Decision Support System for Generating Tourism Plan with Flexible Cost of Travelers: A Case Study of Pakse City Tourism in the Lao People’s Democratic Republic

Abstract

This research aims to create decision support system for generating tourism plan with flexible cost of travelers, a case study of Pakse city tourism in the Lao People’s Democratic Republic, and to evaluate this system. Researchers define 2 sample groups: 5 experts and 400 people who are interested in testing this system. Sample size is defined by the Roscoe formula. Data is gathered by questionnaires to evaluate the system usability and the users’ satisfaction toward this system. Statistics used for this research are mean and standard deviation. This system consists of 3 parts: 1) the input part mainly assigns tourism conditions such as budget, number of attractions, hotels, and destination, 2) the process part directly functions the data matching with tourist requirements. This system finds out 10 trip route solutions based on the defined conditions, and 3) the output part also displays lists of the tourism plan via www.travelubon.com/webtravel/. Researchers define 2 evaluated patterns: 1) the system usability by 5 experts, results indicate that (1) the system effectiveness is at a high level, (2) the system performance is at a good level, and (3) the system flexibility is at a good level, and 2) the satisfaction of 400 users, results indicate that (1) this system clearly defines objectives to help appropriate tourism plans with flexible cost of travelers, (2) users can also use this system by themselves very well, and (3) the system components such as images and touch-screen buttons are very easy to use.