Management of Contemporary Tourist Behavior - Term Paper Example

Review: Decision-making in Tourism Management Introduction: Tourism industry today is an extensively large sector in a country influencing significantly the economy of that country. With the growing prospects of tourism, develops a wide number of new aspects to be considered within the periphery of tourism management. One of the most particular concerns is the new face of family or collective decision making in travel. In this context, the influence of the spouse as well as other family members plays an important role in deciding family tourist destination. While the role of each spouse influences family travel, children often tend to become the unwilling tourists “because the destination chosen by their parents does not match their favorite activities or their favorites attributes” (Pizam and Mansfeld, 1999, p. 128). That is to say, the role of all the family members is important in family travel decision making. This paper addresses briefly the issues and aspects relevant in decision making in tourism management. It particularly reviews the role of spouse as well as of children in family decision making with regard to selecting the appropriate travel destination for every member of the family. More precisely, the paper conducts a brief assessment of Kozak (2010), Myers and Moncrief (1978), Bronner and de Hoog (2007), and Wang et al (2004) in order to describe how decision-making functions in selecting family travel destinations. Family decision making involves mainly the role of spouse(s) and also that of children. Besides, there are other important factors, socio-cultural and economic, which are significant in decision-making. Review: Going through the new research paradigm, consumer behavior is a significant factor in travel decision making. The family’s ‘decision’ to travel involves a number of factors including social, environmental and economic factors. Besides, the behavior requires to complement the lifestyle of the consumer, that is to say, a travel destination is selected on the condition that it contains amenities specifically meant for the targeted consumer. So when a family decides for a travel destination, ideally it has to be a collective decision agreed upon mutually by all the family members - spouses and children alike. However, choices in family vacation are often comprised of agreement and disagreement. The difference is evident mainly due to the difference(s) between couples, parents and children (Bronner and de Hoog, 2007). These (dis)agreement factors are relevant variables in defining a family as a decision making unit. With holiday choice evolving over the last three decades, Bronner and de Hoog’s paper carefully explores the conceptualization of holiday vacation as a joint decision of a family. The decision process starts with individual choice process accompanied by accessibility of vacation information. In all, the collective nature of family choice is prominent in travel decision-making. Agreement and conflict situations within couples, or among family members reflect directly on the decision making of family vacation, and to a large extent, on the quality of the decision to be made (Decrop, 2006, p. 151). Case studies in Bronner and de Hoog evidently show the constantly changing roles of spouses in decision making. A balanced decision-making among the family members eventually results in mutual satisfaction with the choice process. More particularly, the idea of a disagreement-resolution strategy is relevant here as it can provide deeper insight into family decision making processes by analyzing differences and consistencies of the family at an individual level. Therefore, within the perspectives of family as a decision making unit, it is important to realize that although the role of spouses/parents is significant, there is a definitive role of the choice process of children in family group package tour decisions (Wang et al, 2004). In the complexities of differences and consistencies among family members, the simplistic concern is to define who the real decision maker is: parent or the child. Parents are undoubtedly the chief decision makers, but the influence of the child is significant too. A family vacation can be very much affected by the constrains imposed by younger children. With regard to older children or adolescents, the influence is even more serious. More specifically, the involvement of children in family decision making is “greatest at the stage of problem recognition or at the start of the process” (Bowen and Clarke, 2009, p. 190). Referring back to the paper of Wang et al (2004), the influence of children varies during different stages of family decision making process. The variation also occurs due to their specificity in the requirement of product categories, services, and most importantly, their choice processes. Parental consultation with children (mainly adolescents) is a significant and familiar phenomenon in family vacation decision. Bowen and Clarke specifies a notable 60% possibility of parental consultation with children in their case study of family vacation in European countries (p. 191). This evidently shows that family vacation decision choices are not just the result of parental choices, it also includes significant inputs from their children, who rightfully demonstrate their choice process so as to make it an overall satisfactory vacation decision. The outcome is the happy and eventful family vacation. Apart from the influence of children in family (or group tour packages) vacation decision in particular, a more general concern is the changing roles of spouses in decision making. In this context, Kozak’s article (2010) provides a comprehensive description of the role of spouses, whether husband-dominant or wife-dominant or a joint husband/wife decision making. Husband-dominant decision making is more of a traditional concept. Changes in the decision making trend are now prominent due to the changing role of the wife or female partner in decision making. There are a number of issues and factors influencing the gradual change in women’s role within the society. Apart from the stereotypical responsibilities of the wife in family leisure travel decisions, that is, organizing leisure activities for partners and children, the female spouse is equally important as her male counterpart in taking financial decisions for family vacation. Family leisure participation is a duty and responsibility for the entire family as a decision making unit, where even the role of children is important in deciding tourist destination. This further involves the influence of a digital culture with which children are quite comfortable. In general, decision making in travel destination has now involved the current trends of globalization. One of the relevant issues here is to address the challenges of globalization with regard to family involvement in travel decision making, a point visibly absent in Kozak (2010). As the young consumers are influenced by the Web along with a variety of global advertising, they are more accustomed to global products. This results in a choice process of following traditional (or local)or global values. The challenge will be “to develop their interests in local environment and pride in own cultural identity.” (Reisinger, 2009, p. 25) As mentioned earlier, decision-making by spouse is the most significant factor in leisure travel. Being the most responsible decision maker in the family, the spouse or wife plays a role which is varied for different family units mainly due to the differences in, a) socio-economic status, b) marital relationship, and c) knowledge of decision making patterns and behavior (Myers and Moncrief, 1978). Variation in consumer behavior exists mainly because of different family group types such as a newly wed couple, couple without children, couple with younger or elder children, nuclear family, or a joint family. Social stratification plays an influential role in travel decision-making. As Myers and Monsrief’s article describes the relation between social stratification system and travel decision making, they argue that the proportion of wives making the decision does not necessarily decrease but that of the husbands making the decision usually decreases from the bottom of the stratification system to the upper levels. This decrease continues until the highest income level is reached. However, the argument can be modified to some extent in the sense that the role of wives can change if she is the bread maker in the family or an equally earning member as her husband in the family. Maybe the husband’s role is relatively more important in lodging decision (in most cases), but the role of the wives in decision making is equally significant and active in all income levels - low, middle and high. The paper provides with evident resources in support of the distinct roles played by husbands and wives in decision making and its related issues. Conclusion: It is now evident that family as a decision making unit comprises of the roles of the husband, wife and children with their specific influences. No single member’s decision can be ignored if satisfactory results are expected from a family vacation decision making. While the financial decisions are mostly taken care of by the parents or spouses, influence of the children is significant in the course of choice process to be discussed and mutually accepted by the family members. Apart from the travel planning, choice of location and financial decisions, there are other relevant factors such as knowledge of location choice, accessibility of information and technology, discussion and planning on product purchases, etc. on the part of all the family members. Whether a nuclear family or a joint one, a common decision of the spouses, parents and children is the most important factor in travel decision making. References: Primary sources: 1. Bronner, F. and de Hoog, R. “Agreement and disagreement in family vacation decision-making.” Tourism Management. 29, 2007. 967-979. 2. Kozak, M. “Holiday taking decisions - The role of spouses.” Tourism Management. 31, 2010. 489-494. 3. Myers, P. B. and Moncrief, L. W. “Differential leisure travel decision-making between spouses.” Annals of Tourism Research. January/March 1978. 157-165. 4. Wang, K. C., Hsieh, A. T., Yeh, Y. C. and Tsai, C. W. “Who is the decision-maker: The parent or the child in group package tours?” Tourism Management. 25, 2004. 183-194. Secondary sources: 5. Bowen, D. and Clarke, J. Contemporary Tourist Behavior: Yourself and Others as Tourists. Cambridge: CABI Publishing, 2009. 6. Crotts, J. C. and van Raaij, W. F. (eds.). Economic Psychology of Travel and Tourism. Binghamton: Haworth Press, 1994. 7. Decrop, A. Vacation Decision Making. Wallingford: CABI Publishing, 2006. 8. Pizam, A. and Mansfeld, Y. (eds.). Consumer Behavior in Travel and Tourism. Binghamton: Haworth Press, 1999. 9. Reisinger, W. International Tourism: Cultures and Behavior. Burlington: Butterworth-Heinemann, 2009. Read More