Abstract:
The objective of this study was to study approach for supporting workation for
Gen Y Thai tourists in New Normal. This study was mixed methods research
and quantitative research. The sample group was 385 Gen Y Thai tourists who were born
from 1980 to 1994 or aged between 27 and 41 at present who experienced or were
interested in workation by using a questionnaire ( online) as a tool for data collection.
Statistics for data collection included frequency, percentage, mean ( x) and standard
deviation ( S.D.). There was qualitative research by using semi–structured interviews
to interview public and private agencies in the part of tourism and 4 representatives
of tourists. Interview form was used as data collection tool for content analysis.
1. Workation was a type of tourism that occurred from technological
progress at present and started to be more popular from COVID – 19 situation that created
type of working, that was called “Work From Home” and led to mixed tourism that
destination of tourists were ability to work with travel or relaxation, and became workation
finally.
2. Most of the respondents had no experience, but they were interested in
traveling for work. Most of them used to travel to work in Bangkok and surrounding areas
with the purpose of resting on vacation Usually travel in groups/tour groups. They stayed
at the hotel for 2 nights and the activity was taking photos/videos. The needs of the
tourists who traveled to work had the most demand for amenities (x= 4.50, S.D. = 0.49).
3. Guidelines for promoting tourism for workation could be summarized as
follows: 1) Attraction for tourism: Tourist attractions should pay more attention to security
measures and cleanliness from the spread of the COVID – 19, 2 ) Accessibility: Transport
routes and traffic should be developed to avoid congestion in order to increase
the convenience and speed of access to tourist attractions., 3) Accommodation should be
priced according to the facilities or the experience that tourists will receive, including safety
in terms of life, property and measures to prevent the spread of the COVID – 1 9 ,
4 ) Tourism activities: we should focus on activities that would help relax tourists from
work and avoid activities that must gather with too many people and 5) Facilities: there were basic and technological facilities are also important, such as fast Wi-Fi internet
and working space.