A Study of Tourists’ Environmental Perceptions of the Functional Design of Popular Resorts in Chiang Rai Province

Environmental perception involves the visitor's past socioeconomic and cultural experiences which direct their cognitive process vis-à-vis the physical settings of the built environment. This research used resorts in the Chiangrai province as a case study to examine the perceptual process of foreign and local visitors to ultimately derive a set of design guidelines for resort improvement. An exploratory survey on the Muang and Maesai Districts was conducted to sort out the taxonomy of medium-size resorts and to generate a sampling frame for extensive survey in the later state. An extensive in-depth interview was conducted with owners and designers of the resorts vis-à-vis their physical features. Finally, a questionnaire survey on environmental perception was conducted with 100 local and 100 foreign visitors. Pictorial stimuli, which are images with controlled camera angles and temporal variables while using graphics software were utilized to solicit answers for specific perception on important functional areas.