Factors influencing Thai tourists’ level of satisfaction and motivations to repeat the use of Japanese travel agents

Abstract

Japanese travel agents are faced with high competition because of the increasing number of travel agents now competing for Thai tourists traveling to Japan. This study had three primary objectives: 1) To study the factors considered by Thai tourists that influenced their assessment of the Japanese travel agents; 2) To study the satisfaction level of Thai tourists based on the service factors of the Japanese travel agents; and 3) To study the service factors demonstrated by the Japanese agents that most influenced Thai tourists’ motivations or intentions to repeat the use of the Japanese travel agents. Questionnaires collected data from 400 randomly selected Thai tourists who have been the customer of Japanese travel agents at least once during the past two years. The results revealed there were five factors that most influenced the Thai tourists’ intentions or motivations to repeat the use of the Japanese travel agents: 1) hotel; 2) bus; 3) shopping; 4) travel agents; and 5) tour guides. These factors fit well with the empirical data set. The data also revealed that the Thai tourists’ level of satisfaction was most influenced by their assessment of the tour guide. Regarding an intention to repeat, the study also found that if the Thai tourists were satisfied with the Japanese tour guide, they were willing to use the agent again and were willing to recommend the travel agents to others considering a trip to visit Japan.