International Journal of

ADVANCED AND APPLIED SCIENCES

EISSN: 2313-3724, Print ISSN: 2313-626X

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 Volume 13, Issue 6 (June 2026), Pages: 57-71

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 Original Research Paper

Determinants of elderly travelers’ use of health-oriented tourism applications: Evidence from Thailand

 Author(s): 

Tassin Srivarapongse, Sarakul Sukortpromme, Chotima Jotikasthira *

 Affiliation(s):

Faculty of Business Administration, Rajamangala University of Technology Thanyaburi, Pathum Thani, Thailand

 Full text

    Full Text - PDF

 * Corresponding Author. 

   Corresponding author's ORCID profile:  https://orcid.org/0009-0005-0800-4086

 Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

 
https://doi.org/10.21833/ijaas.2026.06.006

 Abstract

This study investigates the factors that influence elderly travelers’ decisions to use health-oriented tourism applications in Thailand. Data were collected from 400 elderly tourists in Bangkok and the central region using a structured questionnaire and analyzed with Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling. The results show that key factors—namely tourist attractions, safety, connectivity with emergency and public health systems, health and first aid services, and weather—have both direct and indirect effects on the decision to use the application through application operability. Specifically, these factors directly influence the decision to use the application (β = 0.458, p < 0.001) and strongly affect application operability (β = 0.889, p < 0.001). In turn, application operability significantly influences the decision to use (β = 0.368, p < 0.001), indicating a meaningful mediating effect. To provide further practical insights, the study employs Importance–Performance Map Analysis, which identifies connectivity with emergency and public health systems and health and first aid services as the most important drivers of both application operability and user adoption. Application operability is also found to play a central role in translating these factors into actual usage behavior. The measurement model demonstrates acceptable reliability and validity, with Heterotrait–Monotrait ratios ranging from 0.775 to 0.888 and average variance extracted values between 0.597 and 0.735. Overall, the findings suggest that elderly travelers’ adoption of health-oriented tourism applications depends not only on the availability of health and safety information but also, more importantly, on the quality and usability of the application, offering useful implications for developers, tourism managers, and policymakers.

 © 2026 The Authors. Published by IASE.

 This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).

 Keywords

Health tourism applications, Elderly travelers, Determinant factors, Application operability, Decision

 Article history

Received 4 September 2025, Received in revised form 25 March 2026, Accepted 5 June 2026

 Acknowledgment

This research was supported by the Science, Research and Innovation Promotion Fund, Thailand Science Research and Innovation (TSRI), through Rajamangala University of Technology Thanyaburi (FR867E0507I.3) (Grant No.: FRB670027/0168). 

 Compliance with ethical standards

 Ethical considerations

Ethical considerations were carefully addressed throughout this research. All participants provided informed consent prior to survey completion. The study involved minimal risk, collecting only anonymous responses about tourism experiences without any personal identifying information. Participation was entirely voluntary, and participants could withdraw at any time. Data collection and handling procedures followed established ethical guidelines for human subjects research. 

 Conflict of interest: The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

 Citation:

Srivarapongse T, Sukortpromme S, and Jotikasthira C (2026). Determinants of elderly travelers’ use of health-oriented tourism applications: Evidence from Thailand. International Journal of Advanced and Applied Sciences, 13(6): 57-71

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