May 26th, 2009

RESEARCH TITLE:

CONSUMER BEHAVIOR IN TOURISM

GROUP MEMBERS:

NEŞE ROMAN YASEMİN AKSOY

2006104603 2006103523

INSTRUCTOR:

MARIA DOLORES ALVAREZ

TABLE OF CONTENTS

CONSUMER BEHAVIOR IN TOURISM AND TRAVEL

1. Broad Research Question………………………………………………………….........2

2. Literature Review………………………………………………………………….........2

2.1. Table 1: Attributes Used By Researchers To Measure Destination Image…….……...3

3. Research Question………………………………………………………………............5

4. Theoretical Framework…………………………………………………………............6

4.1. Table 2: Theoretical Framework……………………………………………………....6

5. Operational Definition Of The Variables……………………………………………….7

5.1. Table 3: Dimensions of motivation……………………………………………………7

5.2. Table 4: Dimensions of Destination Image………………………………………........7

6.Hypotheses……………………………………………………………………………….7

7.Research Design………………………………………………………………………….8

8.Sampling Design…………………………………………………………………............8

9.Data Collection Method………………………………………………………………….8

10. Description of the Sample...............................................................................................9

10.1 Table 5: Demographic Characteristic of the Respondents……………………….…..10

11. Descriptive Statistics.....................................................................................................11

11.1 Table 6: The Importance Of Motivations In The Selection Of Istanbul…………...11

11.2 Table 7: The Image of Istanbul as a Destination.......................................................11

12. Reliability of Scale........................................................................................................12

12.1 Table 8: Analyze- Scale…………………………………………………………......12

12.2 Table 9: Inter- Item Consistency- Cronbach’s Alpha…………………………….....12

13. Cronbach’s Alpha …………………………………………………………………….13

13.1 Table 10: Item-Total Statistics.....................................................................................13

14. Pearson’s Correlation …………………………………………………………………13

14.1 Table 11: Pearson’s Correlation……………………………………………………...13

15. Implications and Recommendations .............................................................................14

16. Limitations......................................................................................................................14

17. Conclusion.......................................................................................................................15

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18.References………. ………………………………………………………......................16

19.Copy of Questionnaire…………...……………………………………………………...18

CONSUMER BEHAVIOR IN TRAVEL AND TOURISM

1. BROAD RESEARCH QUESTION

The question of how people consume travel and tourism products has become a focal point in

tourism research in the past two decades. Efforts to unveil the determinants that shape travel

behaviour stemmed not only from pure academic interest, but from practical business

considerations, as well. In evolving marketplace of the travel industry has realised that

understanding travel behaviour is imperative in today’s highly competitive business

environment. After all, in such circumstances the ability to compete effectively is highly

correlated with the ability to tailor the travel product to tourists’ needs, expectations and

desires ( Pizam& Mansfeld,1999).

2. LITERATURE REVIEW

In recent years, there have been lots of research in the area of consumer behavior in tourism

and the studies mostly showed that motivation plays a significant role in determining tourist

behavior. The image of the tourist product and destination are changing day by day and these

changes with involving travel experiences can have a major effect on travelers’ satisfaction

levels (Pizam and Mansfeld, 1999).

According to Goodall (1991, as cited in Hsu, Tsai and Wu, 2007), motivations take the

initiative actions and produce a satisfactory behavior but more have determinant limitations

are exercised by the decision maker’s preferences. Personal preferences might be determined

such as motivations reflect individual likes and dislikes as intrinsic effect and socially

conditioned as extrinsic.

Many authors see motivation as a major effect on the tourist behavior. One of the most

determinant factors of motivation is the concept of need. It is considered that, in order to

understand the human motivation, it is necessary to discover what needs people have and how

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they can be satisfied. Maslow in 1943 was the first to attempt to do this with his needs

hierarchy theory that is now best-known of all motivation (Pizam and Mansfeld, 1999).

Tourism is a resource industry and dependent on nature’s capacity and society’s heritage.

Visitors are attracted to areas of outstanding beauty. In some areas this beauty is the climate

and activities which are the major attraction. Facilities designed to improve accessibility are

the major investments for destination areas since the industry is based on travel. Each new

form of transport changes the accessibility equation for tourist destinations. The improved

accessibility brings a significant increase not only in accommodation but also in visitor

numbers. Since tourism sells personal experiences, the process of growing worse of the

environment need not be the first sign of trouble for a destination. When visitors with

different expectations find themselves in a conflict with accommodation facilities and

amenities, a negative vacation experience can occur (Murphy, 1985).

Table 1: Attributes Used by Researchers to Measure Destination Image (Reilly, 1990)

Functional (physical measurable) Number of Studies Measuring the Attribute

(max14)

Scenery /natural attraction 13

Hospitality/ Friendliness 11

Costs/ price level 9

Climate 8

Tourist sites/ activities 8

Nightlife and entertainment 8

Sport facilities/ activities 8

Local Infrastructure/ transportation 7

Architecture/ Buildings 7

Different customs/ culture 7

Historic Sites/ Museums 6

Accommodation Facilities 5

Personal Safety 4

Economic development/ Affluence 3

Opportunity for adventure 3

Accessibility 2

3

Degree of urbanization 1

Quality of service 1

Psychological (abstract)

This list was derived by grouping the attributes used and notable exception. Reilly (1990 as

cited in Echtner & Ritchie, 2003) used open- ended questions to allow respondents to describe

in their own words, image of the state.

According to Baloglu and McCleary (1999), image is mostly shaped by two major forces:

stimulus factors and personal factors. The former forces stem from the external stimulus and

physical object as well as previous experience. Personal factors consist of social and

psychological characteristics of the perceiver. Personal factors, on the other hand, are the

characteristics (social and psychological) of the perceiver. From another perspective,

destination image has 2 different attributes. These are controllable attributes (destination,

product, price, place and promotion) and uncontrollable ones (personal characteristics) (Sirgy

& Su, 2000).

The analysis of destination image has been the most common subject in related academic

literature and has made an important contribution in order to understand tourists’ behavior

well. Hunt (1975) was the first person awairing of its importance in increasing the number of

tourist visiting destinations. So destination image plays a significant role on the process of

decision making in tourism (Baloglu & McCleary, 1999). Tourists’ behavior can be expected

by the image of destinations. This effect begins in choosing the holiday destination, so that

the holiday choice cannot be considered in parts of the objective environment (Johnson &

Thomas, 1995).

In a clear manner, if we optimize the efficiency and effectiveness of market activities, we

must understand how consumers make their decisions in order to purchase tourism product. If

we know, we can know who to target. Moreover, we will know how to persuade them to

choose certain products that are designed to meet their particular needs and wants

(Swarbrooke & Horner, 1999)

The aim of a behavior analysis approach to travel studies is to understand the psychological

forces that help an individual traveler motivate, that influence the various travel-related

decisions the individual makes, and that impact the level of satisfaction with a destination

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region. Many tourism and recreation researchers have investigated the reasons why people

travel. They studied the traveler's purchase behavior and emphasized the image of a tourist

destination and also the tourist's perception of an attitude toward a tourist destination (Chon,

1990).

The intangible nature of the service has a determinative effect on the consumers’ decision-

making process involved with purchase. The high spend aspect of tourism, the higher risk

decision- making process (Swarbrooke & Horner, 1999). This has been recognized by Seaton

(1994 as cited in Swarbrooke & Horner, 1999) as follows that consumers involve spending

large sums of money to something which cannot be evaluated before purchase. If the holiday

goes wrong, most people do not have the additional holiday time or money to make a good

holiday.

The diverse and interdependent characteristics of tourist products make the decision process

in purchase a complex phenomenon in its own right. Decisions involved in choosing a travel:

a) Which destination? b) Which mode of travel? c) Which type of accommodation?

d) How long will the holiday be? e) Package holiday or independent travel? (Swarbrooke &

Horner, 1999).

3. RESEARCH QUESTION

The following research question has been defined from the broad research problem and the

literature review carried out: What are the motivational factors affecting consumers’

behaviour in selection of Istanbul as a destination?

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4. THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK

Table 2: Theoretical Framework

The dependent variable is the consumer behavior in travel and tourism. The tourism industry

must improve the level of compatibility between tourists’ expectations and their actual travel

experiences.

The following factors have hypothesized to affect the consumer behaviour in tourism and

travel: Motivation of the tourists and destination factor. Motivation factor is included needs of

the customers, expectations of the customers, wants and experiences of the customers. Every

individual has different characteristics and these especially affect the needs, desires, and

expectations of the consumers’ behaviour in tourism.

Destination an essential factor to be hypothesized is consisting of destination image and

location. Destination images influence a tourist's travel decision-making, cognition and

behaviour at a destination as well as satisfaction levels and recollection of the experience.

In addition to the image of the destination, the location of the destination has a significant role

on determining the consumer behaviour in tourism and travel.

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DESTINATION

IMAGE

DEPENDENT VARIABLES

MOTIVATION

ESCAPE FROM ROUTINERELAXATIONSELF- DISCOVERYBE TOGETHER WITH FAMILYPRESTIGE

INDEPENDENT VARIABLES

5. OPERATIONAL DEFINITION OF THE VARIABLES

Table 3: Dimensions of Motivation

Table 4: Dimensions of Destination Image

Museums Natural beauty Quality of Hotels International Shopping

Restaurants Culture Price of Hotels National Nightlife

6. HYPOTHESES

H0: there is no relationship between motivation of the tourist and his/ her image of the

destination.

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Escape From Routine

MOTIVATION

Be Together With Family

Self- discovery

Relaxation

Prestige

DESTINATION IMAGE

Amenities Attraction

Accommodation

Accessibility Activities

H1: there is a relationship between motivation of the tourist and his/ her image of the

destination.

7. RESEARCH DESIGN

The purpose of the researchers is Hypotheses testing. Studies that engage in hypotheses

testing usually explain the nature of certain relationship between motivation of tourists

&his/her image of destination and consumer behaviour in tourism and travel. Correlational

study is the type of the investigation. We look for that whether motivational factors and

destination image are associated with tourist behaviour or not. A correlational study is

conducted in the natural environment of the organization with minimum interference with

normal flow of work. Correlational studies done in organizations are called field studies. That

is, research is done in a noncontrived setting. Data will be collected from each individual and

the unit of analysis is the individual. The study will be done in which data are gathered just

once, over a period of time, in order to answer the questions and this type of study is called

cross- sectional study.

8. SAMPLING DESIGN

Nonprobability sampling design will be used. The target group is the foreign tourists in Sultan

Ahmet Area. Convenience sampling method will be applied. Because it is easy to find foreign

tourists in the Sultan Ahmet area. We will stop foreign tourist and ask them whether they will

fill out the questionnaire. However this method is most feasible one compare to others in term

of time and resources. If our sample size is less than or equal to 30, the population must be

normally distributed and we must know the population standard deviation. So our sample size

will be 35, because some questionnaires may be could not filled out properly.

9. DATA COLLECTION METHOD

Primary data - individuals- is used as a source of data. A questionnaire is a written set of

questions to which respondents record their answers, usually within rather closely defined

alternatives. Questionnaires will be personally administered.

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10. DESCRIPTION OF SAMPLE

In Table 5, respondents’ profiles consist of %57 of females. Age group between 20 -35 and

over 65 has equal values (25,7%) and the other age groups which are 51-65 and under 20 also

have the same percentages. (14,3%) This can be interpreted as the two different age groups

show the same tendency when selecting their destination. Mostly single people select Istanbul

as a tourism destination more than the other groups. In terms of education level university

graduates mostly prefer to come to Istanbul then follows by post graduates and high school.

German people have the highest percentage which is 28% of the respondents. The

respondents who have $60.000 -$80.000 annual income are more than other groups.

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Table 5: DEMOGRAPHIC CHARACTERISTIC OF THE RESPONDENTS

Demographic VariableFrequency Percent

Valid Percent

Cumulative Percent

Gender MALE 15 42,9 42,9 42,9

FEMALE 20 57,1 57,1 100

Age UNDER 20 5 14,3 14,3 14,3

  20-35 9 25,7 25,7 40

  36-50 7 20 20 60

  51-65 5 14,3 14,3 74,3

  OVER 65 9 25,7 25,7 100

  Total 35 100 100  

martial status SINGLE 14 40 40 40

MARRIED 9 25,7 25,7 65,7

WIDOWED 5 14,3 14,3 80

DIVORCED OR SEPARATED

7 20 20 100

Total 35 100 100 

education level HIGH SCHOOL OR LESS 5 14,3 14,3 14,3

UNIVERSITY 18 51,4 51,4 65,7

POSTGRADUATE 12 34,3 34,3 100

Total 35 100 100  

nationality GERMAN 10 28,6 28,6 28,6

RUSSIAN 7 20 20 48,6

KOREAN 6 17,1 17,1 65,7

CHINESE 7 20 20 85,7

ENGLISH 5 14,3 14,3 100

Total 35 100 100  annual net income

LESS THAN $20.000 6 17,1 17,1 17,1

$20.000- $40.000 4 11,4 11,4 28,6

$40.000- $60.000 3 8,6 8,6 37,1

$60.000- $80.000 12 34,3 34,3 71,4

OVER $80.000 10 28,6 28,6 100

Total 35 100 100  

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11.DESCRIPTIVE STATISTICS

Table 6: The Importance Of Motivations In The Selection Of Istanbul

Descriptive Statistics

N Mean* Std. Deviation

ESCAPE FROM ROUTINE 35 1,80 1,279

PRESTIGE 35 2,97 1,445

SELF- DISCOVERY 35 3,51 1,422

RELAXATION 35 1,77 1,239

BEING WITH FAMILY 35 3,63 1,750

Valid N (listwise) 35

*1= very important ; 5= very unimportant

In table 6, motivations behind people indicate that they mostly come to Istanbul to relax or

escape from their routine lives.

Table 7: The Image of Istanbul as a Destination

In Table 7, from the

respondents’ point of view,

mostly Istanbul has mostly

variety of flights and quality of

hotels. Out of 5, transportation

facilities within city are 2, 69

which means they found the

transportation facilities

insufficient. Except

transportation facilities within

city, they mostly satisfied with

the characteristics of the city.

Descriptive Statistics

N Mean Std. Deviation

MUSEUMS 35 2,40 1,459

RESTAURANTS 35 2,20 1,324

CULTURAL AND

HISTORICAL PLACES

35 2,31 1,510

NATURAL ENVIRONMENT 35 2,23 1,437

ACCESSIBILITY 35 2,20 1,368

TRANSPORTATION

FACILITIES WITHIN CITY

35 2,69 1,301

VARIETY OF FLIGHTS 35 2,11 1,430

PRICE OF HOTELS 35 2,66 1,282

QUALITY OF HOTELS 35 2,14 1,216

SHOPPING MALLS 35 2,49 1,422

NIGHTLIFE 35 2,26 1,379

NIGHTCLUBS AND BARS 35 2,40 1,376

Valid N (listwise) 35 11

12. RELIABILITY OF SCALE

Table 8: Analyze- Scale

Case Processing Summary

N %

Cases Valid 35 100,0

Excludeda 0 ,0

Total 35 100,0

a. Listwise deletion based on all variables in the procedure.

Table 9: Inter- Item Consistency- Cronbach’s Alpha

In Table 9 the value of Cronbach’s Alpha is .702. In general reliability coefficient of .70 or

higher is considered  "acceptable" in most social science research situations. This result also

implies that the correlation between 12 items is sufficient.

Reliability Statistics

Cronbach's

Alpha

Cronbach's

Alpha Based on

Standardized

Items N of Items

,702 ,698 12

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13. CRONBACH’S ALPHA

Table 10: Item-Total Statistics

Scale Mean if

Item Deleted

Scale Variance if

Item Deleted

Corrected Item-

Total Correlation

Cronbach's

Alpha if Item

Deleted

NIGHTCLUBS AND BARS 25,69 56,869 ,245 ,696

NIGHTLIFE 25,83 53,029 ,444 ,667

SHOPPING MALLS 25,60 53,953 ,377 ,677

QUALITY OF HOTELS 25,94 54,820 ,419 ,673

PRICE OF HOTELS 25,43 57,782 ,227 ,698

TRANSPORTATION

FACILITIES WITHIN CITY

25,40 60,953 ,059 ,720

VARIETY OF FLIGHTS 25,97 55,382 ,302 ,688

ACCESSIBILITY 25,89 49,516 ,647 ,636

NATURAL ENVIRONMENT 25,86 53,420 ,398 ,673

CULTURAL AND

HISTORICAL PLACES

25,77 50,770 ,502 ,656

RESTAURANTS 25,89 59,575 ,123 ,712

MUSEUMS 25,69 55,163 ,302 ,688

14. PEARSON CORRELATION

Table 11: Pearson’s Correlation

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Correlations

AVERAGE OF

MOTIVATION

AVERAGE OF

DESTINATION

IMAGE

AVERAGE OF MOTIVATION Pearson Correlation 1 -,356*

Sig. (2-tailed) ,036

N 35 35

AVERAGE OF

DESTINATION IMAGE

Pearson Correlation -,356* 1

Sig. (2-tailed) ,036

N 35 35

*. Correlation is significant at the 0.05 level (2-tailed).

Hypotheses:

H0: There is no relationship between motivation of the tourist and his/ her image of the

destination.

H1: There is a relationship between motivation of the tourist and his/ her image of the

destination.

Table 11 indicates that there is a medium negative correlation between motivation of the

tourist and his/ her image of the destination. The p- value 0.036 is smaller than 0.05

(significance level) and so H0 is not supported. There is a relationship between motivation of

the tourist and his/ her image of the destination.

15. IMPLICATIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

Depending on the results of this research, tourists select Istanbul as a destination mostly by

relaxation motive. According to importance level, the other motivational factors can be listed

as escape from routine life, prestige of the city, self discovery and being with family. The

consumer behaviour differs in terms of motivational factors. In addition to this, the

destination image by itself has an important role on tourist’s preferences. From the point of

tourists transportation within city is not sufficient and hotels have high prices. So the

government should develop the infrastructure of the city. Ministry of tourism may control the

pricing strategies of hotels.

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16. LIMITATIONS

The limitations of this research are language and time. This questionnaire given to foreign

tourist and their native language is not English. They may have some difficulties to

understand the questions. Also tourists do not want to spend more time to fill out the

questionnaire. They may be did not answer questions properly.

17. CONCLUSION

In conclusion, the research indicates that there is a relationship between motivation of the

tourist and his/ her image of the destination. Transportation facilities should be improved and

pricing structure should be controlled to have more satisfied guests in tourism industry. In

terms of motivation, relaxation and escaping from routine life can mostly direct people to

select Istanbul as a destination.

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REFERENCES:

Baloglu, S. and McCleary, K. W.(1999). “U.S. International Pleasure Travelers’ Images of

Four Mediterranean Destination: A Comparison of Visitors and Nonvisitors”. Journal of

Travel Research 38: (2): Sage. pp. 144-152.

Chon, K. (1990). “The role of destination image in tourism: A review and discussion”. The

Tourist Review. 42(2). pp. 2-9.

Echtner, M. C. and Ritchie, B. (2003). “The Meaning and Measurement of Destination

Image”. The Journal of Tourism Studies. 14(1). pp: 45-46.

Goodall, B. (1991). “Understanding Holiday Choice”. In C.Cooper (Ed.). Progress in

tourism, recreation and hospitality management. London: Belhaven. pp. 103-133.

Hsu, T. and Tsai, Y. and Wu, H. (2007). The Preference Analysis For Tourist Choice of

Destination: A Case Study of Taiwan. Tourism Management. 30 (2009). pp. 288-297.

Hunt, J. D. (1975). “ Image As A Factor in Tourism Development”. Journal Travel Research.

13 (3)(Winter). Pp: 1-7.

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Johnson, P. and Thomas, B. (1995). “The Analysis of Choice and Demand in Tourism”. In:

Johnson, P. and Thomas, B., Editors. 1995. Choice and Demand in Tourism. Mansell:

London. pp: 1-12.

Murphy, P. (1985). “Tourism: A Community Approach. Routledge”. pp: 8-13.

Pizam, A and Mansfeld, Y. (1999). “Consumer Behaviour in Travel and Tourism”. New

York: Haworth Press.

Reilly, M. D. (1990). “Free Elicitation of Descriptive Objectives for Tourism Image

Assessment”. Journal Travel Research. 28 (4). pp: 69-76.

Seaton, A. V. (1994). Tourism and Media. In S.J.Witt and L. Moutinho. Tourism Marketing

and Management Handbook.

Sirgy, M. and Su, H. (2000). “Destination Image, Self-Congruity and Travel Behavior:

Toward an Integrated Model”. Journal of Travel Research. 38. pp: 340-352.

Swarbrooke, J. and Horner, S. (1999). “Consumer Behaviour in Tourism”. Great Britain:

Butterworth- Heinemann.

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Department of Tourism Administration

Boğaziçi University, Istanbul

Dear Participant,

This questionnaire is rout of a class project and designed to study the relationship between

motivation factors and destination image in tourism. The information you provide will help us

better understand the reasons why you choose Istanbul and which aspects affect you in

decision-making process.

Thank you very much for your time and cooperation.

Boğaziçi University’s Students;

Neşe Roman - Yasemin Aksoy

1. Your Gender

Female ___ Male ___

2. Your Age

Under 20 ___ 20-35___

36-50 ___ 51-65 ___ Over 65 ___

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3. Your Martial Status

Married ___ Single ___

Widowed ___ Divorced or separated ___

4. Your education level

High school or less ___ University ___ Postgraduate ___

5. Nationality _________________

6. What is your annual net family income?

Less than $20.000 ____

$20.000 - $40.000 ____

$40.000 - $60.000 ____

$60.000 - $80.000 ____

Over $80.000 ____

7. Have you ever been to Turkey?

Yes ____ No ____

8. To what extent were the following motivations important in your selection of İstanbul?

(1=very important; 2=important; 3=slightly important; 4= unimportant; 5= very unimportant)

Escape from routine 1 2 3 4 5

Prestige of coming to Istanbul 1 2 3 4 5

To discover yourself 1 2 3 4 5

Need to Relax 1 2 3 4 5

Be together with your family 1 2 3 4 5

9. To what extent do you agree with the following statements?

1= Strongly agree; 2 = Agree; 3 = Neither agree nor disagree;

4 = Disagree; 5 = Strongly disagree

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Istanbul has good museums. 1 2 3 4 5

Istanbul has good restaurants. 1 2 3 4 5

Istanbul has attractive cultural and historical places. 1 2 3 4 5

Istanbul has beautiful natural environment. 1 2 3 4 5

Istanbul is highly accessible from international destinations. 1 2 3 4 5

Istanbul has well- developed transportation facilities within the city. 1 2 3 4 5

Istanbul has variety of international and domestic flights to many 1 2 3 4 5

destinations.

Istanbul has well priced hotels. 1 2 3 4 5

Istanbul has high quality hotels.

Istanbul has a lot of shopping malls. 1 2 3 4 5

Istanbul has exciting nightlife. 1 2 3 4 5

Istanbul has many nightclubs and bars. 1 2 3 4 5

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