A STUDY ON THE WELLNESS TOURISM POTENTIAL OF FITNESS CENTER IN SERVICING FOREIGN TOURISTS IN THE UPPER NORTH REGION
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Abstract
The objective of this study was to study wellness tourism potential of fitness centers in servicing foreign tourists in upper north region. The combination components of tourism and marketing was used in this study. The study was conducted under quail-quant technique by studying primary information through internet, and printed matters. The samples were fitness center manager and foreign tourists from 31 fitness center courses. The research instruments were questionnaires and interview form with content validity (IOC) range from 0.67-1.00. The data were collected by purposive sampling. The data were analyzed by frequency, percentage, mean and standard deviation.
Results were found as follows: 5As tourism components, 1)Attraction: interior design, service, selection of exercise tools and equipment and training programs, comfort, number of trainer, amenities and cost-effectiveness. 2) Activities: weight training, functional training, cardiorespiratory training, and group class exercise, 3) Access: fitness centers which were located in the city of every province and tourist attraction cities which were easy to access, 4) Amenities: availability of locker and shower room, leisure corner, parking space, and restaurant, and 5) Accommodation: no room for guest and customer, but for staff. Marketing Mix 4Ps, 1) Product: availability of group training programs, new and modern tools and equipment, high performance trainers and good service from staff, 2) Price: cost-effective and price worth, 3) Place – sale: advertise through Facebook, Web site, printed matters, and radio advertisement, and 4) Promotion: sale promotion on fee-discount, additional training program, increasing number of trainer, free-trial, free towel, specific group service.
Article Details
The published article is a copyright of the Academic Journal of Thailand National Sports University. The passage appeared in each article in this academic journal is a perspective of each author which is not related to the journal. Each author is required to be responsible for all components of his/her own article. If there are any mistakes, each author must be responsible for those mistakes on his/her own.
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