Paper Title
Factors that Affected International Tourists� Demand of Asean Countries in Thailand
Abstract
The ASEAN (Association of South-East Asian Countries) has 10 countries : Brunei, Cambodia, Laos, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. Thailand�s tourism products could be presented in terms of tourist attraction, facilities and superstructure. The Thai government attempts to formulate policy to promote the expansion of Thai tourism industry and also to increase international ASEAN tourists� demand to spend more money in Thailand by expanding the length of stay in Thailand. The international tourists could spread the prosperity from their countries to local attractions and learn the local culture from local attractions back to their countries. The objective of this study is to find the conceptual framework and methodology for analyzing factors that have impact on the number of international tourists visiting Thailand and to forecast the number of international tourists of ASEAN countries (Brunei, Cambodia, Laos, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, and Vietnam) in Thailand. This study shows the econometric model focusing on the factors depending on demand theory and elasticity of demand for international tourists of ASEAN countries in Thailand. Tourists� demand is the aggregate of individual demands of all the tourists of a tourism product over a period of time at a specific price, while other factors are constant. Demand elasticity is important because it helps the market model the potential change in demand according to changes in price of the good, the effect of changes in prices of other goods and many other important market factors. It could lead the market change toward more optimal competitive behavior. The multiple regression analysis of international tourists� demand is used to quantify the impact of key economic variables on the demand of international tourists of ASEAN countries to Thailand by using time-series and cross-sectional data between B.E. 2549-2558 (A.D. 2006-2015). The study shows that a significance role and influence the international tourists� demand of ASEAN countries in Thailand are the ratio of an air fares to per capita income of ASEAN countries, the ratio of average hotel room rate per day to per capita income of ASEAN countries, The ratio of tourists� ASEAN countries consumer price index (CPI) to Thailand consumer price index, first dummy variable of �amazing Thailand 2016� and the second dummy variable of political crisis which took place in B.E. 2549 (A.D. 2006) and B.E. 2557 (A.D. 2014). Knowledge gained from this study can be use to formulate policy to promote the expansion of Thai tourism industry and also to induce ASEAN tourists� demand to visit more days in Thailand.
Index Terms- Development Economic, International Tourists� Demand, Tourism Industry, ASEAN Countries