A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Engineering in Transportation Engineering, School of Engineering and Technology

Thesis (M. Eng.) - Asian Institute of Technology, 2017

The tourism industry in Hokkaido has been growing. The number of the Thai tourists visiting Japan and Hokkaido is the biggest number in South East Asian countries. Although it is also expected to increase the number in the future, effective plan to attract Thai tourists to Hokkaido would help increase the number of Thai tourists visiting Hokkaido. The following three research objectives are formulated. The first objective is to understand Thai tourist{u2019}s travel characteristics, whom are visiting Hokkaido. The second objective is to propose a month in which Thai tourists should be encouraged to visit Hokkaido. The last objective has been formulated not following from the background, but crucial to the promotion of Hokkaido for Thai tourists, which is to increase the attractiveness of existing sightseeing attractions in Hokkaido. To reach the goal of this research, a questionnaire survey was conducted at Departure lobby in the international building of New-chitose airport for four days in winter season. The number of answer was 104.Major findings in this study are shown as following;1)The kinds of travel characteristics Thai tourists visiting Hokkaido in end of November and December have.2)Hokkaido attracted primarily middle class Thai tourists.3)The most effective month for increasing the number of people to Hokkaido is November.4)Hokkaido{u2019}s food and hot springs should be promoted in a more concrete plan to attract Thai tourists.5)Coldness in November alone is one of the major sightseeing attraction of Hokkaido. Furthermore, concluding from the last two findings, it seems that the combination of coldness, food, and hot springs of Hokkaido in November may lead to an increase of the number of middle class Thai tourist visiting Hokkaido.