Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Defi nitions and paradigms for researching tourist behaviour
Purchasing, consuming and evaluating tourism services
Tourist behaviour focuses on the activities people undertake for obtaining, consuming, and
evaluating tourism and travel services. Drawing from general consumer behaviour frameworks,
most tourist behaviour models consist of three stages: pre-purchase, consumption and post-
consumption (e.g. Engel and Blackwell 1982; Howard and Sheth 1969; Nicosia 1966). In the fi rst
stage, potential tourists recognize the need for, and hence feel some motivation to go on holiday.
They search for information about various destinations and evaluate those alternatives in order
to choose one destination as a focus for their holiday (Klenosky and Gitelson 1998; Um and
Crompton 1990). A variety of supply- and demand-related factors infl uence a decision to take a
holiday as well as the choice of destinations, including: psychological; economic; social; political;
geographical and demographic factors (Crompton and Ankomah 1993). The consumer behav-
iour literature makes a general distinction between individual and environmental infl uences on
tourist behaviour. The former involve determinants that make each of us unique as an individual
(including consumers' demographics, personality traits, lifestyles and values, emotions, involve-
ment etc.) whereas the latter pertain to external factors (including social, cultural, business and
media variables) that shape one's behaviour and have an impact on decisions and choices.
In the second, consumption stage, tourists experience the destination and the travel products
or services. This stage is made up of a series of behaviours or activities (Smith 2003), which help
consumers to satisfy their needs but also to give meaning, and convey symbolic value, to their
choices and actions (Kim 2001; Uriely 2005). Consumer experience is highly subjective and is
based on sensations, emotions, and social interaction to a large extent in tourism. It involves
participation in activities and results in learning or knowledge acquisition. Consumer experience
is now crucial in creating value and businesses must orchestrate memorable events for their
customers, such that the experience itself and the memories created become the product (Pine
and Gilmore 1999).
In the last post-consumption stage, after their holiday is over, tourists evaluate their experiences
by matching the outcome not only with the information received from various sources such as
media and relatives but also with their own expectations (Pizam, Neumann and Reichel 1978).
Their evaluation typically results in feelings of dis/satisfaction. Different theories may be used to
explain the formation of dis/satisfaction judgments (for a review, see Decrop 2000), i.e. the
intervention of emotions, the comparison process of performances with expectations or
experience-based norms, the attribution theory, or the distribution of costs/benefi ts among the
different members of the holiday decision-making unit (DMU). Satisfaction often leads to
loyalty or at least to intentions to come back, whereas dissatisfaction will make travellers switch
to other domestic or international destinations. In certain cases, however, satisfaction results in
attitudinal and behavioural change when the holidaymaker is driven by emotions, or by variety/
collection seeking. In the same way, a behavioural change is not the only possible consequence
of dissatisfaction. A dissatisfi ed holidaymaker may be urged to repeat his/her purchase because of
compensation, resignation or frustration. Both satisfaction and dissatisfaction result in perceptual
change and word-of-mouth. Tourists often tell others about favourable or unfavourable aspects
of their experiences (Baker and Crompton 2000; Kozak 2001).
Paradigms for researching tourist behaviour
Five major theoretical approaches may be used in order to come to a better understanding
of tourist decisions and behaviours, i.e. the micro-economic approach, the motivational
