พฤติกรรมของนักท่องเที่ยวต่างชาติในการบริโภคอาหาร แผงลอยริมทางในอำเภอเมืองเชียงใหม่

Abstract

This study aimed to explore behavior of foreign tourists towards consuming street food in Mueang Chiang Mai district. Questionnaires were used to collect data from 385 foreign tourists in Chiang Mai province. Acquired data were then analyzed by the use of descriptive statistics, consisting of frequency, percentage and mean. Summary of this study was presented as follows. The findings showed that most respondents were 21-30 years old, married, female from Europe and earned average monthly income at the amount of 2,001-2,500 USD. In this time, it was their first visit to Chiang Mai and they planned to spend 1-3 days with leisure purpose. The majority purchased noodles/egg noodle/rice noodle as their main dish and soft-drink such as tea, coffee, juices, and soymilk as their dessert, beverage and fruit at the street food carts. They managed their own trip to Chiang Mai. Their main purpose of consuming street food was given to its good taste. They learned about the street food by themselves and the person influencing them to purchase it was the respondents themselves. The frequency of purchasing food from street vendors was more than 4 times in a week, mostly for dinner. In order to make order for food with the street vendors, they did it by themselves. Their behavior of buying the street food was to eat it at the vendor. In each time of buying street food, they spent 100-200 Baht. They usually had the street food with 1-2 friends and spent 10-30 minutes for it. Regarding the study on services marketing mix affecting behavior of foreign tourists towards consuming street food in Mueang Chiang Mai district, the findings presented that product, process, price, people, and place factors affected the foreign tourists’ behavior towards consuming street food at high level; while the physical evidence and presentation and promotion factors respectively affected their behavior at moderate level. The top elements of each services marketing mix affecting behavior of foreign tourists towards consuming street food in Mueang Chiang Mai district were shown hereafter. In product factor was the taste of food. In process factor was the sanitary cooking process. In price factor was the reasonable price comparing to its quality. In people factor was the warm personality with politeness, pleasantness and friendliness of vendors/staff. In place factor was the location where street food carts were found. In physical evidence and presentation factor was the cleanliness of the street carts, including its utensils, tables, floor, and seats being provided at the street food area. In promotion factor was the availability of attractive sign to persuade people to become its customers.