How can we

Understand the

Tourists?

How to Understand the Tourists

• Understanding tourists is a key element in

providing good service.

• Successful tourism enterprises understand

that knowing their market (customers) is

important.

How to Understand the Tourists

“A professional understanding of the

consumer is at the core of the successful

business practice in the tourist industry. A

good grasp of who their tourists are would

guide businesses in their operations,

marketing and research and development

tasks.”

»Goeldner and Ritchie, 2003

Travel Motivations

Motivation: Something that stimulates

interest or causes a person to act in a

certain way.

– The needs and wants of tourists are seen as

a driving force that causes an individual to

travel.

Travel Motivations

• Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs

• Leisure Ladder Model

• Crompton’s Push-and-Pull

Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs

• From Abraham Maslow's work in 1943

entitled “ A Theory of Human Motivation”.

• This theory posits that as humans meet

their basic needs, they seek to satisfy

successively higher needs that occupy a

set of hierarchy.

Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs

Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs

• The higher the needs in the hierarchy will

only come to focus once all the lower

needs are mainly or entirely satisfied.

• The different levels are the different

intrinsic factors that could drive a person

to travel.

• Tourism enterprises could come up with

different facilities and services with

features that address certain needs

Maslow’s Hierarchy of NeedsPhysiological

• Tour packages that offer frequent rest stops

• Easily accessible food outlets in theme parks

• Sleeping shelters are strategically located

Safety

• Reservation service provided at government-approved agencies or

locations

• Cruise ship lines providing medical facilities and doctors

• Tour guide services provided in exotic or un familiar locations.

Belonging

• Group tours with people having similar interests and backgrounds

• Group recognition gained by membership in frequent user programs.

Esteem

• Elite status in frequent user programs

• Incentive travel awards for superior company

Self-Actualization

• Educational Tours and Cruises

• Theme parks providing educational opportunities and glimpses of other

cultures

Leisure Ladder Model

• Developed by Philip Pearce

• Attempts to explain individual behaviors on

the basis of stages in a tourist life cycle.

• Tourists become more experienced and

will become more proficient and effective.

Leisure Ladder Model

Relaxation and Bodily Needs

• Need for basic services for restoration and personal

maintenance

Stimulation

• Need for excitement and safety (fun and thrill of rides)

Relationship

• Need to build and extend personal relationships

Self-Esteem and Development

• Need to develop skills, knowledge and abilities

Fulfilment

• Need to feel peaceful, profundly, happy

Leisure Ladder Model

• Similar to the Hierarchy of Needs in some

ways as tourists ascend to higher level

only when they fulfil a lower level need.

Crompton’s Push and Pull

• Choice of a destination of a tourist is

driven by two forces: push and pull.

• People travel because they are:

– “Pushed” into making travel decisions by

internal, psychological forces

• Intangible desires to travel generated from within

– “Pulled” by external forces of the

destination’s attributes

• Attractions such as Disneyland or Sea World

Crompton’s Push and Pull

Tourists’ Decision Making

Process• How tourists decide on what

products/services they purchase.

• How tourists decide on where to spend

their money is a very important piece of

information for the tourism industry.

Tourists’ Decision Making

Process• Schmoll

• Matheison and Wall

• Hansal and Eiselt

Schmoll Model

• Emphasizes four succesive fields which

exerts influence on the decision of tourists.

– Travel Stimuli

– Personal and social determinants

– External variables

– Field characteristics and features of the

service

Schmoll Model

Travel Stimuli External Stimuli that can awaken an individual’s

desire or need to travel in the form of

promotional stimulation

Personal and Social

Determinants

Determine customer goals in the form of travel

desires and expectations

External Variables Involve the prospective traveler’s confidence in

the service provider destination image and past

experience and cost and time constraints

Characteristics and

Features of the Service

Examples cost/value relations,

attractions/amenities

Schmoll Model

Matheison and Wall

• A five stage model of travel buying

behavior.

• This model also identifies four interrelated

factors.

Matheison and Wall

Tourist Profile

• Age, education, income, attitudes, previous experience and motivation

Travel Awareness

• Image of destination’s facilities and services. This is based upon the

credibility of the source

Destination Resources and Characteristics

• Attractions and features of the destination

Trip Features

• Distance, trip duration and perceived risk of the area visited.

Matheison and WallFelt need or Travel

Desire

Desire to travel is felt and

reasons against the desire are

weighed

Information and

Evaluation

Potential tourists utilize travel

info to get knowledge.

Travel Decision Stage advancement occurs with

destinations mode of travel,

accommodations and activities

being selected.

Travel Preparations

and travel

equipment

Travel takes place once

bookings are made and

confirmed.

Travel Satisfaction

evaluation

During and after travel overall

experience is evaluated.

Five-Stage Model of Decision-Making by

Matheison and Wall

Felt need/

Travel Desire

Information

Collection and

Evaluation by image

Travel decision

(choice between

alternatives)

Travel preparations

And travel experienceTravel satisfaction

Outcome and evaluation

Gilbert’s Model

• This model suggests that thereare two levels of factors which have an effect on the consumer.

• The first level of influence is close to the person and include psychological influences such as perception and learning.

• The second level of influence includes those which have been developed during the socialization process and include reference groups and family influences.

Hansal and Eiselt

• Divides the process into two phases:

– Planning Phase

• Travelers decide on the basic parameters

concerning their trip.

– Modification Phase

• During which details are decided. Covers

modifications made during the trip

Models describing tourist decision-making process would

make a long-list. They have basically the same purpose

and that is to guide the tourism industry in understanding

how tourists get motivated in traveling, what things

influence or discourage them to travel, and where they

information, and purchase their selected product.

In short, these models have two fundamental roles: to

identify factors that influence the decision-making of the

tourists and to enumerate the stages of their decision-

making