Tourism Campaign in Thailand Second Tier Cities during COVID-19 Considering Usability

Abstract

There is a lack of research on We Travel Together Project evaluation, especially in the secondary tier tourism cities of Thailand. This article focuses on; the government supported COVID-19 campaign in Thailand compared to other countries; analyzing the number of hotels available and comparing website and mobile application ease of use in We Travel Together Project in the secondary tier tourism cities of Thailand. The results found that Japan is the only country that has a similar tourism campaign as Thailand during COVID-19 but with a greater budget and unlimited rights. There are not enough hotels available for tourists in the second tier tourist cities when compared to the primary tier tourist cities and other channels of booking hotels. Thirty users took part in an experiment. Expert validation and review was used to confirm data. The results found that there was a significant difference at the .05 level for two platforms between the users’ System Usability Scale (SUS) ratings and the experts’ SUS ratings (Agoda and Direct to Hotel). The experts rated all three platforms GOOD, whereas the users rated two platforms OK and one platform GOOD (Ascend). There was a significant difference at the .05 level between users’ SUS scores for Ascend Travel website booking direct to hotel, and Agoda App but not between the other platforms. The participants are more satisfied in the usability of Ascend Travel website than the other two platforms. Further research needs to be undertaken on how to improve the platforms.