Kuo Ching Wang

Critical service features in group package tour: An exploratory research

Abstract In many countries, especially in Asia, the group package tour (GPT) is the mainstream mode of outbound travel. Nevertheless, surprisingly little effort has been devoted to improving our understanding of the grounded service features of the GPT. In order to fill this gap and thereby enhance the foundations of group travel theory, this study conducted exploratory research to identify the critical service features of the GPT. Sample data come from the customer lists offered by a large wholesale travel agency. Data were collected from both customers and employees using critical incident technique (CIT). After the data collection, a rigorous categorization exercise was conducted; 25 distinct grounded service features emerged from the data. At the end, the authors also discuss implications for future systematic investigation, model development, and make recommendations for tour operators.

Who is the decision-maker: the parents or the child in group package tours?

Abstract Family decision-making research has frequently examined role relationship between husband and wife across stages and subdecisions. In contrast to previous researches, this study examines how family role relationships, inclusive of parents and children, vary over decision-making stages for the group package tour (GPT). A total of 240 different families (mother or father as respondents) purchasing GPTs were surveyed, among them, 35 families also included children. Results indicated that family has a tendency to make a joint decision in problem recognition and the final decision stages, and wives were found to play a dominant role in the information search stage. This study broadens the theoretical domains used in understanding family decision-making for the GPT. For practitioners, marketing implications are provided and recommendations for future research are also discussed.

Is the tour leader an effective endorser for group package tour brochures

Abstract In many Asian countries and areas, such as Taiwan, Japan, Korea, Hong Kong, and China, etc., group package tour is one of the main modes of outbound travel. Several studies have highlighted the important role played by tour leaders in group package tours; they are considered to be indispensable by the tourists themselves and their presentation can make or break a tour. Previous studies have mainly used celebrities, experts, CEOs, and consumers as endorsers for advertising. However, few empirical studies have examined how the advertising effectiveness would be changed if tour leader is used as endorsers for group package tour brochures. This study adopts an epistemological perspective towards extending the limited research on the impact of tour leaders used in advertising as endorsers. A rigorous experimental design was employed; nine experimental groups were included, in total, 844 student subjects participated in the study. The results showed that tour leaders as endorsers for group package tour brochures had a more positive advertising effectiveness than the traditional brochure design and CEO as an endorser elicited higher purchase intention than tour leader as endorser. Implications for managers and scholars are discussed and suggestions for the direction of future study and practice are also provided.

Female tour leaders as advertising endorsers

In the Pan-Asia domain, especially Taiwan, Japan, South Korea, and the most effectively emerging power house, China, group package tours (GPTs) have been considered as an indispensable gadget for overseas vacationing tourists. A well-trained senior tour guide is capable of bringing up the GPT by offering an intriguing and entertaining interactive service, and vice versa; the presented research reveals the gender differences in terms of positioning tour leaders as advertising endorsers. Technically, the features and cover letters posed on GPT brochures simply justify the credibility of being a capable and well-organized tour leader; nevertheless, female tour leaders seem to be far more satisfying when it comes to satisfying the needs of consumers. In the meantime, there are 440 samples closely examined through the methodology of ‘post-test-only control group experimental design’, which discloses the ground-breaking mystery of why female tour leaders are more favorable than males. Significantly, the updated developing research is able to provide a cost-effective and target-oriented marketing information for any multinational Tourism Bureaus and travel agencies.

Trends in outbound group package tours in China and Taiwan: A marketing mix perspective

In many Asian economies such as Taiwan, Japan, Hong Kong, Korea, and China, the group package tour (GPT) is one of the main modes of outbound travel. In order to explore the emerging trends, two major outbound travel markets�Taiwan and China�were selected for investigation. In total, 30 in-depth interviews with either General Managers or Presidents of well-known travel agencies were conducted in Taipei and Beijing. The GPTs have a similar pattern for both Taiwanese and Chinese but, interestingly, are at a different stage of development. This information should serve as a valuable reference to Taiwan and China, to destination countries that depend heavily on the Chinese market, and to management teams in relevant travel industries.

Motivations for Senior Group Package Tour Tourists

Seniors are the most likely to take part in organized tour. In Asia, the most popular organized tour is group package tour. However, very little efforts have been devoted to understanding travel motivation of senior group package tour tourists. The objective of this study was to examine the travel motivation of senior tourists participating in group package tours. A total of 293 Taiwanese senior tourists, 50 years of age or older were surveyed and asked for 18 reasons on how likely they were to take part in a group package tour Unique groups of seniors are identified, and differences in their group package tour behavior and sociodemographic characteristics are investigation. Finally, implications and areas for future research and travel marketers are discussed.

The best match-up of airline advertising endorsement and flight safety message

Purpose This paper aims to explore the effectiveness of children as advertisement endorsers in the airline context, including images of safety and reliability. Design/methodology/approach This paper is intended to examine the advertising effect of endorsers (celebrities, CEOs, experts, consumers and children) in the context of the airline industry. A factorial experiment was conducted to test the communication effect (CE) of ten groups of advertisement combinations (five endorser types – with/without safety attribute). Findings The results indicate that a child endorser yielded a better CE than celebrity, CEO or typical consumer endorsers. Second, advertisements that emphasized safety had better CE than those without this emphasis. The group combining children and safety generated a better CE than most of the other groups comprising different combinations. Practical implications A child endorser and a safety message are recommended to be used in advertisements for airlines because flight passengers place importance on safety. Fragile image of child reinforces safety of an airline. Originality/value The integration of advertising endorsement and message into a conceptual model allows the current results to provide meaningful theoretical and practical implications.

Exploring attractive messages in group package tour newspaper advertisements

The group package tour (GPT) is one of the main modes of outbound travel in many Asian countries and areas. In practice, most of the travel agencies utilise the newspaper to promote their GPTs. Although prior newspaper travel advertisements provided useful information, only single or a number of advertising messages were considered. In order to fill this gap, the primary objective of this study was to find out what types of message are attractive to the customers in the GPT advertisement from a holistic perspective. Both qualitative and quantitative methods, with 400 usable samples, were conducted for data analysis. Attractive messages for three different destinations (China, Japan and Thailand) with six clusters were profiled at component level. The findings reveal that messages of appeal, text, size and format design represent over 78% of the total percentage. Further implications for designing attractive messages in terms of a destination or cluster perspective are discussed.

Exploring the Moderating Effect of Culture on Association between Self-Orientated Moral Intensity and the Choice of Upward Influence Strategies: A Contrast of Asian MBAs from the Tourism Industry

This article aims to investigate the cross-cultural differences of moral intensity and upward influence strategies by comparing 344 usable responses of tourism MBA students from India, Korea, and Taiwan. The MANOVA results demonstrate the existence of significant differences on some dimensions of self-oriented moral intensity and the choice of upward influence strategies across the three groups. Specifically, Korean informants are more likely to apply various influence strategies and reveal moral intensity than the MBA students from the other two countries. We also utilized canonical correlation analysis to examine the effect of cultural background on the relationship between the dimensions of moral intensity and the choice of upward influence strategies. The results indicated that the sets of moral intensity measures and upward influence strategy measures are correlated in Indian and Taiwanese groups. However, this relationship was not supported by the data collected from Korean participants. This study has confirmed the moderating effect of cultural background on this relationship, but more research for further exploration is required in the future.

Shedding Some Light On Single-Parent Families’ Travel Preferences in Group Package Tours

Abstract As the internal social structures of families have been dramatically changing worldwide since the late 1960s, studies of behaviors of single-parent families have turned into one of the most prestige exploring territories on outbound travel preferences. In terms of Group Package Tours (GPT), this study meticulously surveyed 30 families from Taiwan and has been a pioneer in examining the single-parent families’ preferences. Through close analysis and chi-square measures, the results have led to significant preferences of single-parent families different from the earlier GPT general formula. This paper has gone one step further, revealing children’s significant roles, particularly on decision making. Inconsistent with prior travel studies, children’s preference and financial sponsorship greatly affect choices and preferences. Five propositions are outlined in this paper with significant implications and suggestions for travel marketers.