This study was designed to study the push and pull motivational factors affecting the foreign backpackers travel behavior towards Full Moon Party in Koh Phangan District, Surat Thani Province. In the sample 300 foreign backpackers aged 18 or older were included, who came to attend the Full Moon Party solely for vacation purposes and not for any work or income generating activities. The study was executed using a structured questionnaire. The statistical tools for the analysis of the data included, but were not limited to, frequency counts, computed percentages, means, standard deviations, chi-square analysis, one- way ANOVA, and Pearson correlation at the 0.05 level of significance. The research demonstrated that with respect to the first-time foreign visitors in Thailand to attend the Full Moon Party, then, they have habitually stayed at the resorts and the bungalows. It was a general observation that such visitors preferred to seek out information on the Internet, social websites as well as tourism websites. Their activities included horse riding, general activities, seeing natural sights including waterfalls and mountains, going for mountain hikes, participating in physically hard and risky outdoors activities, and nighttime activities. Tourists are sufficiently motivated to visit Thailand for its various appealing attributes, as revealed by the analysis. Furthermore, 10 motivational components were identified with 24 variables; Push Motivation Components: (1) Escape and Novelty Seeking, (2) Feel Free, (3) Open the World, and (4) Social Need. Pull Motivation Components: (1) Party, (2) Unique, (3) Only for Myself, (4) Sea Lover, (5) Diversity, and (6) Loner. Demographic characteristics for example gender, age, marital status, education level, occupation, and place of residence were also studied. The push factors, as well as the pull factors of travel, were found to co-relate with the behavior of female foreign backpackers on the other hand where both were significant.

Background: Kangyang tourism, a wellness tourism niche in China, integrates health preservation with tourism through natural and cultural resources. Despite a growing interest in Kangyang tourism, the factors driving tourist loyalty in this sector are underexplored. Methods: Using a sample of 413 tourists, this study employed Covariance-Based Structural Equation Modeling (CB-SEM) to examine the influence of destination image, service quality, tourist satisfaction, and affective commitment on tourist loyalty. Results: The findings reveal that destination image and service quality positively affect tourist satisfaction, affective commitment, and loyalty. Tourist satisfaction and affective commitment are identified as critical drivers of tourist loyalty. Notably, affective commitment plays a stronger role in fostering loyalty compared to satisfaction. Conclusion: These results highlight the importance of a positive destination image and high service quality in enhancing tourist loyalty through increased emotional and psychological attachment. The findings inform strategies for stakeholders to improve Kangyang tourism’s growth by focusing on emotionally engaging experiences and service excellence.

The COVID-19 pandemic in 2019 heralded a downturn in the Thai economy, particularly in the tourism and hospitality sectors which rely heavily on international tourists. To decrease the dependence of international tourists, this research outlined three objectives as 1) explore and classify the high-end domestic tourism market among 77 provinces in Thailand, 2) study the potential and readiness of tourism resources and tourism products to cater to the demand of high-end domestic tourists, and 3) suggest tourism management approaches for domestic high-end tourists after the crisis. Both quantitative and qualitative research methodologies were applied to achieve the research objectives. Income was used to identify and segment high-end domestic tourists living in 77 provinces in Thailand, while a verified questionnaire collected data from 1200 respondents nationwide. Forty-one experts from different tourism-related agencies at local and regional levels were targeted using purposive sampling techniques, and semi-structured interviews were conducted to acquire qualitative data. High-end domestic tourists, classified by monthly income, were segmented into Silver (50,000–70,000 THB), Gold (70,001–90,000 THB), Diamond (91,001–110,000 THB), and Platinum groups (Over 110,001 THB). These high-end domestic tourists shared both similarities and differences in tourism needs, preferences, and behaviors. Sixteen provinces in six domestic regions demonstrated the potential and readiness of tourism resources and products to satisfy the needs, preferences, and behaviors of high-end domestic tourists.

Evaluating tourist destinations is extremely important as it is the basis for helping local authorities and the leadership of tourist destinations implement reasonable solutions to strengthen the state management of tourism, encourage investment and upgrade service quality at destinations, better exploit the tourist market, position the tourist destination brand in the international tourism market, increase the length of stay, and increase tourist spending when coming to the tourist destination. The current state of investment and development of tourist destinations means that tourist areas across the country need to be evaluated and classified to have a basis for encouraging investment and strengthening effective management, upgrading service quality at destinations, and gradually positioning the Vietnamese tourism destination brand in the international tourism market. This study evaluates the Ba Na tourist area (Da Nang city, Vietnam) based on the “Set of criteria for evaluating tourist destinations” issued by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism of Vietnam (2016). issued under Decision No. 4640/QĐ-BVHTTDL on 28 December 2016. Evaluation results show that criteria for tourism resources, landscape, facilities, participation of local communities, and the management of the tourist area are evaluated very well. On the contrary, services for entertainment, shopping, entertainment, and prices of services in the tourist area are limited problems in the Ba Na tourist area.