Social media exposure affecting knowledge, attitude and behavior cultural tourism of people in Bangkok

Abstract

The Objectives of the study were to study the tourist's social media exposure and their knowledge and attitudes towards cultural tourism in Bangkok Metropolitan. This research was quantitative methodology. The sample consisted of 400 tourists in Bangkok Metropolitan and used non-probability sampling by accidental random sampling. Data were collected through a questionnaire as the research instrument. The results of this study showed as follows: In terms of basic information, the sample mostly travels with a family. The source of information were relatives, friends, acquaintances who have traveled to that location. In terms of exposure to social network, the sample mostly exposed to social media via Facebook, short messages via twitter, online video via YouTube, photo sharing via Instagram, website via Wikipedia and Webboard via Pantip. The sample exposed to social media average of 1 hour during 1.00-6.59 pm. on a smartphone. The majority of the sample used social media at home searching for cultural tourism information at a high level. The highest mean is finding transportation. The sample receives cultural tourism information at a high level. The highest mean is exposure to information about arts, crafts, sculpture, traditions, and festivals. The most trustworthy social media is Youtube. The social media influence had a high level because fulfilling objectives such as tourist attraction, accommodations, restaurants, travel, etc. In terms of knowledge, the sample had a high level of knowledge of cultural tourism. The area with the highest level of knowledge was increasing the diversity of cultural tourism such as heritage tourism, art tourism, urban culture tourism, rural culture tourism, creative tourism, and Thai local wisdom. In terms of attitudes, overall the sample gave the highest priority is security.