Module 3

Chapter 3
For Tourism & Hospitality Marketing
CHAPTER III

Tourism and Consumer Behavior

Consumer Behavior is the process and activities people engage in when searching for, selecting,
purchasing, using, evaluating and disposing products and services to satisfy their needs and desires.

Factors that influence consumer behavior

1. Motivation
The inner drives that make people take a specific plan of action to satisfy their needs. The
person who has the ability to understand how motivation works will have the ability to
gain competitive advantage. If one is able to identify what triggers purchase, he can
actually create a scenario to influence the purchase.

2. Culture
The impact of culture cannot be disregarded in the study of consumer behavior.
Researchers have looked into how culture has affected consumer behavior.
3. Age and Gender
Age is a traditional way of segmenting the market and also greatly influences consumer
behavior.
Gender also influences consumer behavior. The female market is steadily increasing and
has been observed to be more discriminating than its male counterparts.
 4. Social Class
Social class is one position within the society and is determined by factors such as
income, wealth, education, occupation, family prestige and value of home neighborhood.
5. Lifestyle
A lifestyle is a person’s pattern of living as expressed by one's activities, interests and
opinions.
6. Lifecycle
Life cycle refers to the stages an individual goes through in their lifetime.
7. Reference Groups
Reference Groups are known to be a set of people who have a direct or indirect influence
on others attitudes/behavior.
8. Personality and Self Concept
Personality refers to distinguishing psychological characteristics that lead to relatively
consistent and enduring responses to the environment.

The Buyer Decision Making Process

Decision making is made after a thorough evaluation of the alternatives because the products are
expensive, complex and possibly unrepeatable.

1. Need Recognition

- Needs are triggered either by internal and or external stimuli.

2. Information Search

-once a consumer recognizes a specific need, he may or may not be prompted to search for more
information. The eagerness for more information depends on the strength of the desire,
information that a person may already have, and the satisfaction he may get from the additional
information he gains.

3. Evaluation Alternatives

-the stage allows prospective customers to make detailed comparisons of different product or
service providers since they already have sufficient information.
4. Purchase Decision

-this is the stage most awaited by tourism marketers. This is when consumers actually made a
purchase decision. At this stage marketers should facilitate the speed and convenience by which the
products or services reach the consumers.

5. Post-Purchase Evaluation

-it is extremely important for product and service providers to ensure that customers have a good
experience with the product. This will facilitate positive word of mouth. Customer’s satisfaction can have
different degrees as follows; extremely satisfied, satisfied, neutral, dissatisfied, and extremely dissatisfied.

Customer Satisfaction through Service Quality

Marketers can be creative in reducing consumer post-purchase dissatisfaction by keeping in touch even
after the sale has been made and knowing how to address customer complaints. A thank you letter, a
small token/gift/souvenirs and the feedback from soliciting suggestions for improvement can help make
customers feel good about their purchase.

Service Quality as defined in businessdictionary.com is an assessment how well the delivered service
conforms to the client’s expectations. Service business operators often assess the service quality provided
to their customers in order to improve their services, to quickly identify problems, and to better assess
client satisfaction.

Benefits of Service Quality

1. Customer Retention – Service quality helps build loyalty among customers and makes these
customers speak positively about the service provider.
2. Avoidance of Price Competition – providing high quality service helps in maximizing
potential revenue and veers the company away from the price war.
3. Retention of Good Employees – when an operation is well run and produces high quality
products, recruitment, training and retention of employees are easy.
4. Reduction of Costs – costs are minimized if there are repeat customers, absence of a price
war, and low turn-over rate of employees
 Organizational Buyer Behavior

The organizational buying process is a more formal version of the consumer buying process
discussed earlier in the chapter. Organizations are more complex because of more people involved in the
decision making process, and there is greater demand for a variety of products and services.
Organizations buy in bulk for group consumption while consumers usually purchase in retail for personal
consumption. Hence, marketers give importance to understanding buyer behavior of organizations
primarily because they generate big time sales and revenues.

Organizational buyers commonly respond to both economic and personal factors. Major
influences of purchase may include cost and economic outlook, organizations objectives and personal
agenda, interpersonal factors at play between buyers and sellers, and personal motivations, perceptions
and preferences.

1. Problem Recognition
2. General need and specification
3. Product specification
4. Supplier search
5. Proposal solicitation
6. Supplier selection
7. Order routine specification
8. Performance review

Typology of Tourists

Plog’s Tourist Motivation Model

Cohen’s Model
- Cohen (1972) proposed four classification of tourist, the organized mass tourist, the individual
mass tourist, the explorer and the drifter. The organized mass tourist is the type of tourist who buys all-
inclusive tour packages and ensures that everything goes as planned. The individual mass tourist is more
autonomous than the organized mass tourist preferring to travel independently, but still chooses popular
destinations and activities. The explorer seeks new areas but would sometimes opt for the comfort of
familiar accommodations. The drifter is the free spirit who avoids any kind of traditional tourist
establishments.

Stewart’s Model
- this model was based on a study of United Kingdom holiday makers conducted by the Henley
Centre by Stewart in 1993. The model is built on the concept that as people become more affluent, they
tend to travel more and the travel experience is cumulative. They also tend to be more adventurous and
confident as their level of affluence and travel experience increases. Stewart distinguishes the following
four phases of holiday taking.

1. Bubble Travelers – have low affluence, low travel experience, and observe foreign culture
from a bubble. This gives them basic confidence to travel.
2. Idealized-experience seekers – have more affluence and a base of overseas travel
experience, which gives them more confidence.
3. Wide-horizon travelers – have more affluence, greater confidence, and more travel
experience; now ready for more individually oriented travel to a wider range of destinations.
4. Total immersers – do not seek to merely observe but to be exposed fully to another
culture’s language, food heritage and lifestyle.

The Non-Users

Successful marketing efforts should cover the different segments of the market. While
relationship marketing, which focuses on customer retention, has become a popular marketing alternative,
marketers should continue to make efforts to acquire new customers. The best way to do this would be to
target the non-users. Non –users can be classified as; (1) ex-users who stopped using the products/
services for various reasons. (2) Costumers who are aware of the product or services but need to be
persuaded to purchased, and (3) those who are not aware of the product or service’s existence.