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Publication date: 25 July 2008

Kenneth F. Hyde

Independent travelers are those vacationers who have booked only a minimum of their transportation and accommodation arrangements prior to departure on the vacation. Independent…

Abstract

Independent travelers are those vacationers who have booked only a minimum of their transportation and accommodation arrangements prior to departure on the vacation. Independent travel is an important and growing sector of worldwide tourism. Choice of vacation itinerary for the independent vacation represents a complex series of decisions regarding purchase of multiple leisure and tourism services. This chapter builds and tests a model of independent traveler decision-making for choice of vacation itinerary. The research undertaken employs a two-phase, inductive–deductive case study design. In the deductive phase, the researcher interviewed 20 travel parties vacationing in New Zealand for the first time. The researcher interviewed respondents at both the beginning and the end of their New Zealand vacations. The study compares pre-vacation research and plans, and actual vacation behaviors, on a case-by-case basis. The study examines case study narratives and quantitative measures of crucial variables. The study tests two competing models of independent traveler decision-making, using a pattern-matching procedure. This embedded research design results in high multi-source, multi-method validity for the supported model. The model of the Independent Vacation as Evolving Itinerary suggests that much of the vacation itinerary experienced in independent travel is indeed unplanned, and that a desire to experience the unplanned is a key hedonic motive for independent travel. Rather than following a fixed itinerary, the itinerary of an independent vacation evolves as the vacation proceeds. The independent traveler takes advantage of serendipitous opportunities to experience a number of locations, attractions and activities that they had neither actively researched nor planned.

Details

Advances in Culture, Tourism and Hospitality Research
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-84950-522-2

Article
Publication date: 24 October 2008

Markus Schuckert, Mike Peters and Beate Fessler

The aim of this paper is to analyse the motives and the socio‐economic profile of bed and breakfast (B&B) and vacation home owners in the tourism industry.

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Abstract

Purpose

The aim of this paper is to analyse the motives and the socio‐economic profile of bed and breakfast (B&B) and vacation home owners in the tourism industry.

Design/methodology/approach

The first part of the paper provides a literature review of types of entrepreneurship as described in tourism and leisure research. The second part presents a survey which was carried out in 2006 in the Austrian province of Vorarlberg to assess owner‐managers' perception of entrepreneurial activities (n=246).

Findings

The data do reveal the motives which drive these owners or entrepreneurs and highlight why vacation homes are going to be a growing field of accommodation in the tourism industry. The findings show that the B&B business model can be interpreted as a market entrance model, while owner‐managers change towards vacation homes after approximately five years of firm existence.

Research limitations/implications

It is argued that some stakeholder groups within an enterprise, such as young trainees or apprentices, might have deeper insights into entrepreneurial processes and leadership skills. However, more research is needed to analyse the supply side of vacation homes and B&Bs because the owner‐manager is still a neglected area of tourism research. The study is limited by its focus on one specific region, the province of Vorarlberg in Western Austria, a region of rural and Alpine nature.

Originality/value

A decrease in B&B firms can be forecast for Western Austria. Owner‐managers should be aware of recent tourism developments and need to investigate how and to what extent value might be added to or subtracted from their businesses. For tourism policy is it of the utmost importance to learn more about owner‐managers' motivations to run their businesses and to maintain a certain quality of the vacation home supply.

Details

Tourism Review, vol. 63 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1660-5373

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 1 January 1993

Erdener Kaynak and Orsay Kucukemiroglu

The purpose of this empirical study is to find out the similarities and differences between first and multiple time Hong Kong holiday makers in their selection of foreign holiday…

Abstract

The purpose of this empirical study is to find out the similarities and differences between first and multiple time Hong Kong holiday makers in their selection of foreign holiday destinations and the type of activities they are engaged in while spending their vacations away from home. Study results indicate that there are demographic, socio‐economic and behavioral differences between first and multiple time Hong Kong overseas visitors. These pronounced differences between the two segments can be used in the development of appropriate marketing strategies to attract higher numbers of tourists to the same destination.

Details

Asia Pacific International Journal of Marketing, vol. 5 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0954-7517

Article
Publication date: 9 February 2015

Amy M Gregory, H.G. Parsa, Khaldoon Nusair, David J Kwun and Sanjay Putrevu

This research aims to propose a model that may be used to classify product attributes according to their effect on customer satisfaction within the services industry. It also aims…

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Abstract

Purpose

This research aims to propose a model that may be used to classify product attributes according to their effect on customer satisfaction within the services industry. It also aims to apply the model to vacation ownership products and to explore attributes related to both the purchase and use of the product: an owned luxury product.

Design/methodology/approach

Data from 3,231 vacation ownership customers of multiple international companies were analyzed using a modified Kano model and related questionnaire.

Findings

This study reveals the effect that specific product attributes have on customer satisfaction. It addresses previously unexplored attributes (i.e. sales techniques and hotel program benefits), confirms others previously identified with customer satisfaction (i.e. amenities, exchange benefits, hotel affiliation and vacation counselors) and reveals those that had no incremental effect on overall satisfaction (i.e. financing and activities).

Practical implications

Results of this study suggest that attributes have varying effects on customers’ overall satisfaction and submit that companies may wish to focus their efforts in particular areas to maintain or improve overall satisfaction. Doing so may create opportunities for companies to increase satisfaction, operate more efficiently or distinguish themselves within the marketplace.

Originality/value

This research is the first comprehensive examination of customer satisfaction related to the purchase and consumption of an owned luxury vacation product, reveals misconceptions related to certain product attributes, uncovers previously unidentified attributes, provides a model for examining customer satisfaction that could be applied across lodging products and provides a benchmark for future studies.

Details

International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, vol. 27 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0959-6119

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 11 July 2018

Jenna Drenten

Surprise family vacations have become increasingly prevalent in today’s digitally mediated consumer culture. Drawing on a performance-based view of tourism, this paper aims to…

Abstract

Purpose

Surprise family vacations have become increasingly prevalent in today’s digitally mediated consumer culture. Drawing on a performance-based view of tourism, this paper aims to explore the performance practices and embodied experiences by which young consumers are the recipients of last-minute surprise vacations.

Design/methodology/approach

YouTube offers a space for examining surprise family vacations, as captured in real time by consumers. The visual elements and verbal discourses of 139 surprise family vacation reveal videos were analyzed using a hermeneutical approach.

Findings

Findings suggest that surprise family vacations are characterized by three performance practices in which embodied tensions arise between normative expectations and unanticipated experiences: executing the reveal (scripted act versus improvised act), announcing the destination (absolute ideal versus relative ideal) and reacting to the surprise (initial acceptance versus initial rejection).

Research limitations/implications

By exploring a phenomenon in which children’s anticipation for a vacation is largely absent or limited, surprise family vacations reveal culturally idealized norms and performative practices in family tourism. Positioning a family vacation as an offering or surprise for the children is distinct from previous research, which suggests family vacations are co-created. Children of all ages experience tourism-related stresses and anxieties.

Practical implications

The primary practical contribution for marketers lies in revealing how the material and performative practices of a family vacation begins even before a family enters its tourist destination. Service providers and retailers may provide offerings for families to support surprise family vacations, particularly in an increasingly digital culture. This study also reveals opportunities for parents to strategically discuss surprise vacations with their kids.

Originality/value

This study captures the liminal moment in which a child’s tourism journey begins. By using YouTube as a resource for digital ethnography, researchers can better understand how families discuss, negotiate and mediate tourism-oriented concepts, through their lived experiences.

Details

Young Consumers, vol. 19 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1747-3616

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 13 December 2018

Frida Bahja, Cihan Cobanoglu, Katerina Berezina and Carolin Lusby

The purpose of the study was to discover the relative importance of influencing factors toward booking a cruise vacation. Based on a review of literature, this study focused on…

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Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of the study was to discover the relative importance of influencing factors toward booking a cruise vacation. Based on a review of literature, this study focused on exploring the relative importance of six influential factors in cruise customers’ decision-making process: cruise vacation price, cruise duration, distance from the cruise port, itineraries, environmental friendliness of cruise line and cruise online reviews.

Design/methodology/approach

The complexity of cruise customers’ decision-making process for involving these six attributes with several levels was examined with choice-based conjoint (CBC) analysis. CBC was selected due to its realistic approach to purchase decisions, in the form of trade-offs. The online survey collected data anonymously. The survey was distributed through Amazon’s Mechanical Turk (Mturk) platform. The sample consisted of 450 cruise customers, who had experienced a cruise vacation before.

Findings

The findings of the study showed that online reviews were the most influential attribute for cruise customers in their cruise decision, followed very closely by the environmental friendliness of the cruise line. The next influential factor was the duration of the cruise vacation, which was followed by distance from the cruise port, cruise itinerary and cruise vacation price. The best and the worst cruise vacation profiles were generated based on the CBC analysis.

Practical implications

The findings of this study provide some insights with regard to cruise customers’ importance about influencing factors when deciding on a cruise vacation.

Originality/value

The research provides insides in understanding the influential factors at the last stage of cruise customers’ decision-making process. In this regard, cruise industry can pay more attention in promoting the attributes of a cruise offer as influential factors. Additionally, the findings of this study contribute to the general knowledge about cruise customers’ decision-making process.

Details

Tourism Review, vol. 74 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1660-5373

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 2 October 2017

Seohee Chang

The purpose of this paper is to theoretically formulate the plausibility of affective recalling through the analysis of different psychological theories and assumptions and…

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to theoretically formulate the plausibility of affective recalling through the analysis of different psychological theories and assumptions and develops the theory of vacation happiness bias on the emergence of some variations on affective recalling and forecasting intertwined with dispositional affect, affect regulation and types of situational affect.

Design/methodology/approach

This study uses a non-empirical method to find gaps in the literature and the existing theories and build a new theoretical model, vacation happiness bias.

Findings

The theory of vacation happiness bias accounts for how the modified focalism model that is expanded to affective recalling beyond affective forecasting works, and thus the modified model is better accounted particularly for the vacation field. In addition, the theory of vacation happiness bias explains how different types of affect and affect regulation are intertwined with one another within the modified focalism frame, thereby yielding some variation. Recalled vacation experiences are more positive than vacation experiences as of the present as a result of affect that is controlled through affect regulation merged with social desirability bias.

Originality/value

Research in tourism and psychology fields has not yet deemed affective recalling, even though affective recalling would likely be more salient in the vacation context that is different from the context of daily life.

Details

International Journal of Culture, Tourism and Hospitality Research, vol. 11 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1750-6182

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 1 October 1987

Luiz Moutinho

The analysis of consumer behaviour requires the consideration of various processes internal and external to the individual. To understand behaviour, it is necessary to examine the…

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Abstract

The analysis of consumer behaviour requires the consideration of various processes internal and external to the individual. To understand behaviour, it is necessary to examine the complex interaction of many influencing elements. This study deals with determinants of behaviour, culture and reference group influences, the relationships between individuals and their environments, perceived risks, and family decision processes. It concludes with an illustration of tourist behaviour modelling.

Details

European Journal of Marketing, vol. 21 no. 10
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0309-0566

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 24 August 2012

Anita Zehrer and John C. Crotts

The purpose of this study is to develop a vacation stress model that shows the influence exerted by internal and external stressors on the overall stress appraisal of US residents.

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Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this study is to develop a vacation stress model that shows the influence exerted by internal and external stressors on the overall stress appraisal of US residents.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper undertakes a review of the relevant literature and develops a SEM model for vacation stress, which is tested with data from a national panel of 110 US residents who report on taking a recent vacation.

Findings

The model shows that vacation stress is a multi‐dimensional concept. Vacation stress can be operationalized by pre‐trip stressors, travel stressors and destination stressors, which again can be internally or externally caused and correlate with one another. Destination stressors are the strongest dimension determining overall vacation stress. Vacation stress has more impact on the willingness to revisit than on the willingness to recommend the same destination to friends and relatives.

Practical implications

The study presents some practical implications for tourism marketers revealing that stress is multi‐dimensional and influenced by several types of stressors.

Originality/value

The notion that leisure activities such as taking a vacation may act as a means of coping with stress, is a common belief. However, research framed under transactional theory suggests that taking a vacation trip may actually cause stress. The paper attempts to provide a model to determine which factors cause overall vacation stress.

Details

Tourism Review, vol. 67 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1660-5373

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 1 February 1980

Edwin Whiting and Graham Venning

The majority of British workers enjoy at least four weeks annual vacation . After a lull in demands for longer holidays, pressure is being renewed in response to the demise of…

Abstract

The majority of British workers enjoy at least four weeks annual vacation . After a lull in demands for longer holidays, pressure is being renewed in response to the demise of incomes policy restrictions and the forecasts of inevitably rising unemployment.

Details

Personnel Review, vol. 9 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0048-3486

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