Melissa MacEachern

A Framework for Understanding Golfing Visitors to a Destination

The purpose of this study is to determine whether there are differences among visitors to a destination based on their golfing frequency in the previous year. By constructing a framework for understanding the golf traveller, golf and tourism industry representatives can better understand the contribution that golfers make to a destination based on factors such as satisfaction, perceived value received from the golfing experience, trip length, expenditures, travel decisions, and motivations. The results indicate that there are significant differences between golfers based on golfing frequency. Dedicated golfers are very different from infrequent and moderate golfers on three of the four variables used to profile these visitors. Findings from this research may provide golf and tourism marketers with information that will lead to branding strategies, allow for the development of market segmentation models that help in target market selection, and provide the foundation for the development of a customer relationship management (CRM) system.

An Examination of the Effects of Perceived Quality, Price-Value and Satisfaction of Golf Tourists' Behavioural Intentions: A Structural Model

A conceptual model of golf tourists’ behavioural intentions is developed and tested using data from 1,657 surveys of golfers on Prince Edward Island, a major golfing destination in Canada. The results reveal that no significant and direct relation exists between golf tourists’ perceived quality of performance (quality of the course) and behavioural intentions. While the quality of the golf course influences behavioural intentions, the effect is indirect. It is course quality and level of overall satisfaction, course quality and feelings of having received value for the green fees paid, and price-value resulting in feeling of satisfaction that, combined, positively impact behavioural intentions. The results help clarify the roles of golf course quality, price-value, and overall satisfaction on behavioural intentions, and contribute to a better understanding of the golf tourists’ behaviours on Prince Edward Island. Overall, the findings provide support for the critical causal relationships between the constructs of the proposed model.