Developing and Validating an Assessment Scale to Measure the Competitiveness of Wellness Destinations
Abstract
:1. Introduction
2. Literature Review
2.1. Competitiveness in Economics and Management
2.2. Dynamic Development of the Wellness Destination Market in Thailand
2.3. A Review of the Development and Validation of a Scale Studies
2.4. Measurements of Wellness Destination Competitiveness
2.4.1. Destination Environment
2.4.2. Wellness Tourism Travel and Policy
2.4.3. Wellness Tourism Infrastructure and Capacity
2.4.4. Wellness Tourism Man-Made and Cultural Resources
2.4.5. Wellness Tourism Strategy and Structure
2.4.6. Wellness Tourism Innovation Potential
2.4.7. Wellness Tourism Collaborative and Proactive Marketing
3. Methodology
Participants’ Rights Protection
4. Data Analysis and Results
4.1. General Data Analysis Regarding the Organization
4.2. Analysis of General Information Regarding the Questionnaire Respondents
4.3. Validation of the Measurement Scale
4.4. Descriptive Statistics
5. Discussion and Implications
5.1. Discussion on the Final Model of the Wellness Destination Competitiveness Assessment Dimensions
5.2. Discussion on the Important of the Wellness Destination Competitiveness Dimensions and Each Factor of the Wellness Destination Competitiveness Measurement Scale
5.3. Theoretical and Practical Implications
6. Limitations and Future Research
Author Contributions
Funding
Institutional Review Board Statement
Informed Consent Statement
Data Availability Statement
Acknowledgments
Conflicts of Interest
Appendix A
Code Name | Type | Gender | Experience (Year) | Education | Occupation | Duration (Min) |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
TA1 | Tourism administration | Female | 33 | Bachelor’s | Director | 48.05 |
TA2 | Female | 29 | Master’s | Director | 51.49 | |
TA3 | Female | 13 | Bachelor’s | Director | 72.10 | |
TE1 | Tourism expert | Female | 27 | Ph.D. | Professor | 27.39 |
TE2 | Male | 9 | Ph.D. | Professor | 96.45 | |
TE3 | Female | 5 | Ph.D. | Lecturer | 48.45 | |
TE4 | Female | 16 | Ph.D. | Lecturer | 76.27 | |
TE5 | Male | 22 | Ph.D. | Professor | 49.28 | |
TP1 | Tourism enterprise | Male | 25 | M.D. | Wellness tourism entrepreneur | 68.16 |
TP2 | Female | 22 | Bachelor’s | Wellness tourism entrepreneur and Spa Developer | 101.50 | |
TP3 | Male | 40 | Master’s | Wellness tourism entrepreneur | 95.03 | |
TR1 | Tourist | Female | 5 | Master’s | Wellness traveler | 48.52 |
TR2 | Female | 6 | Master’s | Wellness traveler | 57.22 |
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Types of Activities | Percentages of Expectations |
---|---|
Thai massage | 65.80 |
Foot reflexology | 30.10 |
Healthy eating | 29.50 |
Aromatherapy massage | 26.80 |
Yoga | 23.80 |
Thai boxing | 22.30 |
Meditation | 20.60 |
Saunas | 16.60 |
Compress massage | 13.80 |
Stone massage | 13.60 |
Taichi | 13.60 |
Soaking in the jacuzzi pool | 13.00 |
Acupressure massage | 11.00 |
Hermit exercise (Rusie Dutton) | 8.20 |
Mud-pack therapy | 6.70 |
Dimension | Code | Item |
---|---|---|
Destination environment | DE1 | Business environment that promotes wellness tourism business |
DE2 | Safety and security of the destination | |
DE3 | Health and hygiene of the destination | |
DE4 | Human resources in terms of staff in wellness tourism organizations and businesses that are responsible for delivering products and services to the tourists | |
DE5 | Human resources in the area whose duty it is to welcome wellness tourists | |
DE6 | Availability of information and communication technology | |
Wellness tourism travel and policy | POL1 | Importance given to transportation, tourism, and health services |
POL2 | Openness to international tourists to specifically promote wellness tourism | |
POL3 | Ability to specify the price level of health promotion products and services | |
POL4 | Environmentally friendly experience in the destination area | |
Wellness infrastructure and capacity | INF1 | Infrastructure of transportation system that is ready to support wellness tourism |
INF2 | Infrastructure to support services and tourism | |
INF3 | Ability to accommodate tourists in terms of venues, accommodation, and facilities | |
INF4 | Ability to accommodate tourists in terms of food and beverages | |
INF5 | Ability to accommodate tourists in terms of recreation and entertainment | |
Man-made and cultural resources | MAC1 | Readiness of semi-natural tourist attractions |
MAC2 | Readiness of cultural and knowledgeable wisdom of tourist attractions | |
MAC3 | Resources that are suitable for the development of tourist attractions, routes, or new activities to respond to wellness tourist needs | |
MAC4 | Readiness of health promotion resources | |
Wellness strategy and structure | WEL1 | Strategy to improve the quality of services and treatments |
WEL2 | Promotion of tourist attractions as well-known and accredited | |
WEL3 | Strategy planning for delivering services for customer satisfaction | |
WEL4 | Link between different products, services, activities, and components of wellness tourism and tourists who visit the destination | |
WEL5 | Health therapy and beauty activities offered by tourist attractions, such as healthy food, hot-spring bathing, steaming, water exercise, hydromassage, Thai massage, spas, Thai herbal steam, and acupuncture | |
WEL6 | Tourist attractions offering physical wellness activities, such as yoga, sports tourism, cycling, and trekking | |
WEL7 | Tourist attractions offering mental wellness activities, such as meditation, mind reading, Dharma practice, and mind-restorative activities | |
WEL8 | Tourist attractions offering local knowledge learning activities, such as massage class, cooking class, local knowledge class, tour to learn local knowledge, market tour, and merit-making at temples. | |
Innovation potential | INN1 | Knowledge to develop new products and services, including activities and components of wellness tourism, which are faster and of high quality |
INN2 | Knowledge to respond to the needs of customers and tourists at the highest level | |
INN3 | Human capital to develop new products and services, such as staff who are experts in wellness tourism and creative and passionate in developing new products and services, etc. | |
INN4 | Openness to service innovation, such as application of electronic tourism system; acceptance of new technologies; and absorption, adjustment, and use of outside knowledge | |
INN5 | Development of new wellness tourism services and products using local community resources based on outstanding local knowledge and identity | |
Collaborative and proactive marketing | COL1 | Formation of cluster groups whose purpose is to work collaboratively and communicate with every group of stakeholders |
COL2 | Creating opportunities and supporting local communities in participating in planning wellness tourism, such as health tourism programs or activities and local employment | |
COL3 | Collaboration between public and private agencies | |
COL4 | Marketing of health products and services with allies from public and private agencies at local, national, and international levels | |
COL5 | Creating target brands attractive to tourists, such as outstanding presentation of slogans, logos, and health promotion services | |
COL6 | Creating a more memorable brand identity than competitors’ | |
COL7 | Links for advertising and publicizing together to market through health-based online social media platforms | |
CO8 | Environmental simulation at real venues for targeted groups, customers, and interested people so they may experience, understand, and have clearer visualization of wellness tourism destination | |
COL9 | Creating shareable feedback such as tourist feedback via online reviews and scores to evaluate customer satisfaction via online channels |
Components | Indicators | Factor Loading | R2 | Construct Reliability (CR) | Average Variance Extracted (AVE) |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Destination environment (DE) | DE1 | 0.804 | 0.646 | 0.892 | 0.583 |
DE2 | 0.853 | 0.728 | - | - | |
DE3 | 0.803 | 0.645 | - | - | |
DE4 | 0.711 | 0.505 | - | - | |
DE5 | 0.768 | 0.590 | - | - | |
DE6 | 0.618 | 0.381 | - | - | |
Wellness tourism travel and policy (POL) | POL1 | 0.779 | 0.608 | 0.882 | 0.652 |
POL2 | 0.856 | 0.732 | - | - | |
POL3 | 0.816 | 0.667 | - | - | |
POL4 | 0.777 | 0.603 | - | - | |
Wellness infrastructure and capacity (INF) | INF1 | 0.679 | 0.461 | 0.852 | 0.536 |
INF2 | 0.822 | 0.675 | - | - | |
INF3 | 0.772 | 0.596 | - | - | |
INF4 | 0.669 | 0.447 | - | - | |
INF5 | 0.707 | 0.500 | - | - | |
Man-made and cultural resources (MAC) | MAC1 | 0.725 | 0.525 | 0.793 | 0.500 |
MAC2 | 0.694 | 0.482 | - | - | |
MAC3 | 0.687 | 0.472 | - | - | |
MAC4 | 0.693 | 0.480 | - | - | |
Wellness strategy and structure (WEL) | WEL1 | 0.773 | 0.597 | 0.912 | 0.566 |
WEL2 | 0.733 | 0.537 | - | - | |
WEL3 | 0.732 | 0.536 | - | - | |
WEL4 | 0.835 | 0.697 | - | - | |
WEL5 | 0.732 | 0.536 | - | - | |
WEL6 | 0.709 | 0.503 | - | - | |
WEL7 | 0.791 | 0.626 | - | - | |
WEL8 | 0.704 | 0.496 | - | - | |
Innovation potential (INN) | INN1 | 0.901 | 0.485 | 0.937 | 0.749 |
INN2 | 0.825 | 0.681 | - | - | |
INN3 | 0.919 | 0.845 | - | - | |
INN4 | 0.894 | 0.800 | - | - | |
INN5 | 0.780 | 0.609 | - | - | |
Collaborative and proactive marketing (COL) | COL1 | 0.911 | 0.527 | 0.955 | 0.703 |
COL2 | 0.842 | 0.709 | - | - | |
COL3 | 0.792 | 0.627 | - | - | |
COL4 | 0.801 | 0.642 | - | - | |
COL5 | 0.839 | 0.703 | - | - | |
COL6 | 0.845 | 0.715 | - | - | |
COL7 | 0.818 | 0.669 | - | - | |
COL8 | 0.855 | 0.730 | - | - | |
COL9 | 0.839 | 0.703 | - | - |
AVE | DE | POL | INF | MAC | WEL | INN | COL | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
DE | 0.583 | 0.764 | ||||||
POL | 0.652 | 0.402 | 0.807 | |||||
INF | 0.536 | 0.422 | 0.460 | 0.732 | ||||
MAC | 0.500 | 0.428 | 0.473 | 0.485 | 0.707 | |||
WEL | 0.566 | 0.449 | 0.507 | 0.531 | 0.551 | 0.752 | ||
INN | 0.749 | 0.375 | 0.465 | 0.471 | 0.477 | 0.527 | 0.865 | |
COL | 0.703 | 0.363 | 0.430 | 0.424 | 0.448 | 0.498 | 0.517 | 0.838 |
Dimension | Mean | S.D. | Rank | Indicators | Mean | S.D. | Rank |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Collaborative and proactive marketing (COL) | 4.57 | 0.508 | 1 | COL4 | 4.71 | 0.558 | 1 |
COL8 | 4.64 | 0.570 | 2 | ||||
COL3 | 4.61 | 0.597 | 3 | ||||
INN5 | 4.59 | 0.591 | 4 | ||||
COL9 | 4.59 | 0.550 | 4 | ||||
COL2 | 4.56 | 0.624 | 6 | ||||
Innovation potential (INN) | 4.51 | 0.545 | 2 | COL5 | 4.54 | 0.606 | 7 |
INN3 | 4.53 | 0.607 | 8 | ||||
INN4 | 4.52 | 0.617 | 9 | ||||
COL6 | 4.51 | 0.617 | 10 | ||||
COL7 | 4.49 | 0.617 | 11 | ||||
INN2 | 4.49 | 0.654 | 12 | ||||
Wellness tourism travel and policy (POL) | 4.29 | 0.572 | 3 | COL1 | 4.46 | 0.606 | 13 |
INN1 | 4.44 | 0.651 | 14 | ||||
POL1 | 4.38 | 0.624 | 15 | ||||
WEL3 | 4.36 | 0.665 | 16 | ||||
INF3 | 4.35 | 0.597 | 17 | ||||
Wellness strategy and structure (WEL) | 4.19 | 0.552 | 4 | WEL8 | 4.35 | 0.645 | 18 |
POL3 | 4.30 | 0.712 | 19 | ||||
POL2 | 4.30 | 0.641 | 20 | ||||
WEL6 | 4.26 | 0.607 | 21 | ||||
WEL7 | 4.25 | 0.633 | 22 | ||||
INF1 | 4.19 | 0.728 | 23 | ||||
Wellness infrastructure and capacity (INF) | 4.16 | 0.550 | 5 | POL4 | 4.18 | 0.672 | 24 |
WEL5 | 4.16 | 0.672 | 25 | ||||
INF2 | 4.15 | 0.711 | 26 | ||||
WEL4 | 4.14 | 0.706 | 27 | ||||
INF4 | 4.10 | 0.648 | 28 | ||||
MAC3 | 4.08 | 0.759 | 29 | ||||
Man-made and cultural resources (MAC) | 4.03 | 0.602 | 6 | DE6 | 4.07 | 0.682 | 30 |
MAC4 | 4.06 | 0.802 | 31 | ||||
INF5 | 4.04 | 0.694 | 32 | ||||
WEL2 | 4.02 | 0.711 | 33 | ||||
MAC2 | 4.01 | 0.655 | 34 | ||||
MAC1 | 3.98 | 0.699 | 35 | ||||
Destination environment (DE) | 3.76 | 0.558 | 7 | WEL1 | 3.98 | 0.789 | 36 |
DE3 | 3.84 | 0.698 | 37 | ||||
DE2 | 3.81 | 0.633 | 38 | ||||
DE1 | 3.77 | 0.645 | 39 | ||||
DE5 | 3.64 | 0.726 | 40 | ||||
DE4 | 3.42 | 0.726 | 41 |
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Phuthong, T.; Anuntavoranich, P.; Chandrachai, A.; Piromsopa, K. Developing and Validating an Assessment Scale to Measure the Competitiveness of Wellness Destinations. Sustainability 2022, 14, 4152. https://doi.org/10.3390/su14074152
Phuthong T, Anuntavoranich P, Chandrachai A, Piromsopa K. Developing and Validating an Assessment Scale to Measure the Competitiveness of Wellness Destinations. Sustainability. 2022; 14(7):4152. https://doi.org/10.3390/su14074152
Chicago/Turabian StylePhuthong, Thadathibesra, Pongpun Anuntavoranich, Achara Chandrachai, and Krerk Piromsopa. 2022. "Developing and Validating an Assessment Scale to Measure the Competitiveness of Wellness Destinations" Sustainability 14, no. 7: 4152. https://doi.org/10.3390/su14074152