Tourist Behaviour

An International Perspective

Metin Kozak, Nazmi Kozak, Metin Kozak, Nazmi Kozak

• Publisher: CAB International
• Year: 2016
• ISBN:
  9781780648149
• Topic: Business
• Subtopic: Hospitality, Travel & Tourism Industry
• Index: Business

Tourist Behaviour: International Perspectives provides a collection of all consumer-related topics from both theoretical and practical approaches to building and examining the theory of how consumers think and act within the context of tourism consumption. Divided in to six sections the book presents research including the themes of influence, motivation, choice and consumption and experience. With contributions from over 15 countries, the book presents an interdisciplinary approach of the latest global research in tourist behaviour.

1 Introduction

Metin Kozak^1* and Nazmi Kozak²

¹Dokuz Eylul University, Turkey; ²Anadolu University, Turkey

^*Corresponding author, e-mail: [email protected]

1 Introduction

In the modern world, the investigation of consumer behaviour is of central importance in understanding key influences on our changing world and newly emerging lifestyles. Competition between similar products has become increasingly fierce, and this competition exerts a significant influence on consumer decision making, even when the products in question are in different categories. Migration for the purposes of education or employment has pioneered significant economic transitions. Most importantly, from the early 21st century onwards, rapid advances in information and communication technologies have opened up a new era of products and services intended to make people’s lives much easier. As a result of these developments, a focus on consumers has become central to marketing, and more specifically, marketing in the tourism industry has focused increasingly on specific destinations.

Research into consumer behaviour is focused on understanding the questions of who, what, why, when and how that underlie consumer decisions. The field blends the disciplines of psychology, sociology, anthropology and economics, seeking to develop a better understanding of decision making. Such an interrelated and multidimensional structure can explain better how and why consumer behaviour is dynamic and continuous across different time zones. The same consumer may have different experiences of the same product/brand category on each separate occasion of the use or consumption of a product/brand. Consumer behaviour is also dynamic across different product categories. On the other hand, a consumer may react to different products in different ways. The same consumer may have different motivations, may search for information in different ways, and may employ different decision-making strategies or obtain different outcomes, post-experience. The changing nature of social, economic or geographic factors can play an important role in the stability or instability of these interrelated factors.

As a particular subject of enquiry within social or economic psychology, consumer behaviour first attracted the attention of academics in the 1960s, when the first books on the topic appeared (Engel et al., 1968; Howard and Sheth, 1969). Research in the field is anchored in two seminal research journals, the Journal of Consumer Research (founded in 1974) and the Journal of Economic Psychology (founded in 1982). In subsequent years, additional journals have been launched, and these have expanded the limits of consumer behaviour and widened the scope of the academic literature by introducing contemporary research topics. There have already been a number of relevant publications in the last millennium (Engel et al., 1968; Howard and Sheth, 1969; Schiffman and Kanuk, 1978), although the past decade has witnessed a significant increase in the number of book contributions on consumer behaviour (Hanna and Wozniak, 2001; Solomon, 2013). Some of these have been published in several editions over the years.

Consumer behaviour attracted the attention of tourism scholars from the late 1970s and the early 1980s. However, empirical investigation of the topic has gained rapid momentum since the dawn of the new millennium. We are likely to see an increasing number of journal papers, book chapters and conference presentations focusing on the subject of tourist behaviour as the central topic of tourism studies. While the most frequently researched subjects include motivations, information search, satisfaction and loyalty, other aspects of the consumer behaviour model, for example the evaluation of alternatives, choice and experience (or consumption), remain potential topics for further investigation.

Over the years, we have become increasingly familiar with each stage of tourist behaviour, due to the publication of an increasing number of books, conference papers and journal articles on these topics. There have been a great many journal articles and conference papers on consumer behaviour in general and on tourist behaviour in particular. The past two decades have also witnessed an increase in the number of book contributions on tourist behaviour (Pizam and Mansfeld, 1999; Decrop, 2006; Swarbrooke and Horner, 2007; Bowen and Clarke, 2009; Kozak and Decrop, 2009; Pearce, 2011). Tourist behaviour has also been introduced as a single subject into the curriculum of many tourism schools or programmes worldwide, at Bachelors, Masters or PhD level.

Moreover, new conference initiatives have been created with a clear focus on tourist behaviour/psychology. In particular, a symposium was launched in 1998 specializing in the consumer psychology of tourism, hospitality and leisure. A tradition emerged of selecting papers from this symposium for inclusion in a special book edition, and several volumes have already appeared (Mazanec et al., 2001; Crouch et al., 2004; Woodside and Kozak, 2014a,b). The symposium is soon to celebrate its 10th series, in 2017. It aims to develop a strong focus on consumer behaviour in the field of tourism, hospitality and leisure, from both a theoretical and a practical perspective.

Many conference organizations have brought to the fore hot topics relating to tourist behaviour, by focusing on these issues as conference themes. To take just one example, the Advances in Tourism Marketing Conference (ATMC) was held in Bournemouth, UK, in September 2009. The idea motivating this present volume originated during discussions that took place prior to two conference series held in Istanbul, Turkey, on 4–9 June 2014, entitled the Interdisciplinary Tourism Research Conference and the World Conference for Graduate Research in Tourism, Hospitality and Leisure. This series has attracted the participation of over 260 scholars from across the world, providing the opportunity for an interactive debate on key topics that have included sustainable tourism, destination marketing, competitiveness, tourism economics and tourist behaviour. To complete the missing material, two more chapters written by invited contributors have been included (Chapters 10 and 14).

In this respect, Tourist Behaviour: An International Perspective can also be considered a new contribution to the advancement of the literature, bringing new questions for the field to address in the future. The book aims to review and to stimulate interest in a number of emerging and fresh topics in tourist behaviour and experience from a distinctively contemporary perspective. The book can be differentiated from others by virtue of its focus on understanding the real tourist experience. It has been designed to follow a systematic order, first following the major stages of the consumer behaviour model, then introducing influential factors such as cultural distance, travel constraints and organized crime. The book has five main parts and 18 chapters.

1.1 Part I – Influential Factors

Examined from a broad perspective, there appear to be many factors influencing the changing patterns of consumer behaviour. The (in)stability of consumer behaviour is likely to be influenced by social, cultural, economic, psychological or geographic factors; for example, social media, transition among generations, cultural or physical distance and snobbishness, among others (Hofstede, 1980; Plog, 2002; Buhalis and Law, 2008; McKercher and Bao, 2008; Nyaupane and Andereck, 2008; Pendergast, 2010; Xiang and Gretzel, 2010). Specifically, the selected chapters in this part examine the external factors influencing the travel and tourism behaviour of consumers. The discussion includes three chapters on cultural distance, travel constraints and organized crime. From a more general point of view, the discussion concerns quality of life and its relation to travel constraints and organized crime, and addresses some of the leading strategies available to overcome such undesirable outcomes.

The impact of cultural distance is considered a very important topic in the examination of travel behaviour. Thus, Chapter 2, by Daisy Suk-fong Fung and Bob McKercher, examines the extent of the influence of cultural distance on tourist behaviour, then compares this to travel distance. The study compares the profile, travel patterns and activities of eight different markets that vary in their cultural distance from Hong Kong. Departing from the existing literature, Chapter 3, by Mojtaba Shahvali, Reihaneh Shahvali and Deborah Kerstetter, investigates the influence of social privilege and culture on the constraints of Iranian women who travel for leisure and pleasure. Through the adoption of ‘stock of knowledge’, Chapter 4, by Ilenia Bregoli and Francesca Ceruti, provides another cross-cultural study, and examines how the image perceptions of Italian and British travellers ­towards Italian organized crime affect behaviour. Chapter 5, by Helena Reis, Antonia Correia and Lee Phillip McGinnis, suggests an innovative contribution to the explanation of why women engage in golf as a strategy for dealing with gender inequities. Results show that Portuguese professional golfers conform to three strategies: accommodating (highest perception of interpersonal constraints), unapologetic (highest perception of structural constraints) and unaware (highest perception of intrapersonal factors).

1.2 Part II – Motivations

Motivation is a key variable in understanding the changing direction of tourist behaviour. Central to motivation is the concept of need (Dann, 1981; Pearce, 1988). Needs motivate behaviour, and in order to understand motivation, it is necessary to discover what those needs are and how they can be fulfilled. It is especially important to understand needs in the context of the tourism industry, as it is not the product or the service that people purchase but the expectation of having their needs satisfied by amenities and benefits (Crompton and McKay, 1997). Visitors purchase expectations, and it is whether these expectations are met or exceeded that gives satisfaction or delight (Kotler et al., 1998). The aim should be to enhance and maximize visitor satisfaction with the experience (Pearson and Sullivan, 1995). Further assessment will then aid the development of efficient marketing strategies such as product development, market segmentation and branding. This part of the book examines tourist motivations when participating in various tourism- and travel-related activities at the first stage of the tourist behaviour model.

Chapter 6, by Estela Marine-Roig and Salvador Anton Clavé, proposes a method to conduct a massive computerized quantitative content analysis of travel blogs and online travel reviews. The findings relate to the pull factors that ­motivate the trip, and can be compared with earlier studies based on surveys dealing with tourism motivation. Chapter 7, by Giacomo Del Chiappa and Fulvio Fortezza, investigates the main motivations that drive couples to celebrate their wedding ceremony outside their hometown as an emerging market segment of the future tourism industry. The findings suggest that the theoretical lens of the experiential approach and consumer value can be applied usefully in order to interpret couples’ decision making as driven by the motivation to seek functional, social, emotional and altruistic experiential values.

1.3 Part III – Decision Making/Choice

The topic of decision making is a cornerstone in marketing and consumer behaviour. Choosing and buying products involves decisions, and thereby involves a decision-making process. Van Raaij and Crotts (1994) identify consumer decision making as a topic of particular concern in economic psychology. Likewise, central chapters are devoted to ‘decision processes’ in most consumer/tourist behaviour textbooks (Schiffman and Kanuk, 2000; Decrop, 2006; Kozak and Decrop, 2009; Solomon, 2013). Because it is influenced by an extensive list of internal and external factors, choosing between alternatives demands a great deal of time and effort to be accomplished successfully. Making a choice or a decision is a ceaseless human activity. In our daily lives, we are tireless decision makers in a vast range of contexts, such as education, ...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• About the Editors
• Contributors
• 1 Introduction
• 2 Influence of Cultural Distance in Comparison with Travel Distance on Tourist Behaviour
• 3 Women’s Travel Constraints in a Unique Context
• 4 Can Perceptions of Italian Organized Crime Affect Travel Behaviour?
• 5 Women’s Strategies in Golf: Portuguese Golf Professionals
• 6 Semi-automatic Content Analysis of Trip Diaries: Pull Factors to Catalonia
• 7 Motivations for Wedding Tourism: A Demand-side Perspective
• 8 Hotel Disintermediation and User-generated Content in the Czech Republic
• 9 Mapping Destination Choice: Set Theory as a Methodological Tool
• 10 Effects of Personal and Trip Characteristics on Holiday Choice
• 11 Drivers of Trip Cancellations among Australian Travellers
• 12 Cognitive and Affective Bases for Tourists’ Consumption of Local Seafood
• 13 Experiential Travel and Guided Tours: Following the Latest Consumption Trends
• 14 What Makes Visitors Spend More? Effects of Motivations on Daily Expenditure
• 15 We are not Tourists. We Fit in this Community
• 16 Do Negative Experiences of Hospitality Services Always Lead to Dissatisfaction?
• 17 Structural Equation Modelling – Restaurant Guest Behavioural Intentions
• 18 Effects of People in Photographs on Potential Visitors’ Evaluations
• Index
• Back Cover