Online marketing strategies for community-based tourism in the andaman cluster of thailand

Abstract

Community-based tourism (CBT) is an alternative segment of the tourism industry that contributes to the sustainability of the environment, socio-culture, and economy (Dodds, Ali, & Galaski, 2018; Dolezal, 2015; Giampiccoli & Saayman, 2016). The goal of this study was to implement online marketing strategies for CBT destinations in five provinces along the west coastal lines of the Andaman sea in Thailand, including Phuket, Phang Nga, Krabi, Trang, and Satun provinces. Many local communities in this cluster have established CBT and have operated its activities for years, but they have remained unknown to tourists. While CBT continued to grow in Thailand, essential online marketing strategies were still limited, impractical, and have not been put into practice by many local entrepreneurs within the CBT communities. Objectives In order to accomplish the primary goal, the objectives of this study are as follows: To analyse the current online marketing situations of CBT destinations in the Andaman cluster of Thailand. To classify segments of CBT tourists. To investigate online marketing factors influencing CBT tourists’ intentions to visit the Andaman cluster destinations. To initiate effective online marketing strategies for CBT destinations in the Andaman cluster of Thailand. Methodology A mixed-method approach, including both quantitative and qualitative methods, was applied in this study. The quantitative method was used to classify segments of tourists visiting CBT destinations and to investigate online marketing factors influencing their intention to visit. The survey instrument was adapted from previous research and distributed to 419 Thai Freely Independent Travelers (FITs) who had visited CBT destinations in Thailand before. The link to an online self-administered questionnaire was shared with potential respondents via social media sites and online discussion platforms, and yielded 384 completed responses. Data was analysed using cluster analysis to identify segments of CBT tourists. Multiple regression analysis was also applied to explore online marketing factors that influence tourists’ intention to visit CBT destinations. A qualitative method was adopted to examine the current online marketing situation of CBT destinations in the Andaman cluster of Thailand and to initiate online marketing strategies for these destinations. Fifteen CBT marketers from fifteen CBT destinations in the Andaman cluster were selected as participants. A semi-structured interview was conducted to determine the current online marketing situation. SWOT and content analyses were employed to interpret the interview data. Subsequently, the results of all three objectives were integrated and used as fundamental data for initiating effective online marketing strategies for the CBT destinations. The author further interviewed three online marketing experts with at least three years of CBT online marketing experience to verify these strategies. Content analysis of experts' opinions was also adopted to finalize the proposed strategies. Results Regarding the first objective, the study found that current online marketing situations of CBT destinations in the Andaman cluster of Thailand included a lack of marketing and technology experts, a lack of effective online marketing content, and inefficient use of online marketing channels. These flaws were challenging as they reduced local communities’ and entrepreneurs’ ability to connect to the right target market effectively. Nevertheless, many opportunities within the destinations could help them overcome these weaknesses and lead to successful online marketing. For the second objective, three segments of CBT tourists were identified regarding their travel motivation. These include ‘cultural tourists,’ ‘leisure tourists,’ and ‘explorer tourists.’ Among the three segments, the findings demonstrated that their socio-demographic profiles and travel motivations were significantly different. However, we found a slight difference in their online behaviors. The ‘explorer tourists’ segment showed high interest in all travel motivation factors including enjoying local nature, gaining new experience, learning local culture, and building a strong family relationship. The ‘cultural tourists’ segment was motivated by factors related to learning and experiencing the locals and the ‘leisure tourists’ segment had the lowest interest among all travel motivational factors. For the tourists’ socio-demographic profile, the ‘cultural tourists’ segment was significantly different from the other two segments. In addition, this segment of tourists tended to use information from online resources to prepare for a trip more than the other two segments, whereas the ‘explorer tourists’ segment was more active in using online resources during and after the trip than those tourists of other segments. Results of the third objective showed that system quality, electronic word-of-mouth (e-WOM), and quality of design and service had positive influences on CBT tourists’ intentions to visit the Andaman cluster destinations. Contrastingly, the effects of information quality and security on tourists’ intention to visit were insignificant. E-WOM was an important source of information that CBT tourists could trust and guide their travel decision-making. System quality and the quality of design and service were also crucial as they allowed the tourists to effectively decide which CBT destinations were worth visiting and suited their needs the most. Finally, the online marketing strategies were formulated based on the results draw upon all three objectives, and the ‘cultural tourists’ segment was selected as the target market. These tourists primarily visited a CBT destination to learn and experience locals’ lives and relax in beautiful nature. Therefore, they would likely enjoy the CBT's true value and understand how to behave themselves while visiting a CBT destination. They would be also less likely to create negative impacts and contribute to the sustainability of CBT. We proposed two key online marketing strategies. The first strategy focused on integrated marketing all necessary online tools including websites, social media, search engines, e-WOM, blogs and contents, and location-based apps. The marketing strategy using these online tools must be well integrated in order to achieve the best results. The second strategy focused on the capability enhancement that aimed to improve CBT marketers’ capabilities in implementing an integrated online marketing strategy. This strategy was comprised of tourist database management and the MCGA online marketing team in which M stands for a marketer, C stands for a content creator, G stands for a graphic designer, and A stands for an administrator. Three online marketing experts have verified the proposed online marketing strategies. The study concluded that these strategies were appropriate and practical for the CBT marketers in the Andaman tourism cluster to implement further and they would allow the CBT marketers to reach the target markets more effectively.