Tourists decision-making - Essay Example

?Running head: TOURISTS’ DECISION MAKING Tourists’ decision-making ID Number) (Unit (Unit Submitted) Introduction This perspective suggests that procedures in decision-making should be handled by the marketing manager to understand process of collecting or obtaining information. The manager is able to understand mode of information collection, product choice criteria used by consumers and beliefs about a certain product. This helps in product development that best suits the consumers depending on promotional strategies and appropriate attributes (Erreygers and Vermeire 2012, p 55). Solomon suggests control of information flow has an effect on consumers’ knowledge, decision, confidence and memory. In the recent years, journals are preferred for learning marketing knowledge and this has lead to an increase in journals in the market worldwide. Marketing managers are gathering information from journals, which have greatly influenced their decisions (Baumgartner and Pieters 2003, p 123). According to the editors of Journal of Marketing management, the journal focuses on original material that concentrates on conceptual, empirical marketing theory and theoretical knowledge. The editors are dedicated to encourage and discuss topics that are published. The articles will assist the marketing managers to make decisions on marketing practice and theory. The authors are experts in methodological, constructive, time conscious, and paradigmatic (Baumgartner and Pieters, From the new editors- Welcome to the journal of marketing management 2011, p 1- 3). Tourism experience motivates the ability, desire, style and quantity of tourism. These experiences ought to influence the future development and growth of tourism. They consist of sights, encounters, on-site activities, collecting of souvenirs and some sensations like. The tourism experiences should make the visit of the tourist memorable (Williams, 2011). Tourism experience involves services of a wide range such as transportation, accommodation and insurance. It also requires financial services, marketing and information in order to produce the requirements that are needed for tourism experience (OECD, 2012). The experiences help the tourists to know more about that destination. They should offer more information, adventure, relaxation and whatever else the tourists might require. Therefore, they should provide entertainment and excitement, as it is demanded. Entertainment, leisure and tourism industries have the responsibility of providing the satisfaction of tourism experience. Purchase of a tourism experience The experiences are the driving force for leisure and tourism consumption. Tourists have a variety of tourist experiences to choose from. They are usually in need of a different experience from the normal. Some tend to distance themselves from their normal live and everything related to that and free themselves to experience the change and interact with new people. They should plan their tour depending on their expectations and what motivates them to choose the experience. Tourists should have a clear understanding of the activities that they would be involved in during the visit. The visit is expected to offer tourism experience that will be full of treasured memories and give total satisfaction. The purchase of a tourism experience is mainly influenced by the interest of the tourists. It can also be influences by self and cultural confidence. A tourist can be driven to purchase a tourism experience that involves discovering about a certain culture. This means that it would involve learning about local or traditional foods of a culture. Having a taste of different foods is fun and interesting. The tourist was motivated to choose a destination depending on the attractions and activities of that region. Another motivation could be the desire for thing that are more authentic. Local foods are authentic and a symbol of the culture and region of a destination. This tourism experience helps the tourist to connect more to that region. Local foods help to enhance the tourism experience (Sims, 2009). Risks and risk management related to tourism experience Risks linked to tourism experience have an effect on the growth and development of the tourism industry and the flow of visitors. Risks mostly lead to certain dangers and threats. Therefore, travelling should be made safe as it on of the motivators for purchasing a tourism experience. The risks encountered are classified as physical, social, situational and functional. They are also classified under financial and psychological. Most of the travel risks are linked to natural disaster, terrorism, crime and health concerns. These are risks that have a high possibility of reducing the flow of tourism to a destination (Korstanje, 2009). One of the risks is the lack of satisfaction for the tourists. The visit does not thrill some as they had expected. The tourists might be leaving in a hurry and they go without discovering a new place. This can be caused by poor infrastructure. The destination services need to make sure that those regions are easily accessed. Therefore, there should be an upgrading and construction of roads to ensure that the flow of visitors is not affected. Another measure to help reduce the risks is by developing strategies that would improve the tourism destination and the tourists’ services. Service providers need to make their services highly sophisticated in a way that it will appeal and attract more tourists (ESCAP, 2001). Another risk affecting the experience is insecurity. Some tourists are unfortunate as they are subjected to crime and violence. The crimes may involve car-hijacking robbery with violence. This is a sure way of reducing the numbers of visitors streaming into a particular destination. Such insecurities cause fear and uneasiness in the tourists thus opting to decline the visit. The tourist agencies and authorities have the responsibility of offer tourist education through the tourist attraction, hotels and companies. This is one of the ways that can be used to prevent crime and help to detect the rates and procedures of crime. The authority has the necessary strategies and resources that are ready to be used in order to manage the reported criminal activities. The tourism agency and authorities need to make use of the media and other reliable sources of information to discuss about the tourist perception of a destination. It should also give a sample of the tourist destinations that are potential (Allen & Brennan, 2004). Implication of the risks The risks mainly affect the people on the supply side of the tourism experience. Supply is simply referred to as the output from industries that are tourism related (Buccellato, Webber, & White, 2010). Some of the service providers that are involved in the supply of tourism experience are transportation, travel agent accommodation and destination. Others are immigration/ visa, budget and time/ season. Proper strategies need to be made in order to minimize the implications of the risks on the participants in the tourism activities. When there is too much insecurity, the tourists opt to travel to places that they are well aware off. Choosing to spend a vacation in a destination that is already familiar might be influenced by too many fears and anxiety. This reduces the demand for accommodation in new places. It also reduces the flow of the tourist to a destination. This leads to reduction in jobs and in profits thus lessening their contribution in the economic growth (Proenca & Soukiazis, 2005). By cancelling the trip, a destination reduces the need for transport systems. The service providers need to make sure that it offers total satisfaction, due to lack of satisfaction of the tourist by the visit. Many of the suppliers are being forced to come up with new ways of improving their services to customers. The destination and accommodation service ought to be truly innovative so that they can be able to compete with other supplier. They should also make sure that their services are of excellent quality. This is because the customers have become very demanding and knowledgeable therefore, the services ought to be extremely sophisticated. Risks can cause the service providers to lose their. Risk can reduce the work and success of the travel agencies if the risk caused by insecurity continues because. This can reduce the number of bookings for flight. The immigration /visa departments would experience reduced number tourists streaming in to acquire visa due to lack of visa facilitation. In order to reduce the risk, they need to give exceptions to tourists from certain countries and offer them on arrival. It would also help to reduce the process at immigration checkpoint. Reference Baumgartner, Hans, and Rik Pieters. "From the new editors- Welcome to the journal of marketing management." Journal of Marketing Management 27, no. 1- 2 (2011): 8. Baumgartner, Hans, and Rik Pieters. "The structural influence of marketing journals: a citation analysis of the discipline and its subareas over time." Journal of marketing, 2003: 123- 139. Erreygers, Guido, and Mieke Vermeire. Macroeconomics & Beyond: Essays in Honour of Wim Meeusen. Apeldoorn: Maklu, 2012. Allen, Garth, and Frank Brennan. Tourism in the New South Africa. London: I.B.Tauris, 2004. Baumgartner, Hans, and Rik Pieters. 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"RE-VISITING RISK PERCEPTION THEORY IN THE CONTEXT OF TRAVEL." E-review of Tourism Research (E-review of Tourism Research) 7, no. 4 (August 2009): 68-81. OECD. OECD Studies on Tourism Food and the Tourism Experience: The OECD-Korea Workshop. Paris: OECD Publishing, 2012. Proenca, Sara A, and Elias Soukiazis. "Demand for Tourism in Portugal: A Panel Data Approach." 2005. http://www4.fe.uc.pt/ceue/working_papers/isaraelias29.pdf (accessed April 15, 2012). Sharpley, Richard, and Philip R Stone. Tourist Experience: Contemporary Perspectives. New York: Taylor & Francis, 2010. Sims, Rebecca. "Food, place and authenticity: local food and the sustainable tourism experience." Journal of Sustainable Tourism 17, no. 3 (2009): 321-336. Williams, William. Creating Irish Tourism: The First Century, 1750-1850. London: Anthem Press, 2011. Read More