Abstract

Since massive bleaching of corals has taken place in Mu Ko Surin National Park, the number of tourists to the park has reduced by more than half of usual number. In order to understand whether the revisitation of tourists has been impacted due to the coral bleaching, this paper, through structured questionnaire surveys, investigates tourists' revisitation and the factors influencing it. Logistic regression models were used in analysing the factors influencing repeated visitations. The results show that, despite the destination being highly affected by coral bleaching and tourists strongly agreeing that coral has been severely degraded, more than a half of respondents are willing to revisit the park, and two-thirds of the respondents are satisfied with tourism activities. Five factors were found to significantly influence the tourists' revisits. These include tourist's perception on scenic beauty of the area, snorkelling experience, waste management, changes in tourism experience and tourists' satisfaction.