A Study On Tourist Buying Behavior Models - Literature Review
1. 1
A study on Tourist buying behavior models-Literature review
Shweta Oza(research scholar Parul university)
Shwetaoza23215@gmail.com
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Abstract
Consumer buying behavior is highly significant aspect for any business to sustain.it is the
factors influence consumer buying behavior in tourism industry.
This article is based on literature review of tourist behavior models. Focuses on tourist
behavior models, as well as how to observe and quantify them, can we effectively plan
offers and other sales activities in tourism. Theoretical concepts are significant in
the measurements of the tourist behavior, as they reveal the concepts that should
be measured, and generally also the means to measure them. Compare different
models of consumer buying behaviour and find out which one is best suit.
Key words: Tourist buying behavior, Consumer.
Introduction:
Tourism is defined as âa short-term movement of people to place some distance from their
normal place of residence to indulge in pleasurable activities.â it may also involve travel for
business purpose. An activity which is serviced by number of other industries such as hostility
and transport.
What is tourism âTourism is a social, cultural and economic phenomenon which entails
the movement of people to countries or places outside their usual environment for
personal or business/professional purposesâ According to Wikimedia âTourism is travel
for pleasure or business; also the theory and practice of touring, the business of attracting,
accommodating, and entertaining tourists, and the business of operating tours. Tourism is
most important business for any country for its economic growth and development. And
as we know for any business customers are their god. so itâs very important to study
tourist buying behavior .now let us see different models of tourist buying behavior and
then compare them to find out which one suit the best to tourism buying behavior.that
âtourists as rational decision-makers who try to maximize their utility when purchasing
tourism products. Tourists appraise the consequences of their actions by evaluating the
cost and the benefits of the different alternatives before making a decision. Consequently,
tourists will choose those products that seem to them more attractive, and which they
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perceive as providing the best affordable value proposition. But when assessing different
product information, they are influenced by other peopleâs opinions (family, friends,
colleagues and peers on the internet). These reference groups affect their evaluation
process and decision. So marketing managers should pay attention and provide reasons to
those reference groups to recommend the tourism product. Another implication for
destination management is to build a strong and appealing image and brand for the
destination, since the recognition of a strong brand is likely to influence touristsâ choices.
Tourist buying behavior models:
Wahab, Carampon & Rothfieldâs Model (1976 )of decision making process:
1. Initial framework: first of all before making decision tourist make frame work for
traveling.
2. Conceptual alternatives: After initial framework tourist will check what are the
alternatives available in market for destinations, services.
3. Fact gathering: In conceptualization of alternative tourist start gathering information
about travel decision .tourist gather information from friends and family, newspaper,
websites.
4. Definition of assumptions: on the bases of fact he gather from different sources traveler
make assumption about destination, weather so that he/she can prepare for travel. So
player in tourism industry should pay more attention towards reference groups.
5. Forecast of consequences: after gathering information from different source, checking
alternatives traveler forecast about what consequences will be there in making decision.
6. Design of stimulus: Then he/she will make design about how much budget should be
spent on which place best suitable to him.
7. Cost benefit of alternative: On the bases of stimulus tourist came to know about what the
cost of different alternatives is and where he/she gets cost benefit.
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8. Decision: This is last step of buying decision making process where person take decision
for traveling.
9. Outcome: This step comes after tour where traveler share their experience with their
friend and family members. now a day this is also most important because customer
loyalty and more customer generation will be based on post travel experience.
Schomoll âs Model on tourist behavior(1977)
It is based on the fact that although tourists make rational decisions, they may have limited
knowledge of the destination. It is therefore important to create awareness of the brand in the
touristsâ mind, because even if a destination may be very appealing, consumers may not choose
it because of a lack of information and trust about it. Touristsâ decision-making process depends
on the one hand upon stimuli to initiate it, and on the other one hand, upon external, personal and
social variables that influence tourists while deciding.
Mayo and Jarvis (1981) Model
It explained touristsâ choices as the result of their travel opportunities and goals. They supported
previous authorsâ understanding of the travel decision-making process as one through which
The
profile
of
the
tourist
â˘Trip feature
â˘Distance
â˘Emergeny
â˘Cost value Ratio
â˘Duration
â˘Group size
â˘Internal influence
â˘Trust in Intearies
â˘Perceived risk and
uncetainy of travel
Desire
to
travl
â˘Information search
â˘Image of
destination
â˘Information search
continued
â˘Assessing of
alternatives
â˘Travel decision
â˘Travel
Arrengements
Travel
awerness â˘The features of
the servieces
existent at the
destination
â˘Primary resource
â˘Touristic services
and facilites
â˘The enviroment
â˘Infrastucture
â˘Accessbility
â˘Political,economi
c and social
stuctuture
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multiple variables affect the tourist, with special attention to the influential role of peer groups
and family.
Mathieson and Wall (1982) have proposed a 5 phase model for the consumer behavior of
tourists.
⢠First phase: At this stage individual felt and reason for his/her travel need.
⢠Second phase: In this they collect information from the formal and informal sources like
reference groups.
⢠Third phase: This stage is called decision making stage where they decided about
destination, mode of transportation, hotels etc.
⢠Fourth phase: they prepare to travel for e.g ticket booking and experience the journey.
⢠culture and
subculture
⢠Referance
group
⢠Social class
⢠Role and
family
Influece
personality learning
Motivation
perception &
Attitude
Felt need/travel
desire
Information
collection and
evaluation image
Travel
decision(choice
between
alternatives)
Travel
preparation and
experiences
Travel
satisfaction
outcome and
evaluation
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⢠Fifth phase: This is most crucial stage for marketer because in this stage tourist after
journey share their experience on social media, reference group .thatâs why this phase is
very important marketer get word to mouth publicity.
Literature Review
Horner and Swarbrooke in 1996 said that âStudy of why people buy the product they do, and
how they make their decisionâ. Solomon explained about tourism behavior that âIt is process
involved when individuals or group select, purchase, use or dispose of product, services, ideas or
experiences to satisfy needs and wantsâ. Engel, Blackwell and Miniard in 2001 defined tourism
behavior asâThose activities directly involved in obtaining, consuming, and disposing of
products and services including the decision process that precedes and follows these actions.â
Moutinho (1987) believes that the process of a purchase in tourism has some special features in
relation to other types of purchases. It is, after all, an investment where we do not expect any
return other than satisfaction. The purchase is planned for a longer period of time and is usually
financed with savings. On the one hand, tourists are becoming more experienced, flexible and
resourceful, but on the other hand this also makes them more demanding. Tourist behavior
research must, therefore, take all this into account. Many factors affect the individual tourist. For
the stakeholders on the supply side to know how to prepare an effective marketing strategy, they
need to understand the touristâs perception of a tourist destination, journey, distance, and
advertising. It is also important to know how decisions about the trip are made and how they are
influenced by personal factors. Other influence factors include motivation and mood. Broadly
speaking, the research also has to include the factors generated by economic and social changes.
These include, for example, the rising price of energy, the trend of smaller families, new
possibilities of communication, and opportunities for education and so on. And finally, there are
the environmental or social effects, such as the role of the family, the role of other groups of
people, the role of social status, and the role of culture. Woodside and Lysonski (1989) model is
titled âA general model of traveller destination choiceâ. With this, they wanted to describe
awareness, preference and choice among competing destinations. In designing the model, they
took into account the results of research in cognitive and behavioral psychology, marketing and
tourism. The model includes 8 dimensions and 9 connections. Marketing variables and the
characteristics of the individual impact destination awareness. The dimension of emotions and
memories includes positive and negative emotions that tourists link to a destination. This
dimension, together with destination awareness, formulates the traveller destination preferences
Andrades & Dimanche, 2014; Havitz & Dimanche, 1997, 1999. divided the studies into four
groups; based on self-involvement (ego involvement), loyalty, family influence on decision-
making, and the search for novelty Woodside and MacDonald (1994) critiqued the previous
consensus about tourists making rational decisions and explained how tourist choices may be
sometimes irrational. Accordingly, Walker (2001) highlighted the need for more realistic models.
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Woodside and MacDonald introduced another aspect to be considered, the influence that the
travel party has in travel decisions. Indeed, the selection of a destination is only the first choice,
but many other decisions will be taken at the destination, and the travel party may then have a
substantial role to play. Independent travellers are a growing market. Hyde and Lawson (2003 )
suggested that independent travellersâ motivations are reflected in their decision-making process
at destinations. By independent travellers they meant those who are willing to take risks in
choosing vacation elements, who enjoy experiencing the unplanned, and who experience an
evolving itinerary a particularly important aspect of studying tourist behavior is to understand the
reasons why travellers choose a tourism product instead of another. Tourist motivations are
indeed a key component to understand. The knowledge of touristsâ motivations brings to
destination managers useful information about tourist needs and wants, and helps them with
destination planning and marketing.
Tourist buying behavior modelâs its implementation, outcome and limitation
Author Year Model Explanation implication Limitation
Wahab
,carampon
&
Rothfieldâs
Model
1976 Decision
making
process
No tangible ROI
considerable expanse
to earned income
purchase is not
spontaneous/capricious
and expanse involve
saving & pre planning
implication
for
destination
management
is to build a
strong and
appealing
image and
brand for the
destination,
since the
recognition
of a strong
brand is
likely to
influence
touristsâ
choices.
⢠Limitation of
tourist buying
behavior
modelâs is they
are more
theoretical.
⢠They are not
helpful to
understand
market.
⢠They see
tourism from
developed
countries
prospect
Schmoll 1977 The travel
decision
process
Motivation, Desires
needs & expectations
as personal & social
determinants of travel
behavior.
Touristsâ
decision-
making
process
depends on
the one hand
upon stimuli
to initiate
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it, and on
the other
one hand,
upon
external,
personal and
social
variables
that
influence
tourists
while
deciding.
Mayo &
Jarvis
1981 Three layer
decision
making
approach
Extensive, Limited &
routinized
the travel
decision-
making
process as
one through
which
multiple
variables
affect the
tourist, with
special
attention to
the
influential
role
of peer
groups and
family.
Mathieson
& wall
1982 Five stage
process of
travel buying
behavior
Tourist profile
,awareness, destination
resource and trip
feature.
main
contribution
was to note
that the
consumption
process
continues
after the
purchase,
when
tourists
prepare the
trip, and
when they
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experience
the tourism
product
until they
are back
home and
evaluate
their travel
experience.
Research methodology
The paper is based on literature review so it is based on secondary data which was collected from
Article, research papers ,books on tourism which help to analysi and compare concept of tourism
buying behavior .Researcher conducted literature review to identify that which model is best
suitable for knowing tourism decision making process. After litature review researcher conclude
the four modelâs by different researcher give clear picture about decision making process of
tourist.
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Conclusion
It is important for tourism professionals to understand the basic models that attempt to explain
consumer behavior. Indeed, it is the responsibility of the tourism manager/marketer to identify
target markets, attract them to a destination and satisfy them though the provision of good
experiences. It is indeed tourism professionalsâ responsibility to develop marketing and
management strategies that are based on an accurate knowledge of tourist behavior trends.
Consumers in the tourism sector are represented by a highly diverse groups of tourists, which are
constantly changing in terms of personal features, personality traits and behavioral
characteristics. Knowing the consumer is the only reliable source of information for successful
long term business in tourism. In light of this, the behavior of tourists should be validly, reliably
and constantly monitored. Monitoring tourist behavior is a key factor in the planning of tourist
services, wherein we follow the argument that the analysis of the behavior indicates the
strengths, weaknesses and opportunities in the development, marketing and implementation of
tourist products; and that the analysis of tourist behavior indicates the behavior of current and
future tourists. Monitoring the behavior of tourists illustrates the manifestations of behavior, the
individual behavior factors, and the consequences or effects of tourist behavior. In this context, it
is necessary to make clear distinctions between the concepts of behavior and to take this into
account when designing a system for monitoring tourist behavior. Empirical research on tourist
behavior is varied, but it is becoming apparent that there is a low level of reliability and validity
of the findings about tourist behavior, which allows the conclusion that little is actually known
about tourist behavior, or rather that the confidence level of knowledge about tourist behavior is
very low.
Tourist service providers and other stakeholders in the development and implementation of
tourist services faced with many challenges in providing reliable, valid and useful ways to
monitor tourist behavior. The process of monitoring tourist behavior is time-consuming and
financially demanding, which is why there are many adapted forms of monitoring tourist
behavior that result in information that is partially or completely useless for making business
decisions. In other cases, providers or tourist organizations do not even address the monitoring of
tourist behavior themselves. Faulty or incomplete data does not provide a good basis for business
decisions in the tourism sector, which may be the reason for the decline in tourist activities and
the business performance of tourist activities. Increasing competition in the tourism industry
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shows that without adequate information about tourist behavior today, a successful tourist
destination will not have the basis for efficient decision-making tomorrow.
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