Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
The Young Consumer - Who Has the Buying Influence?
Cedric Cullingford expressed his concern that tourism operators were
neglecting the young consumer, one he described as a powerful consumer. He
explained that 'as future tourists, and as a potentially important influence,
their views of their experiences are significant' (Cullingford, 1995: 121).
Even though this was raised nearly 20 years ago, Cullingford's comments
as he presented them in his 1995 paper 'Children's attitudes to holidays
overseas' remain relevant. Cullingford's authority in this area is recognised
by Thornton
et al
. (1997), who reflect on Cullingford's observations in their
paper 'Tourist group holiday decision-making and behaviour: the influence
of children', as well as in the more recent analysis by Blichfeldt
et al
. (2011).
As Cullingford emphasised, young people need to be targeted as a
niche market for, being the current and future tourist, they will assist in
supporting long-term tourism. To understand how to target this consumer
market effectively, the Sutherland and Thompson (2001) consumer-based
framework, which focuses on four sub-groups, is used as a theoretical
concept for the present discussion. This is:
• pester power - children/teenagers who 'pester ' and nag time-poor
adults, who feel guilty about not providing more time for their children
and succumb to the pressure - or give in - in order to keep the peace
(both actions reinforce these behaviour patterns);
• influencers - children/teenagers who loudly or quietly convince and
coerce adults and their peers to buy;
• current market - children/teenagers who have their own cash and
buying ability (children now tend to receive higher amounts of pocket
money and some teenagers receive an income);
• future market - children/teenagers who are cultivated 'now' by con-
sumer industries with a view to being a future buyer.
Understanding young people's consumer behaviour characteristics, even
broadly, supports strategies and approaches that could be adopted by DMOs
to market to young tourists and their families in a way that will engage
them (Quester
et al
., 2011).
Young People as the Current Consumers
Even though it is accepted that young people or tweens are the current as
well as the future tourist, there is a general assumption by many tourism
operators that tweens do not have the buying power and that is why there
has been a reluctance to target them as a niche audience (Cullingford, 1995).
This attitude by some tourism operators, especially by many employed at
