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The aim of this study is to understand how parents-to-be expect their future holidays with their first child to change accordingly, and most important the reasoning behind this.

By the use of a qualitative-explorative research approach (Grounded Theory method), ten in-depth interviews were done with Dutch parents-to-be, expecting their first child.

The results show that emotional response ranks high in terms of the occurred changes, which originate from a set of interrelated consequences. A strong link with a deep fundamental basis rooted in daily life values can be made.

To surmount the limitations of this study observational methods would have to be employed. The collection of information relating to decision making can only evoke faults if the research would take place after the couples transform into parents-to-be through a setting of a longitudinal study. In addition, generalization should be carefully taken into account in terms of cultural backgrounds, which can devise changes as well.

This will oblige the tourism industry to consider product differentiation to serve this segment better and to capture a competitive position in the dynamic tourism industry.

The holiday has been perceived as a part of daily life and should create a certain degree of added value which refers to a deeper fundamental basis. Therefore, it can be argued that this study contributed to the decision-making literature by going beyond the scope of family holidays.

Children's influence is becoming widely accepted across a range of family purchasing decisions. This paper considers the role and influence of children in family holiday decision making — an area which has been relatively under‐researched compared to other aspects of consumer behaviour. The research reveals that for parents holidays are all about compromise and risk, and that children are a key part of the decision making unit. 75% of parents show their children holiday brochures and ask what they think, and children proactively offer ideas and suggestions about the choice of holiday. The nature of their involvement will depend on their age more than any other factor.

Ever since the rise of tourism, the holiday behavior of the Dutch has been subjected to certain changes inherent to various general societal developments. The assumption is warranted that this has also caused certain changes in the holiday decision‐making process. 1984 was the most recent year a national study into the holiday selection process was conducted. It was considered advisable after more than ten years to repeat such a study in order to review whether and to which extent the holiday selection process had actually changed.

Family holiday decision-making (FHDM) is a process composed of several stages. This paper aims to describe two objectives: to identify at each stage the roles in couples, the main decision-maker in the case of family holidays; and to determine the most influential variables.

To identify the roles played by the partners, a frequency analysis has been conducted, which provides a graphic representation of the so-called feasibility triangles. The technique selected to identify the variables that explained the decision structure was binary logistic regression. In total, 375 useful dyads of questionnaires were received.

Holidays follow a joint decision-making process in the initiation phase and in the final decision, while the search for information is carried out equally by either partner. The woman’s work situation, the type of destination travelled to and the difference in education levels between them are the variables that best explain how couples decide on their family holidays.

A better understanding of the FHDM process will help tourism companies to improve their marketing campaigns.

The characteristics of the sample composed of 375 couples whose members completed a questionnaire separately have allowed not have to rely on one response per household, which adds reliability to the results. This sample is higher than the one of many reference publications on the subject. Furthermore, this paper revealed differences between male and female perception.

This paper aims to study the decision‐making processes of Portuguese tourists traveling to South America and Africa destinations by developing a conceptual framework that focuses on information sources, motivations, perceptions, satisfactions, and behavioral intentions.

The study applies a structural model that looks to explain the factors behind decision making and the relationships present. The relationships are observed in detail through the application of a categorical principal component analysis.

The results of the empirical study show that behavioral intentions precede emotional and cognitive satisfaction, which in turn, are explained through perceptions and motivations. Tourists perceive tourism destinations as places of leisure although little information is available on existing facilities and core attractions.

The study has the restriction of being limited to the Portuguese tourists. However, these findings open paths for further investigation, namely extending to other destinations and to tourists with different motivations.

This study contributes to the overall understanding of the decision‐making processes of tourists. Specifically, the decision processes is assess by considering two stages: the pre‐purchase stage and the post‐purchase stage. These two phases were analyzed in order to understand how people decide to travel to a certain destination.

The purpose of this paper is to provide insight into the temporal development of the customers' psychological state, described by a multitude of constructs, throughout the whole decision‐making process in a service context in order to derive ideas for customer‐focused benchmarking.

A combination of qualitative and quantitative data contributes to a better understanding of psychological phenomena during purchase decision making. The present longitudinal study investigates the consumers' psychological state during the decision‐making process considering services in tourism industry applying the diary method. Qualitative in‐depth investigation of individual case studies provides further information for interpreting the results of quantitative analyses which aim at measuring constructs such as perceived risk, cognitive dissonance (CD), satisfaction and arousal on a higher level of abstraction.

Findings show that qualitative and quantitative data not only complement one another but also their interaction provides additional information about the individual consumer decision‐making process. As the longitudinal quantitative analysis shows that CD does not completely dissolve over time and significantly influences the level of satisfaction, complaint behaviour and word‐of‐mouth, additional qualitative data help interpret these findings and derive more effective marketing implications.

Implications for the marketing‐mix of service companies in general and travel agencies in particular are derived. The paper underlines the potential of innovational methodological approaches in marketing research.

The paper introduces a longitudinal mixed‐method approach to collect customer‐focused information relevant for benchmarking purposes of service companies. It contributes to scientific knowledge of decision making in general and CD in particular.

This chapter investigates how holiday decisions for couples change when they become parents. By the use of a qualitative-explorative research approach (grounded theory method), 10 in-depth interviews were done with Dutch parents-to-be expecting their first child. The results show that emotional response ranks high in terms of the occurred changes, which originate from a set of interrelated consequences. A strong link with a deep fundamental basis rooted in daily life values can be made. Such roots oblige the tourism industry to consider product differentiation to serve this segment better and to capture a competitive position in the dynamic tourism industry.

Introduction: Just as the tourism event begins with the human element, it again ends with the human element. Therefore, the existence, behaviours and attitudes of the human factor is an issue that should be prioritised much more when compared to other sectors. Consumer behaviour involves certain decisions, activities, ideas or experiences that meet the needs and desires of the consumer. Prior to these actions, consumer behaviour is concerned with all the activities directly related to the attainment, consumption and disposition of the products and services. In this chapter, touristic consumer behaviour, consumer choice and behaviour of the relevant destination, and the management of the destination choice process are presented.

Aim: The chapter aims to reveal how important it is to know the consumer’s destination choice behaviour in both ensuring that the consumer has had a satisfied holiday during the holiday process, and that employers and employees, as service providers, experience the peace and pride of providing a good and quality service. Knowing the behaviour patterns of potential consumers and developing their marketing activities accordingly will provide great convenience to service marketers in the future.

Method: To do this a literature review has been carried out on the issues of destination choice behaviour and tourist travel behaviour.

Result: Tourist behaviour is the most significant indicator or predictor of future tourist behaviour. Considering the social role of the tourist, the behaviour of a tourist can also be an indicator of the behaviour of others. With their behaviours, tourists determine the norms of social behaviour within the context of tourism. These norms are also followed by other consumers such as engaging in tourist behaviour, as well as those who have not travelled yet. Tourist behaviour is the context of the consumer behaviour in the purchasing and abandoning the tourist services.

Implication: The characteristics of the consumer, their past experiences, the level of influence from other consumers, etc. In the future, knowing the behaviour patterns of potential consumers and developing their marketing activities in this direction will provide great convenience to service marketers.

Originality of Study: In the study, it is desired to draw attention to the importance of knowing consumer behaviours in their destination selection. Therefore, this study is thought to be useful in future studies, especially in terms of shedding light on the consumer behaviours and roles that play a role in determining the factors that play a role in destination selection.

This study aims to identify typologies of women who take holiday decisions within the couple, characterizing their profile through their lifestyles and some socio‐demographic variables.

The information was obtained through a survey addressed to Spanish women who were married or lived with their partner. Data were used to perform two types of analyses: scales validation and cluster analysis.

Three different groups have been found depending on the importance the women give to pre‐ and during‐holiday decisions. These groups present specific socio‐demographic characteristics, interests and opinions. However, findings reveal the need for further research into women's lifestyles as an explanatory variable.

This information will contribute not only to the academic knowledge, but will also help tourist managers to create competitive offers. It will also allow managers to implement more efficient promotional campaigns with the aim of attracting female tourists.

A classification of women, based on their holiday decisions, their lifestyles (activities, interest and opinions, AIO scale) and on some socio‐demographic variables (age, time living with the partner, children, occupation, level of studies, personal and family income, etc.), is provided in order to characterise them.