Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Personal characteristics
Personal characteristics of the traveller potentially infl uence travel information search and
decision-making. They include socio-demographics, knowledge, personality, involvement,
values, attitudes, cognitive style, decision-making style and vacation style. Travellers' socio-
demographic characteristics have been extensively studied as explanatory variables for evoked
set formation, categorization of alternative destinations and antecedents of information
processing (see, for example, Mayo and Jarvis 1981; Woodside and Lysonski 1989; Um and
Crompton 1991; Woodside and MacDonald 1994). Characteristics such as age, education,
income and marital status are often employed as surrogates for determining the travel decision-
maker's resources and constraints. In terms of age, existing research indicates that older travellers
tend to rely more on family and past experience as information sources (Capella and Greco
1987) and are more interested in satisfying hedonic, aesthetic and sign needs in the information
search process (Vogt and Fesenmaier 1998). Also, more educated travellers with higher levels of
income tend to search for more information (Gitelson and Crompton 1983; Etzel and Wahlers
1985). Women are more likely to consider functional aspects in their information search than
men (Vogt and Fesenmaier 1998); in general, females are more comprehensive information
processors who consider both subjective and objective attributes, and are more likely to respond
to subtle cues than males (Darley and Smith 1995). Income infl uences the constraints within
which trips have to be planned and also the extent to which a trip has to be planned to avoid
additional cost.
Travellers' knowledge is an important cognitive domain that infl uences information search
and processing behaviour as well as travel decision-making (Brucks 1985). Knowledge infl uences
the range of alternatives considered (Snepenger, Meged, Snelling and Worrall 1990). Further,
previous experience with a destination plays an important role in terms of how a destination is
categorized during decision-making processes with respect to how well the location could
perform when selected as a travel destination (Woodside and Lysonski 1989). Also, differences in
the choice of destinations/attractions between fi rst-time visitors and repeat visitors, that is,
travellers that have prior experience with the destination, are prevalent. First-time visitors tend
to choose destinations that are easily accessible while experienced visitors are more likely to
consider destinations with low accessibility (McKercher 1998) and repeat visitors are more
selective and less prone to visit multiple destinations (Oppermann 1992; Decrop 1999; Hwang
et al
. 2002). Interestingly, a number of different perspectives have been suggested regarding
the relationship between knowledge and information search behaviour (Punj and Staelin 1983;
Alba and Hutchinson 1987; Moorthy, Ratchford and Talukdar 1997). Knowledge and previous
experience have been included in several studies within the context of travel information search
(Manfredo 1989; Snepenger
et al
. 1990; Perdue 1993).
Travel information search and processing also depend to a great extent on individuals' level
of involvement (Finn 1983; Celsi and Olsen 1988; Jamrozy, Backman and Backman 1996). For
example, as the perceived risk involved in the decision task increases, situational involvement
rises accordingly and individuals tend to invest more resources in external information
search (Murray 1991). That is, highly involved travellers are likely to use more criteria, search
for more information, use more information sources, process relevant information in detail,
make more inferences and will form attitudes that are less likely to change (Celsi and Olsen
1988; Fesenmaier and Johnson 1989). In a complex decision and choice situation developing
commitment and stronger attitudes is of greater need in order to accomplish the task. On the
other hand, simple and routine decisions require relatively low consumer involvement (Reid and
Crompton 1993).
