KOREASCHOLAR

Spa tourism is part of wellness tourism, which has been prosperously booming over the past decade. In accordance to the aforesaid, the spa-tourism-oriented marketing strategy is exceedingly significant for businesses akin to hotel, resort and even governments which aim at appealing to more tourists. For the future success, spa tourism needs to appreciate the changing demands of the spa market while providing enough capacity to satisfy them (Henderson, 2004). The worldwide spa industry revenue is growing up from US 60 billion in 2007 to US 73 billion in 2012 (Global Spa & Wellness Summit, 2012). Spa market is one of the fastest growing leisure markets both on the supply and demand sides. Nevertheless, spa industry is utterly fragmented with each segment catering for different customer needs (Harmsworth, 2004). Bali is a popular tourist destination renown for its nature beauty, which attracts both domestic and international tourists. Over the years, it has been dubbed as “the morning of the world”, “the last paradise” and “island with a thousand temples”. According to Indonesian Central Bureau of Statistics (BPS, 2013), it was chosen as the most favorite tourist destination worldwide with a number of tourists totaled at 2,756,579. Among the foreign spa tourism patrons, Mainland Chinese tourists ranked the second while Taiwanese tourists being the fifth in ranking. CNN Travel (2012) reported that the Indonesian government estimated one million Mainland Chinese tourists would patronize the spa tourism in Bali by 2014. Regardless Mainland China and Taiwan are dual sovereignties which identically possess similar culture, there are still some aspects such as gender issue that distinguishes one from another. Furthermore, age, occupation, education, family structure, and life experience are some other aspects that differentiate Taiwanese and Mainland Chinese. In summation, the main objectives of this paper is threefold: (1) to compare the decision making process between Taiwanese and Chinese tourists, specifically, amid the wedded/unwedded couples; (2) to identify the most influential decision maker among the wedded-couple tourists/unwedded-couple tourists in Taiwan and Mainland China; (3) to assist travel agencies which aim at luring couple tourists to concoct the customized package tours. This research develops a quantitative survey for data collection, inference and the resulting data. The first part of questionnaire evaluates the influence regarding wedded / unwedded couples over how much influence each other have (problem recognition, information search, and a final decision) (Davis & Rigaux, 1974). The second part consists of fourteen sub-decisions: the destination (Bali), budget (how much money to spend), days (how much time to spend), accommodation (where to stay), and departure time (when to go) (Belch, Belch, & Ceresino, 1985; Szybillo & Sosanie, 1977); airline, restaurant, local transportation, shopping, travel agency, tour leader, tour guide, optional tour, and spa activities (Wang, Hsieh, & Huan, 2000; Heung & Chu, 2000) and the other kinds of activities (Jenkins, 1979) complete with five-point Likert scale, ranging from “no influence at all” to “all of the influence”. The third part provides some questions asking respondents regarding where they receive the information about Bali. The fourth part asking the respondents provide information such as frequency of visiting destination; how long have the couples been together and how the package tour was booked. Eventually, this questionnaire provides information related to socio-demographic variables, including gender, respondents’ age, occupation, monthly income, and the highest education level (Howard & Madrigal, 1990; Darley & Lim, 1986; Fodness, 1992). The ultimate version of the questionnaire items are refined through the purification process. Above all, this study invites three experts to examine the validity and reliability concerning the questionnaire. 350 valid questionnaires were collected (consists of 171 Taiwanese tourists and 179 Chinese tourists) which was adequate to questions only one spouse in summer period. There is merely one significant discrepancy exists between the wedded and unwedded couples in the decision-making stages, that is, “Information search” conducted under the joint decision making. The nature beauty and wellness services combined with evening entertainment are relatively satisfactory in Bali. During the check-in process, wellness tourists are supposed to be notified of all the spa-oriented services in the spa area. Overall, the satisfaction level of spa in Bali is exceedingly-high. With hindsight, customer service seems to be the greatest asset in Bali. The presented study is an unprecedented research focusing on the behavioral disparity between Taiwanese and Chinese spa tourists when it comes to decision-making stages. The results of this study unfurls the different decision making process between Taiwanese and Chinese couples; according to the research result, the unwedded couples possess more influence than the wedded couples in decision making stages. Moreover, the findings of this research do not entirely support earlier statement given by Tourism Queensland (2013), which mentioned considerable spa customers are female, married, and age approximately 34 to 52 year olds. According to our research, actually, men accounts for a quarter of spa users. The research result indicates the mini-tour is a niche business in the tourism industry that can both benefit Taiwan and Mainland China; mini-tour is a novel concept mentioned in a previous research, which focuses on seniors’ GPT (Wang et al., 2013). This study provides information concerning customer satisfaction level in Bali spa business and travel agency services. The sub-decisions regarding couple tourists are thoroughly researched. Therefore, this presented study can potentially bring benefits to all parties (spa providers, travel agencies, and spa goers); simultaneously, it contributes greatly to the theory of “decision-making”. In conclusion, there are three management implications. First, wedded women, who are the crucial patrons in the spa industry, have more influence in the spa travel decision-making. Therefore, the marketing planners shall regard women as significant decision makers. Nevertheless, unwedded couples are more influential in spa travel when comparing to wedded couples, hence, spa providers shall make spa facilities more enjoyable, romantic, and rivate. Second, sub-decisions are regarded relatively pivotal when it comes to couple tourists. The findings shed some light on several factors of “sub-decision,” which are considered crucial by couple tourists when buying spa package tour. Third, Indonesian government deems Taiwan and Mainland China markets as tremendously paramount, especially when it comes to spa travel to Bali (CNN, 2012). As far as travel agencies are concerned, they need to create more appealing mini-package tours based on customer demographic. For spa providers, in order to efficiently maximize their revenue, they shall improve spa quality and the affiliated facilities and services.

• Wen-Yu Chen(Chinese Culture University)
• Chia-Yuan Hsu(Chinese Culture University)
• Magdalena Samidjen(Chinese Culture University)