Understanding Consumer Tourist Behaviour - Literature review Example

Understanding Consumer Tourist Behaviour Institute Compare the contribution to the understanding of tourist consumer behaviour of one academic journal (choose from Annals of Tourism Research, Journal of Vacation Marketing, Current Issues in Tourism, International Journal of Tourism Research, Tourism Management Introduction The past decade has seen a shift in the strategies that companies and academics follow regarding customers. They seem to be realizing the enormous profits that a loyal customer base can provide. Academic literature provides a solid base for studying innovative models to evaluate the effect of a destination’s image on how the tourists behave. This paper analyzes the publications of The Guardian and the International Journal of Tourism Research from June 2014 - May 2015 relevant to tourism industry. The purpose of this paper is to analyze the contribution of these articles towards understanding the changing tourist consumer behavior. Academic literature serves as the foundation for understanding the emotions and behavior of tourism consumers. The emotions and involvement are the two prime drivers of tourist activities. Therefore, the focus of this study is to analyze how well the journal articles and newspaper publications encompass these two factors and how well they reflect in the news. Through the journals and the news it can be deduced that the dynamics of the world are never uniform, they are different in different countries. One tourism strategy might be applicable in one area but not in the other. The tourism industry needs to seek narrow niches in tourism as a generic approach in attracting the customer will not prove very profitable. On the contrary, similar regions and dynamics can be used to research an area. This way the researchers can make safe projections about the future of the tourism business. Behavior is always changing therefore, it is best to understand tourist consumer behavior over a longer period to comprehend the trends. This study also looks at how well the academic articles and the news cover the contributing factors that shift behaviors of tourism consumers. Towards the end recommendations are suggested that can help the tourism industry in better gauging the consumer behavior. May/June 2014 Journal Lim and Weaver (2014) highlight the importance of brand equity of a tourist destination in their article. The contribution is not only to understand the tourist consumer behavior but how the industry can gauge it for better productivity and revenue generation. Preference for products associated with a destination brand (PPADB) is an important driving force for the tourism industry for analyzing the effects of the destination image. A sufficient sample size (296 individuals) took part in the survey. The results suggest that “cognitive and affective image of a destination are positively related to PPADB” (Lim and Weaver, 2014). In other words when people perceive a destination with positivity, it also boosts the PPADB business. News Chris Michael (2014) writes about the tourism promotional strategies of countries. He ranks them in terms of sending the wrong message. This article is very important I understanding how people perceive different tourists spots from the way they are promoted. For instance, a video advertisement about Dublin, saying that it is only 15 min from the airport in not a very positive message to attract tourists. The article contributes in the overall debate by suggesting that tourists might get the wrong message by careless advertisements. July/August 2014 Journal There is a huge population that keeps dogs and other pets. It becomes a nuisance when people have to go on vacations to a tourist spot leaving their pets behind. Some destinations are easier in terms of bringing along pets. Chen, Peng and Hung (2014) study the constraints that pet owners face on travel destinations. The contribution of this article is it understands how constraints in bringing along dogs on tourist destination effects the business. By applying exploratory factor analysis and confirmatory factor analysis, the responses of 518 Taiwanese dog owners were examined and the results suggests that there is a three dimensional constraint structure in this problem. The three prongs to the structure were; pet’s interpersonal constraints, pets structural constraints and pets specific constraints (Chen, Peng & Hung, 2014). Quite understandably these constraints negatively affect owners’ intentions of bringing their dogs along on tourist destinations. News Vicky Baker (2014) in his post writes about the changing trends in Bangladesh regarding tourism. The country is densely populated, and sadly, the world mostly knows it through tragic news of floods, tycoons and political strife. An additional income stream from growing tourism can help boost its economy. The country has the world’s longest beach and is a famous tourist spot. The rising popularity of tourism business is not owed to the international tourists bringing in foreign currency. The main consumer base for tourist activities such as the one at Cox’s Bazar is the Bangladeshi is the middle class (Baker, 2014). The idea here is that countries that find it hard to attract foreign tourists due to security issues or political turmoil can focus on domestic tourism as it can serve as the stepping stone for bigger tourism projects. September/October 2014 Journal C J White (2014) discusses in his article how one’s ideal destination ideas influence the decision for visiting tourist spots. A person makes choices regarding holiday destination based on the ideals he holds. The unique contribution of this article is that it gives a different perspective in this issue. It turns out that there is more to choosing a travel destination than ideals. White developed a conceptual model that revealed that ideals directly influence the ideas about travel destinations and indirectly influence the attitudes governing volition and emotions (White, 2014). The contributing factor in understanding tourist destination behaviour is that people tend to choose destination based on their ideals, yet, there is more to this as indirect influences that possibly relate with the unconscious mind. It is crucial for tourism industries to understand how to best persuade visitors to choose their destinations/hotels. Understanding how people form ideals and make travel choices is imperative to acquire market share. News The article in The Guardian, Mass tourism can kill a city – just ask Barcelona’s residents by Ada Colau describes how devastating mass tourism can be for the locals. Too much influx of tourist can deprive the locals of even the basic necessities of life. The news post opens with an interesting fact that the last underwear shop in Venice closed ten years ago, and the locals have to go to the mainland to buy essential items (Colau, 2014). The price of everyday items skyrocket when a place turns into a tourist spot. The businesses tend to forget the locals because they don’t pay enough. The contribution of this post in the study is it shows how tourism can effect different people in totally different ways. One man’s gain is another man’s loss. November/December 2014 Journal Medina‐Muñoz & Medina‐Muñoz (2014) furthers the research in understanding the attraction in a location. They study the attractiveness of a tourist destination. This factor is as valuable as understanding the destination ideals that people hold. They highlight that although it might seem simple what an attractive destination looks like but it is very complicated. There is lack of consensus in the research community regarding what makes a destination truly attractive. Tourist product analysis (on Gran Canaria) reveals that the attraction varies. Different people have different levels of attraction towards one place. This is helpful in understanding that tourism industry is highly diversified. The implication is that tourism businesses need to narrow their target consumers. The broad approach of making a place attractive for everyone might not prove highly profitable. News Joanna Natasegara (2014) writes about wildlife tourism in Congo. The contribution to the overall research in tourism is that when one aspect is not working for a country in attracting tourists, other ways can help kick start the activity. Tourism can be greatly impacted by atrocities such as wars. Now that the civil war has ended in Congo, tourism can breathe life into its economy. Wildlife such as the endangered gorillas of Congo can help achieve that goal. Other than showing the potential that Congo has in tourist activity, the article points out that complimentary tourism activity such as in Rwanda can also help Congo’s tourism. Tourism businesses can make predictions about tourist behavior by studying them on similar territories. Prediction is that Congo can match Rwanda’s annual tourism revenue of $15m (Natasegara, 2014) from its Virunga Park. January/February 2015 The journal article published in the International Journal for Tourism Research by Amitrajeet A. Batabyal and Olabisi Alao (2015) analyses the impact of tour packages on tourists (consumer) behaviour. It might seem that the contribution of this article would be less attractive for scholars and students as pre-existing literature offers a comprehensive analysis on tour packages. However, the missing link that this article provides is the use of contract theory. The purpose is to see if there is a best way to sell packages that generates maximum benefits for the business. It is common knowledge that people’s income varies. There are high spenders and there are those who are on a tight budget. Under these circumstances it is very hard to come up with a one-size-fits-all package formula. Although the article does not add much helpful information on the subject. However, it does point out what is needed for future research to answer the research question. To truly understand the consumer behavior one must have access to tourist private information. This can prove a huge hindrance in comprehending the behavior and consequently coming up with a package plan. The package tour selling firms can contribute to this if they have a long term loyal customer base. The frequent interaction between loyal customer and the firm also shapes the contract design. Meaning that the customers indirectly dictate the package. News Jonathan Kaiman (2015) writes in his post on Macau, the Chinese La Vegas. Surprisingly a place like Macau which is not as popular as usual tourist destination such as Paris or London. However, in 2013, it surpassed Italy and UK in terms of tourist receipts. According to the article, China is the most popular tourist destination in the region. However during the two years period, the tourism has seen a decline of 4% in China while a rise in Macau of 5% (Kaiman, 2015). This fits well with the previous discussion that tourism companies need to strictly define their target consumers. For Macau, the fancy casinos serve as the main attraction. March/April 2015 Journal News The news post ‘Tourism is a global force for good. It needs the best leaders at the helm’ by Gilad Goren praises the contribution of tourism (9.5% of global GDP) for generating business activity. But the downside to that promising growth is that $32bn of this business activity comes from the slavery trade (Goren, 2015). This is the downside of the growing tourism industry. People’s perception changes towards tourism when such heinous facts stain its image. The challenge here is to separate the two. Tourism should not be an incentive for human trafficking or exploiting people. The post comprehensively mentions the other downside related to tourism. Tourism contributes 5% of the total carbon emissions. The article is very objective in mentioning that it is not the tourism itself that is the problem. The responsibility lies on the leaders or the lack of leadership in this industry. March/April 2015 Journal The article by Chin Tsai Lin and Yeok How Goay (2015) reflects on how the fierce competition in the international tourism effects the NTO abroad offices in Taiwan (Lin & Goay, 2015). The contribution of this study is crucial because not all competition is healthy. If business competition in tourism is negatively effecting the local businesses it can damage the overall goal of tourism industry of playing a positive role in the international economy. In addition a cutthroat competition can mean that local and international offices will be competing against each other in terms of recognition or in generating revenue. This is important in understanding that tourism is a market just like any other market where fraud and illegal earns to achieve personal gains can play a big part. This trend can deprive the visitors of the true experience of a destination that they readily seek. It also implies that artificial sceneries or ‘sets’ can be built up to stage a historic site that might lure in tourists. This is a reflection of the behavior of both the tourists and the people operating the tourist destinations. May/June 2015 Journal Nawijn and Fricke (2015) mention in their article ‘Visitor emotions and behavioral intentions: The case of concentration camp memorial neuengamme; how the consumer behavior in tourism industry changes according to the history of the destinations. Not every tourist destination is laden with happiness and positivity. Tourists that visit the concentration camp sites or memorials. The article contributes towards understanding tourist consumer behavior by comparing positive emotions with negative emotions after visiting a sad site such as the concentration camp memorial Neuengamme. The results suggest that negative emotions impact the long term behavioral intentions more than the positive emotions (Nawijn and Fricke, 2015). This result is important for the tourism industry in promoting tourist sites. News The news article by Angelique Chrisafis (2015) in The Guardian tells what tragedy can do to the tourism business. The news is about the murder of tourists at a Tunisian beach. For a moment it seems very saddening that people lost their lives at such a peaceful destination and on the other hand the concerns arise about the future of these tourist businesses. In 2014, tourism contributed 14.5% to the Tunisian GDP (Chrisafis, 2015). The indication is that such events do deliver a blow to the tourism economy. However, it is the resilience of the people and the follow up measures that keep the hope alive. As mentioned in the article the way the governments and security agencies respond to these disasters determines the future of these tourist attractions. From the above discussion, several points arise regarding understanding the consumer behaviour of tourist activity. The destination image plays a huge role in the choices that tourists make. They also make destination choices based on their ideals. The tourism companies need to dig deeper in understanding the consumer behaviour if they want to survive in the fiercely competitive tourist industry. Research on similar regions can give useful insights about a place that can attract similar tourists. Even revenue projections can be made based on this information. If circumstances are not helpful in attracting tourists the companies need to improvise. The casinos of Macau and the rise of domestic tourism in Bangladesh are great examples. And lastly, certain regions have security issues that keep tourists at bay. How the governments respond to security concerns can serve as a catalyst in alleviating the fear and as a consequence improving the image of such places. References Batabyal, A. A., & Alao, O. (2015). On the Sale of Package Tours to Infinitely Many Possible Types of Tourists. International Journal of Tourism Research, 17(1), 1-3. Baker, V. (2014) How tourism is taking off in Bangladesh. The Guardian. Accessed online June 26, 2015 http://www.theguardian.com/travel/2014/jul/05/tourism-taking-off-in-bangladesh Colau, A. (2014) Mass tourism can kill a city – just ask Barcelona’s residents. The Guardian. Accessed online June 26, 2015 http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/sep/02/mass-tourism-kill-city-barcelona Chen, A. H., Peng, N., & Hung, K. P. (2014). Developing a Pet Owners Tourism Constraints Scale–The Constraints to Take Dogs to Tourism Activities. International Journal of Tourism Research, 16(4), 315-324. Chrisafis, A. (2015) Tunisia: murder of holidaymakers could dent tourism but not hope. The Guardian. Accessed online June 26, 2015 http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/jun/26/tunisia-attack-terrorism-tourism Goren, G. (2015) Tourism is a global force for good. It needs the best leaders at the helm. The Guardian. Accessed online June 26, 2015 http://www.theguardian.com/sustainable-business/2015/apr/01/tourism-is-a-global-force-for-good-it-needs-the-best-leaders-at-the-helm Kaiman, J. (2015) Macau records higher tourism receipts than UK or Italy. The Guardian. Accessed online June 28, 2015 http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/jan/28/macau-records-higher-tourism-receipts-uk-italy Lin, C. T., & Goay, Y. H. (2015). Measuring National Tourism Organization Abroad Office Competitiveness. International Journal of Tourism Research, 17(2), 118-129. Lim, Y., & Weaver, P. A. (2014). Customer‐based Brand Equity for a Destination: the Effect of Destination Image on Preference for Products Associated with a Destination Brand. International Journal of Tourism Research, 16(3), 223-231. Martin, S. A., & Assenov, I. (2013). Measuring the conservation aptitude of surf beaches in Phuket, Thailand: An application of the surf resource sustainability index. International Journal of Tourism Research. Michael, K. (2014) The 10 worst city tourism videos. Accessed online June 28, 2015 http://www.theguardian.com/cities/2014/may/07/the-10-worst-city-tourism-videos Nawijn, J., & Fricke, M. C. (2015). Visitor emotions and behavioral intentions: The case of concentration camp memorial neuengamme. International Journal of Tourism Research. Natasegara, J. (2014) Wildlife tourism in Virunga gives new hope to Congo. The Guardian. Accessed online June 26, 2015 http://www.theguardian.com/travel/2014/nov/29/virunga-national-park-congo Medina‐Muñoz, D. R., & Medina‐Muñoz, R. D. (2014). The attractiveness of wellness destinations: an importance–performance–satisfaction approach. International Journal of Tourism Research, 16(6), 521-533. White, C. J. (2014). Ideal standards and attitude formation: A tourism destination perspective. International Journal of Tourism Research, 16(5), 441-449. Read More