THE FACTORS INFLUENCING THE SATISFACTION OF THAI PASSENGERS ON THE INTERNATIONAL RAILWAY ROUTE BETWEEN BANGKOK (THAILAND) AND VIENTIANE (LAOS)

Abstract

Laos is a destination with beautiful culture, traditions and nature that attracts many tourists, especially Thai tourists, so there is a strong tourism link between the two countries. The Thailand-Laos railway, the Krung Thep Aphiwat Central Terminal - Vientiane (Khamsavath) route, which is an important new railway tourism route to connect the capitals of the two countries. This research aims to study the experiential international economic factors, the market mix and satisfaction factors for Thai service users on the Thai-Laos railway service. The samples are Thai passengers who used the train service on the route between Krung Thep Aphiwat Central Terminal (Bangkok) of Thailand and Vientiane Railway Station (Khamsavath) in Laos in both directions with 394 respondents. Questionnaires collected from Google Forms were employed to collect data from a randomly selected convenience sample. Data were analysed using confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and structural equation model analysis (SEM) to verify the accuracy of the latent variable structure and the consistency of the model with empirical data by using the JASP 0.19.3 software. Analysis results from CB-SEM revealed that the marketing mix factor had the greatest positive influence on satisfaction and the dimension of service delivery was found to be the main factor. In addition, experiential and international economic factors were found to have a significant indirect influence. This emphasizes the importance of security management and clear information communication. Relevant agencies should adopt guidelines, seamless service and joint testing to reduce the travel time and anxiety of passengers. In addition, there are suggestions to integrate cross-border travel insurance into the ticketing system to reduce risk perception and to meet international safety standards for tourism on the Thailand-Laos railway route.