Xinran Y. Lehto

Tourist shopping preferences and expenditure behaviours: The case of the Taiwanese outbound market

Using data from the 1999 Survey of Taiwanese Outbound Travellers, this research quantitatively examined tourists’ shopping preferences and behaviours in relation to their socio-demographic characteristics and trip attributes. Results indicated that travel purpose, travel style, age and gender were significant factors influencing the amount of money travellers spent on shopping and the items that they preferred to buy. Such understanding affords destinations and retail businesses practical knowledge useful for destination marketing, product development, retail merchandising and customer service. Basic questions can be addressed more confidently, such as what the most popular items for a well-defined demographic group are, and what factors can be used to predict the spending level of tourist shoppers.

Predictors of tourists’ shopping behaviour: Examination of socio-demographic characteristics and trip typologies

While the importance of tourism shopping is widely recognised and tourism destinations are aware of the contributions of shopping, there is still little known about the actual behaviour and expectations of tourists, and what influences their preferences and behaviours. Previous research findings consistently indicate that certain associations exist among age, gender and trip typology or trip activity profiles with tourists’ shopping behaviours and preferences. Therefore, the current study examines the effectiveness of age, gender and trip typology as predictor variables for tourists’ shopping behaviours. Shopping behaviours are examined by tourists’ actual involvement in five different categories of ‘shop or browse’ activities. The results indicate that there are distinct groups prevalent in certain categories of shopping activity participation and age, gender and trip typology are significant factors influencing the preference patterns in certain categories of shop or browse activities. Therefore, trip typology, age and gender can serve as useful indicators for configuration of tourist shopper consumer profiles, and the implications are suggested. Better information about patterns and predictor factors of tourist shopping behaviour can lead to improved planning, marketing and management of sales, expenditures and opportunities in the industry.

The Effect of Prior Destination Experience on Online Information Search Behaviour

This research proposed and empirically tested a behavioural model of online tourist information search by integrating the consumer involvement concept, modes of cognitive processing and knowledge representation. The model identified two types of online information involvement: involvement measured by time spent online (degree of search) and by types of information sought (content of search). The results showed prior experience and knowledge with a destination influenced both by the content of search and the degree of search that a traveller engages in online while planning a trip. It appears that online search effort decreases and search content changes as a result of the different level of prior knowledge that a tourist brings to a search. The results will also have practical implications for the content, length and presentation of tourism websites that service iTravellers.

A missing link in understanding revisit intention - the role of motivation and image.

ABSTRACT This study addresses two gaps in the research on tourist revisit intention: the impact of the pre-visit psychological factor of travel motivation and its relationship with destination image. Path analysis is adopted to examine the relationships among destination image, travel motivation, and revisit intention in a rural tourism context. A causal relationship is detected between three motivation dimensions, two image dimensions, and revisit intention. All three motivational constructs (intellectual, escape, and belonging) exert a significant influence on the cognitive dimension of image, whereas only the motivation construct of escape is significantly related to the affective dimension of image. A causal relationship is also identified between the affective dimension of image and revisit intention.

Does the Visiting Friends and Relatives’ Typology Make a Difference? A Study of the International VFR Market to the United States

Using data from the In-Flight Survey of International Travelers for 1997, this study analyzed international visiting friends and relatives’ travelers (VFRs) to the United States. Three of the factors in an initial typology of VFRs were tested for their effects on travel expenditures. These typology factors (sector, scope, accommodation used) were found to have a significant influence on the expenditures of international VFRs to the United States. VFRs for whom VFR was the main travel purpose differed in their spending patterns from those for whom it was a secondary purpose. VFRs who used commercial accommodation had different expenditures from those who exclusively stayed in private homes. VFRs from individual countries differed in travel expenditures. Besides partially validating the typology, this study determined that international VFRs made substantial use of commercial accommodation and had significant expenditures on food and beverages, transportation, gifts and souvenirs, and entertainment.

Structure of Travel Planning Processes and Information Use Patterns

Based on an empirical data set collected from Chinese tourists visiting Macau SAR, this study attempts to decompose the travel decision-making process into a multistage sequence (before purchase, at time of purchase, after purchase, after arriving at destination) with multiple decision choices for a vacation trip. The study results demonstrate that travel decision making follows a multidimensional, ongoing sequence and is a hierarchical process. This study further attempts to expand the framework for describing the travel decision-making structure by incorporating information use patterns across the overall course of the travel planning process. The contingent nature of decision making is partially validated by tracing the sequence of decision making and information use along the travel planning horizon. Furthermore, given the lack of studies based on Chinese tourists’ decision-making behavior, the study results provide new insights for many tourism destinations and businesses eyeing the burgeoning Chinese tourists’ market.

Do psychographics influence vacation destination choices? A comparison of British travellers to North America, Asia and Oceania

Using national survey data on the long-haul pleasure travel market in the UK, this study compared British travellers bound for Asian, North American and Oceanic destinations on three different psychographic dimensions. Significant differences were found among the three travel groups in trael philosophies, travel benefits sought and destination attribute preferences. In contrast, demographic and socio-economic variables were found to be ineffective in differentiating the British travellers. The research findings provided further empirical evidence of the valuable role that psychographic factors, such as attitudes and preferences, can play in understanding travel decision making. The results also indicated that destination areas should identify the benefits and attributes that are most highly valued by travellers from key countryof-origin target markets. Furthe, the study suggested that there was good reason for closer marketing alliances among individual countries within a region. Within each of the three broad travel regions reviewed in this study there existed more homogeneity, while between regions there appeared to be more heterogeneity in the psychographic variables.

Yoga Tourism as a Niche Within the Wellness Tourism Market

Yoga tourism has emerged and grown with the ‘travel to feel well’ trend. This study explored this under-researched market by interviewing and surveying a group of yoga retreat participants in central Indiana, USA. This research, while exploratory in nature, delineated the socio-demographic and motivational characteristics of yoga tourists and provided empirical evidences that an individuals involvement level with yoga, physical health as well as mental well-being positively contribute to the propensity to travel for yoga. The findings bear practical relevance for tour operators and destinations that are trying to develop niche travel markets by tapping into the growing special-interest tourism market. This research provides a good baseline for future research on the yoga tourism phenomenon.

Mature International Travelers: An Examination of Gender and Benefits

Abstract With aging of the worlds population, older travelers will continue to comprise a growing proportion of the worlds travel population. This research examines differences within the older travel group with respect to travel product preferences and benefits sought with a focus on differences between males and females. The data used are from the 1997 French Pleasure Travel Market Survey and include those travelers over 50 years of age. Cluster analysis and ANOVA are employed. While there are some similarities between male and female responses, there are also differences in terms of destination attributes and benefits sought that underscore the identification of three distinct traveling groups. These results point out marketing implications, but also point toward methodological concerns that might guide future research.

Assessing the Perceived Restorative Qualities of Vacation Destinations

The objective of this study was to develop a tool for assessing how and why a destination can facilitate vacationers’ recovery from mental fatigue. Using attention restoration theory as a theoretical foundation, this research developed an initial instrument for assessing the perceived restorative qualities of vacation destinations (i.e., perceived destination restorative quality [PDRQ]). A 30-item, six-factor structure of destination restorativeness was identified. The six dimensions are compatibility, extent, mentally away, physically away, discord, and fascination. The proposed PDRQ provides a baseline measure for understanding the specific restorative properties of a particular destination. The proposed PDRQ instrument can potentially be valuable to researchers and industry practitioners interested in planning, designing, and delivering optimal restorative vacation experiences. The assessment of how a tourism destination may provide restorative properties is an understudied area. This research brings much needed attention to this topic.