Pamela A. Weaver

Product bundles and market segments based on travel motivations: a canonical correlation approach

Abstract To market effectively a particular destination, it is necessary to understand both push and pull motivations and the relationship between these two motivations for overseas travel. The relationships between these two motivations for overseas pleasure travel has been studied for an Australian sample of 1030 respondents by utilizing canonical correlation analysis. Canonical analysis generated four meaningful canonical variates. Respondents, then, were assigned to canonical variates in order to form market segments. The paper concludes with appropriate marketing implications as suggested by the study findings.

Do American Business Travellers Have Different Hotel Service Requirements

The American business traveller is a very important customer in the lodging industry. Because of this it is essential that the lodging industry understands the expectations and demographic make‐up of this group of individuals. Presents the responses of 433 American business travellers obtained from a national survey. Divides the respondents into two categories: the frequent business traveller who was away from home on at least ten overnight business trips, and the infrequent business traveller who was away from home overnight less than ten times (at least once). Gives a demographic profile of the total sample of business travellers, frequent business travellers and infrequent business travellers. Compares the same three groups with regard to how important a total of 56 services and amenities that may be provided by a lodge are in selecting lodging accommodation.

Hotel Selection Factors as They Relate to Business Travel Situations

A sample of the business travel market is analyzed to determine whether the importance placed on particular hotel product attributes varies by travel situation. Multiple discriminant analysis is used to see whether certain attributes are able to correctly discriminate among five travel situations.

Lodging preferences of the senior tourism market

Abstract A self-administered mail questionaire was sent to a random sample of 3,000 individuals in the United States who were 55 years or older. Questions were asked about the reasons for choosing a pleasure destination and lodging preferences. Three clusters were identified: novelty seekers, active enthusiasts , and reluctant tourists. Only active enthusiasts could be readily interpreted in terms of tourism motivation. This group participated in many activities with enthusiasm. Novelty seekers and reluctant tourists were less easily interpreted by their travel reasons using multiple discriminant analysis. Lodging preferences for all groups included eight levels of properties, but there were significant differences in preferences between the groups.

Marketing your community: Image analysis in Norfolk

The Norfolk, Virginia, Visitors Bureau wanted to attract people taking “mini-vacations”—weekend trips. To begin, the bureau had to find out what these travelers found attractive in Norfolk

Gender-based Differences in Business Travelers' Lodging Preferences

Abstract With the amount of business travel increasing three time faster for businesswoman than the businessmen, hoteliers have an opportunity to design their services and facilities for this growing market segment.

Destination Evaluation: The Role of Previous Travel Experience and Trip Characteristics

This study uses canonical correlation analysis to examine the relationship between two sets of variables that can be used in evaluating a travel destination. The first set is composed of five variables that are referred to as previous travel experience and trip characteristics. These five variables include two measures of previous travel experience (number of countries visited, number of countries visited for pleasure) and three trip characteristics (length of stay, number of people in the travel party, and travel mode). The second set of variables consists of four criterion variables referred to as destination evaluation variables. These variables (satisfaction, service quality, value, and likelihood to return) are used to evaluate the travel destination. Results of the study indicated that a portion of the variance in destination evaluation can be attributed to previous travel experience and trip characteristics.

The impact of social media on destination branding consumer-generated videos versus destination marketer-generated videos.

A one-way conversation with consumers in destination branding was pervasive when destination-marketing organizations created and generated their destination brands. However, social media has made a two-way conversation possible with consumers participating in the development of a destination brand identity/image. This study investigates consumer perception of destination brands created by consumer-generated videos and destination-marketing organization videos. The findings suggest that consumer-generated videos do not carry the same destination brand as destination marketer-generated videos. In addition, consumer-generated videos have little positive impact on a destination brand. This study provides insight into destination-branding strategies with respect to the roles that social media plays in creating destination-brand identity and image.

Eco-friendly Attitudes, Barriers to Participation, and Differences in Behavior at Green Hotels

A deeper understanding of customers’ desire for and participation in green activities can lead to organizations designing more efficient and effective green programs. This research finds that the guests’ assessment of the importance of being environmentally friendly has the greatest effect on their intention to stay in a green hotel. Second, the research identifies the following customer barriers to participation: inconvenience, perceptions of cost cutting, and decreased luxury—all of which significantly affect consumers’ intention to stay at a green hotel or pay more for a room in such a hotel. Third, the results show that customers believe that hotels should have certain green practices, but did not consider it important to stay in a hotel that actually maintains the thirteen green practices tested here. Fourth, the results find that customers behave with greater environmental responsibility at home than they do in a hotel. Among the implications of these findings is the idea that hotel managers’ communications and actions must be relevant to guests’ concerns by educating customers, increasing convenience to participate in green programs, and decreasing perceptions of cost cutting.

The Meeting Selection Process: a Demographic Profile of Attendees Clustered By Criteria Utilized in Selecting Meetings

The objectives of this study were to develop homogeneous groups of meeting or conference attendees based on criteria used to select a meeting and to profile these groups based on their demographic profile. A factor analysis was performed on meeting selection criteria items to determine underlying dimensions. Four factors surfaced: education, leadership, networking and destination attributelrecreationl social. A surrogate variable from each factor was selected to represent the factor in a cluster analysis. Three homogeneous groups emerged from an agglomerative hierarchical clustering procedure. Crosstabulation analysis with demographic vari ables was used to profile the clusters. It was concluded that each homogeneous group of respondents had a distinct demographic profile. The results of the study provided implications for both the attendee and the meeting planner. Meeting planners can provide a more effective meeting if they are aware of what theirtargeted audience finds important.