Tuesday, May 5, 2020

Science of Consumer Behaviour

Question: Describe the impact of travellers behaviour and personality on his choice of a travel destination. Answer: Introduction To choose a travel destination is not a simple task but involves analysis and careful study of different aspects related to tourism and hospitality. It is a major verdict for most of the people and the decision varies based on the type of destination, costs applicable, duration, travelling time, activities, accommodation options, etc. Ones decision-making process is constituted of sequential steps that one has to pass through while deciding on a holiday destination (Mattila, 2004). Generally, people choose the place which is favourable for all the factors, but sometimes the final decision varies from the one that was the taken at the time of considering all factors. The decision change happens due to change in ones behaviour or personality traits. The marketer who is offering a tourism destination to his clients needs to assess the consumer behaviour, personality traits and the demographics of the traveller to take a successful decision (Pearce, 2016). In this report, we will analyse the factors leading to ones decision regarding a travel destination based on ones personality and demographics. Analysis of consumer behaviour based on personality theories Personality and self-image are the wide concepts that affect ones decisions. Personality is the name given to ones psychological characteristics that make an impact on ones choices and responses to a particular situation. (Fatma, Rahman, Khan, 2016) Most of these decisions generally remain invariable and importunate to the environmental situations. Self-image or Self-concept theory is analysed to know about consumers behaviour while deciding on to a travel destination (Mattila, 2005). This is a complex picture of our own mind that we create ourselves and tend to behave consistently as per that. A matrix has been designed to study the results of a survey done. Every respondent has given a score based on his or her evaluation criteria for all the questions asked. The matrix has been prepared for three respondents based on compensatory decision rule to check the effect of different personality traits on decision making and reasons for the change in evaluative criteria (Geddie, 2001). Respondent 1 Respondent 4 Respondent 5 Compensatory decision rule calculation = Sum of ((Evaluation Score / 100) * rating given option against each of the evaluative criteria) Respondent 1 Score Matrix Holiday Option Rating Holiday option based on compensatory decision rule Option 4 Is this the destination actually chosen? No, Option 2 Explanation in change in decision Based on consumer behaviour and personality, the respondent finally decided on different option then was planned earlier based on self-image. Respondents behavioural aspects: He is a teenager and is a student He is extrovert and moody sometimes but like having new experiences in his life. Being the only earner in family and bachelor, he is more concerned about tour costs. As he is highly affiliated but not very careful while deciding holiday destinations, so he has chosen Option 2 instead of option 4 that suited his personality the most. Respondent 4 Score Matrix Holiday Option Rating Holiday option based on compensatory decision rule Option 4 Is this the destination actually chosen? No, Option 3 Explanation in change in decision Based on consumer behaviour and personality, the respondent finally decided on different option then was planned earlier based on self-image. Her behaviour Pattern: She is a young bachelor. She is extrovert and moody by nature and love to experience new things in life She is not very careful but likes uniqueness in the tour plans Her income and behavioural traits support option 4 but she decided on option 3 considering new experience and uniqueness. Respondent 5 Score Matrix Holiday Option Rating Holiday option based on compensatory decision rule Option 3 Is this the destination actually chosen? Yes, Option 3 Explanation in change in decision She has made a decision as per the compensatory decision rule. She is matured and sole earner in the family. She is very careful while making decisions so no changes in the actual decision. Among the respondents chosen to study the effects of personality on ones behaviour and decision making, Respondent 1 and Respondent 4 have resulted in the difference between their holiday destination choice and ranking of evaluative criteria however Respondent 5 has chosen the same destination as per ranking. The reason behind these changes is their self-image and personality (Rutherford, 2000). Respondent 1 is a young student who is a sufficient salary earner. He enjoys being involved in new experiences and activities. He is not bothered about the luxury stay. Thus, he has chosen option 2 (Las Vegas) as a travel destination to meet his expectation (Brunt, 2001). Respondent 4 is young bachelor and love to have new experiences. She is an extrovert and likes uniqueness in her tour plans so she has chosen option 3 (New Zealand) as a destination for next tour which will offer quite a uniqueness of cruise stay and maximum cities coverage. Respondent 5 is a mature lady earning a good income. She is more comfortable travelling to a place which offers clean and calm surroundings with less physical activities involved. So, she has chosen option 3 (New Zealand cruise) to take rest during vacation. Analysis of Behaviour based on demographics Plethora of destinations is available all around the world to visit offering to vide variety of products and services. The demographics such as age, gender, income, family responsibility, personality, etc affect the choice of travel destinations. People with different demographic groups prefer different destinations to satisfy their travel requirements. Age It is one of the major factors that affect the choice of travel destinations. The experiences and choices vary as per diverse age groups. Teenagers and youngsters generally prefer new experiences, activities and adventure games whereas elderly people prefer to have a destination offering calm surroundings and luxury stay options (Volo, 2006). Taking an example of our sample respondents, we can conclude that respondent 1 and 4 who are of age group 18-26 prefer new experiences and uniqueness in the tour whereas respondent 5 chose a destination with slow pace tour (Wang, Law, Hung, Guillet, 2014). Gender This component of demographic groups also mildly affect the choice of destination. Male travellers choose destinations based on the costs involved whereas females prefer to include more activities within specified price range. Income Ones economic condition has a significant effect on ones decision regarding travel destination. People prefer the products and services that match their income group. Recommendations Consumer behaviour analysis is a difficult task that involves the study of many factors. People prefer to examine many internal and external factors while deciding for a holiday destination. An individual learns by his deeds and it ultimately causes a change in his behaviour patterns by making an influence on understanding. Ones decisions are based on his learning (Wang, Law, Hung, Guillet, 2014). If a tourist has to decide on a destination for vacation, he learns about various factors like accommodation kind, travelling mode, new experiences, activities, cost involved and majorly the reason of travel. Conclusion In this paper, we have studied the impact of travellers behaviour and personality on his choice of a travel destination. Different people with unique personality patterns prefer to choose different destinations. Other than this, demographic factors also affect the travellers destination choice. As a marketer, one should analyse and consider all the factors to make his travel plan a success. References Brunt, P. (2001). Consumer behaviour in tourism.Tourism Management,22(5), 579-580. Fatma, M., Rahman, Z., Khan, I. (2016). Measuring consumer perception of CSR in tourism industry: Scale development and validation.Journal Of Hospitality And Tourism Management,27, 39-48. Geddie, M. (2001). Consumer Behavior in Travel and Tourism.International Journal Of Hospitality Management,20(2), 229-230 Mattila, A. (2004). Consumer behavior research in hospitality and tourism journals.International Journal Of Hospitality Management,23(5), 449-457. Mattila, A. (2005). Corrigendum to Consumer behavior research in hospitality and tourism journals [International Journal of Hospitality Management 23 (2004) 449457].International Journal Of Hospitality Management,24(1), 151. Pearce, P. (2016). Australian contributions to tourist behaviour studies.Journal Of Hospitality And Tourism Management,26, 84-90. Rutherford, D. (2000). Trade Dress and Consumer Perception of Product Similarity.Journal Of Hospitality Tourism Research,24(2), 163-179. Thorn, K. (2003). Consumer psychology of tourism, hospitality and leisure (volume 2).Tourism Management,24(3), 348-349. Volo, S. (2006). A Consumer-Based Measurement of Tourism Innovation.Journal Of Quality Assurance In Hospitality Tourism,6(3-4), 73-87. Wang, L., Law, R., Hung, K., Guillet, B. (2014). Consumer trust in tourism and hospitality: A review of the literature.Journal Of Hospitality And Tourism Management,21, 1-9.

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