the tourists but their quality; besides their higher spending per each, they tend to care about the negative effects on community, society, and environment more than general tourists. In systemic matters, high-quality tourists tend to be the environment that can encourage entrepreneurs in the tourism field to develop their capability in service rather than price discount. In addition, this group of tourists tends to be leaders in the taste and tourism trend of future tourists which can help entrepreneurs being able to easily predict and respond to a big group of tourists’ needs in the future. Moreover, it is a result of entrepreneurs using quality and different competitive strategies rather than price. Then, they will pass on such competition to production providers (such as labourers and raw material providers) and other supporting industries to order to sustainably build up capability in competition and value-added.

This research aims to determine the marketing strategy used for foreign high-quality tourists who are segmented according to characteristics, motivations, and behaviors. The term and characteristics of high-quality tourists especially, for Thailand will be defined. The level of being high-quality tourists in different dimensions including characteristics, motivations, behaviors, preferences, and decision makings will be analyzed along with the value position and strategy of tourism products for high-quality tourists mentioned above. Therefore, this research is to become the knowledge applied by entrepreneurs and organizations in the tourism industry to develop tourism and service products to have more capability in response and competition. This will bring sustainable growth and development to the Thai tourism industry.

Methodology

Qualitative research In-depth interview is a tool used in this research to collect data from samples. Samples who provide data are scholars and interested persons in the tourism industry, groups of related associations, government and private sectors related to tourism development and marketing, and entrepreneurs working in the field of tourism and service industry. Interview Form and Voice Recording are used during an interview. The researcher also applies a Semi-Structure Interview to interview the individual.

The questionnaire is the tool used in this quantitative research to collect data from samples (who are generally foreign tourists traveling to Bangkok, Chiang Mai, and Phuket) which consists of 6 topics as follows; Topic 1: General Information Topic 2: Attributes of Tourists Topic 3: Tourist’s Travel Motivation Topic 4: Tourist Behavior Topic 5: Tourist Preference Topic 6: Tourist Decision Making.

Scope of the Study

To study destination strategic positioning and marketing strategy for foreign high-quality tourists, the researcher the delimitation of the research as follows:

Content Scope according to the researcher’s content delimitation on destination strategic positioning and marketing strategy for foreign high-quality tourists, this study has focused on the study to define the term and characteristics of high-quality tourists in Thailand; from the use of segments to classify tourists according to different criteria, to analyze the level of being high-quality tourists in different dimensions including characteristics, motivations, behaviors, preferences and decision makings of high-quality tourists from a different group, to analyze the value position and strategy of tourism products for different groups of high-quality tourists as well as to divide groups of high-quality tourists according to their characteristics, motivations, behaviors to determine the marketing strategy for those groups of high-quality tourists.

Population Scope for this research, target population is generally foreign tourists visiting places of study, groups of entrepreneurs who work in tourism and service industry, government and private organizations who are involved in tourism development and marketing as well as the related academicians.

Area Scope the area chosen for this research are Bangkok, Chiang Mai, and Phuket which are the good representatives of the central, upper north, and south-Andaman regions. These areas are considered where numbers of high-quality tourists like to visit. Moreover, there are more related organizations than other provinces where their data will be collected such as tourists, different service businesses, and different associations (Table 1).

Table 1 Summary of Research Methodology
Research Objectives	Research Questions	Data Analysis	Variables	Data sources	Data Collection Tools
To define the term and characteristics of high-quality tourists in Thailand; from the use of segments to classify tourists according to different criteria.	What are the definition and characteristics of high-quality tourists in Thailand; from the use of segments to classify tourists according to different criteria?	The analysis of the Descriptive and The Inferential Statistics.		Researchers and other academic works related to tourist segmentation and behaviors, aims of tourism development, aims of international organizations’ tourism development, aims of leading countries’ tourism development, tendency, and environment in the tourism industry. Primary information is the opinions of scholars and interested persons in the tourism industry. Foreign tourists.	InterviewsQuestionnaires

Result of Research

The term and characteristics of High-quality tourists in Thailand; from the use of segments to classify tourists according to different criteria. The results of the research were as follows (Table 2):

Table 2 Results of the difference test attributes of touristsclassified by tourist’s travel motivation ???? convenience by f-test
Convenience	n		S.D.	F	Sig.
Low Motivation	24	4.23	0.53	1.217	0.297
Moderate Motivation	138	4.21	0.47
High Motivation	238	4.29	0.48
* Statistically significant at a level of 0.05,** Statistically significant at a level of 0.01.

From Table 2, it was found that High-quality tourists Tourist’s Travel Motivation, Convenience Different have Attributes of Tourists Not different at the significance level 0.05.

Table 3 Relationship Between Attributes of Tourists High-Quality Tourists of Tourist Decision Making, Attraction
Attraction	Attributes of Tourists						Total
	Low		Moderate		High
	Number	Percentage	Number	Percentage	Number	Percentage	Number	Percentage
Low Decision Making	0	0	6	75	2	25	8	100
Mederate Decision Making	10	8.2	42	34.43	70	57.38	122	100
High Decision Making	13	4.81	98	36.3	159	58.89	270	100
Total	23	5.75	146	36.5	231	57.75	400	100
c2=7.086, df=4, Monte Carlo Sig.=0.127.* Statistically significant at a level of 0.05, ** Statistically significant at a level of 0.01

From Table 3, when testing the relationship between Attributes of Tourists and Tourist Decision Making, Attraction found that Attributes of Tourists and Tourist Decision Making, Attraction No relationship at a significant level 0.05.

Hypothesis 1 Attributes of Tourists by High-quality tourists Tourist Decision Making Information Sources.

Table 4 Relationship Between Attributes of Tourists By High-Quality Tourists Tourist Decision Making, Information Sources
Information Sources	Attributes of Tourists						Total
	Low		Moderate		High
	Number	Percentage	Number	Percentage	Number	Percentage	Number	Percentage
Low Decision Making	3	6.52	12	26.09	31	67.39	46	100
Moderate Decision Making	12	6.15	76	38.97	107	54.87	195	100
High Decision Making	8	5.03	58	36.48	93	58.49	159	100
Total	23	5.75	146	36.5	231	57.75	400	100
c2=2.975, df =4, Sig.=0.562.* Statistically significant at a level of 0.05, ** Statistically significant at a level of 0.01.

From Table 4, when testing the relationship between Attributes of Tourists and Tourist Decision Making, Information Sources found that Attributes of Tourists and Tourist Decision Making Information and Sources No relationship at a significance level of 0.05.

Hypothesis 2 Attributes of Tourists by High-quality tourists and Tourist Decision Making, Persons.

Table 5 Relationship Between Attributes of Tourists By High-Quality Tourists, Tourist Decision Making, Persons
Persons	Attributes of Tourists						Total
	Low		Moderate		High
	Number	Percentage	Number	Percentage	Number	Percentage	Number	Percentage
Low Decision Making	3	37.5	4	50	1	12.5	8	100
Mederate Decision Making	12	5.74	70	33.49	127	60.77	209	100
High Decision Making	8	4.37	72	39.34	103	56.28	183	100
Total	23	5.75	146	36.5	231	57.75	400	100
c2=19.186**, df=4, Monte Carlo Sig.=0.002.* Statistically significant at a level of 0.05, ** Statistically significant at a level of 0.01

From Table 5, when testing the relationship between Attributes of Tourists and Tourist Decision Making ???? Persons found that Attributes of Tourists ??? Tourist Decision Making ???? Persons have Statistically significant at a level of 0.01 the Low Attributes and Moderate Attributes in group Low Decision Making, Persons more than a group High Attributes These accounted for 37.50 and 50.00%, respectively, while the High Attributes group was 60.77% more in the Moderate Decision-Making person group than other Attributes.

Hypothesis 3 Attributes of Tourists by High-quality tourists and Tourist Decision Making, Length of Reserve.

Table 6 Relationship Between Attributes of Tourists By High-Quality and Tourist Decision Making, Length of Reserve
Length of Reserve	Attributes of Tourists						Total
	Low		Moderate		High
	Number	Percentage	Number	Percentage	Number	Percentage	Number	Percentage
Low Decision Making	4	8.33	16	33.33	28	58.33	48	100
Moderate Decision Making	16	7.48	91	42.52	107	50	214	100
High Decision Making	3	2.17	39	28.26	96	69.57	138	100
Total	23	5.75	146	36.5	231	57.75	400	100
c2=15.126**, df=4, Sig.=0.004.* Statistically significant at a level of 0.05, ** Statistically significant at a level of 0.01.

From Table 6, when testing the relationship between Attributes of Tourists and Tourist Decision Making, Length of Reserve found that Attributes of Tourists and Tourist Decision Making, Length of Reserve Have a relationship were statistically significant at a level of 0.01. A group Low attributes in group Low Decision Making, Length of Reserve than any other group. This was 8.33%, while Moderate Attributes were 42.52% in Moderate Decision Making for Length of Reserve than other Attributes and High Attributes in High Decision Making in Length of Reserve than other Attributes Representing 69.57%.

Discussions

The term and characteristics of high-quality tourists in Thailand from the use of segments to classify tourists according to different criteria. The results of the research were as follows:

High-quality tourists with different Tourist's Travel Motivation for Convenience had no significant differences at the Attributes of Tourists at 0.05. Boonphetkaew, et al., (2018) The tourist attractions on the island were safe for traveling and low-carbon tourism advertisement were the second and the third important aspects respectively. In addition, moreover, the result found that for foreign tourists who traveled to Koh Mak Island in the form of low-carbon tourism with different genders, there were no statistically significant differences (at the level of 0.5). Considering different levels of education, income, and career, motivation is the driving force and factors influencing travel time were statistically significant differences at the level of 0.05.

Relationship between Attributes of Tourists and Tourist Decision Making, Attraction found that Attributes of Tourists and Tourist Decision Making, Attraction No relationship at a significance level 0.05.

Relationship between Attributes of Tourists and Tourist Decision Making, Information Sources ????? Attributes of Tourists and Tourist Decision Making ???? Information Sources No relationship At a significance level 0.05 By Manphao (2016) studying decision-making behavior in agricultural tourism: a case study of the Maha Sawat Canal Nakhon Pathom Province found that tourists with different sexes Have travel decision-making behavior The different agricultural models were statistically significant at 0.05 level. Testing the relationship between Attributes of Tourists and Tourist Decision Making, Persons found that Attributes of Tourists and Tourist Decision Making and Persons were related. Statistically significant at the 0.01 level, the Low Attributes and Moderate Attributes were in the Low Decision Making group of Persons, 37.50% and 50.00% respectively, while the High Attributes were in the Moderate Decision group. Making Persons 60.77% more than other attributes.

Testing the relationship between Attributes of Tourists and Tourist Decision Making in Length of Reserve found that Attributes of Tourists and Tourist Decision Making on Length of Reserve were related. They were statistically significant at level 0.01, with Low Attributes in the Low Decision Making group for Length of Reserve than other groups. This was 8.33%, while Moderate Attributes were 42.52% in Moderate Decision Making for Length of Reserve than other Attributes and High Attributes in High Decision Making in Length of Reserve than other Attributes. Representing 69.57% Different from Research by Song, Hui & Zhang, Ning (2014): Study on consumer decision making in rural tourism based on factor analysis model, especially price factor decision. Marketing factor Personal safety factor is important. And Jariyachamsit & Pasunon (2017) could provide a prediction of tourists’ decision making to visit Thailand at R²=0.449, with an estimated equation for decision making to visit Thailand of 1.195 (constant) +0.425 for tourist attractions +0.217 for information received. Moreover, the factors of transportation, tourist attractions and information, staff, and tourist facilities were found to correlate with tourists’ decision making to visit Thailand at a level of significance of 0.01.

Suggestions

Strategic positioning and marketing strategy for high-quality foreign tourists Studies have shown that the factors affecting the strategic positioning for high-quality foreign tourists are suggested to cover the following areas: To this

The level of education is an important factor in understanding the needs of foreign tourists when planning their trips to Thailand. When you know it and come back, that is your income, the level of spending when you travel in Thailand may be different and you have to find those needs. It is evident that in some careers, a visit to Thailand is a yearly planned activity taking into account the long consecutive holidays in Thailand. Sometimes it may take up to 1 or 2 months according to the conditions of each occupation. In this study, it was discovered that the factors affecting foreign tourists to visit Thailand are students, income and occupation. Agencies involved in the entire system must plan together and be integrated with the needs of high-quality international customers in mind. This research identifies the characteristics of high-quality foreign tourists that differ from Tourists In general, planning and creating a promotion to meet the traveler's needs to be planned together.

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Received: 22-Nov-2021, Manuscript No. asmj-21-9183; Editor assigned: 24-Nov-2021; PreQC No. asmj-21-9183(PQ); Reviewed: 09-Dec-2021, QC No. asmj-21-9183; Revised: 16-Dec-2021, Manuscript No. asmj-21-9183(R); Published: 22-Dec-2021