Elements Affecting Thai Tourists’ Intentions to Make the Decision to Choose Cruise Tourism

As the cruise industry expands into emerging markets such as Thailand, understanding the decision-making processes of cruise-inexperienced consumers becomes increasingly important. These consumers represent a large untapped market segment whose behavioral patterns potentially differ fundamentally from experienced travelers. This study investigates the psychological mechanisms influencing Thai tourists’ intentions to choose cruise tourism, particularly among first-time travelers who lack prior experience. Drawing upon the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) and extending it through frameworks such as Affective Forecasting and Construal Level Theory, this research introduces new constructs including onboard activity anticipation and experiential risk realism. Using multi-group Structural Equation Modeling (SEM), the study compares responses from cruise-experienced (n = 174) and cruise-inexperienced (n = 200) participants. Key findings reveal that novelty does not directly predict intention but acts as an affective primer, while onboard activities significantly shape behavioral intentions, especially among experienced travelers. Perceived risk also demonstrates experiential divergence—abstract and negligible among novices, but specific and influential among experienced participants. The results suggest that intention formation in tourism is moderated by experience and shaped by simulated cognition rather than memory. This highlights the need to refine behavioral tourism models and tailor marketing strategies to consumers’ experiential backgrounds.