Understanding Consumer Behavior in International Travel & Tourism

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of consumer behavior within the international travel and tourism industry. It investigates various cultural, social, personal, and psychological factors influencing consumer behavior and attitudes. The report explores changing consumer trends driven by digital technology, highlighting customer engagement, the use of multiple devices, and rising customer expectations. It explains the stages of the consumer decision-making journey, mapping a path to purchase within the tourism sector and emphasizing the importance of consumer journey mapping for businesses. Furthermore, the report compares B2B and B2C approaches in the tourism sector and discusses different methods marketers use to understand the decision-making process, including social data collection, interview methods, and advertising approaches. Finally, it outlines the various stages of the tourism decision-making process.

INTERNATIONAL TRAVEL AND TOURISM
CONSUMER
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Table of content
Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................3
TASK 1............................................................................................................................................3
P1 Investigate the various kinds of cultural, social, personal as well as psychological factors
that influence the consumer behaviour along with the attitudes in context of the tourism
industry...................................................................................................................................3
P2 Explore the various consumer trends that are changing due to the impact of the digital
technology..............................................................................................................................4
TASK 2............................................................................................................................................5
P3 Explain the various stages of the consumer decision making journey and also map a path
to the purchasing for the tourism industry..............................................................................5
P4 Importance of Consumer decision making journey:.........................................................5
Task 3...............................................................................................................................................6
P 5 Comparison between B2B and B2C in context of Tourism sector:.................................6
P6 Different approach and method that are be used by marketer to understand decision
making process.......................................................................................................................7
TASK 4............................................................................................................................................9
P 7 Different stages of tourism decision making process.......................................................9
References......................................................................................................................................11
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Introduction
International tourism is referred to the concept wherein the inbound as well as outbound
tourism are being considered. The international tourism tends to comprise of various activities of
the visitors that are either a part of the domestic visitors or the outbound trips as well as activities
of various non-resident visitors within a specific country. International tourism can be referred to
the process wherein a person travels from one country to another which is unusual from the
environment of the individual. A trip will be considered as the travel and tourism wherein the
individual tends to stay for at least a night and does not exceed 12 months. The report revolves
around the consumer behaviour of the individuals in the travel and tourism industry (Chang,
2017).
TASK 1
P1 Investigate the various kinds of cultural, social, personal as well as psychological factors that
influence the consumer behaviour along with the attitudes in context of the tourism
industry.
There are various factors that tend to have an impact over the consumer behaviour in
context of the tourism industry. The various affecting the consumer behaviour have been
discussed below.
 Cultural factors- The cultural factors tend to have a huge impact over the consumer
behaviour of the employees. The various cultural factors that can are capable of affecting
the behaviour of the consumers in travel and tourism industry are Gender of the
individuals and the status of the individuals. It is expected that the customers who belong
to a rich status tend to spend more upon the luxury as compared to the middle class
(Gibson and O’Rawe, 2018).
 Social factors- The social factors have a huge impact over the consumer behaviour in
aspect of the travel and tourism industry. The various social factors that have an impact
over the consumer behaviour are the reference groups. Immediate family members,
relatives, Role as well as status in the society. The social factors tend to have an impact
over the customers of the travel and tourism industry as the customers tend to get
influenced by their acquaintances regarding the choice of products and services.
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 Personal factors- The various personal factors that have a huge impact over the
consumer behaviour of the potential customers of the travel and tourism industry are
occupation, Age, Lifestyle, economic condition, etc. The occupation of an individual
tends to have a huge impact over the buying decision of a consumer. An individual who
is working as a white collar employee tends to have a high purchasing power which can
have an impact over the revenue of the travel and tourism organisations (Kim, Lehto and
Kandampully, 2019).
 Psychological factors- The psychological factors tend to have a huge impact over the
buying decisions of the customers of the travel and tourism industry. The various
psychological factors that have an impact over the consumer behaviour are perception,
learning as well as beliefs and attitude. Perception is basically an implied thought of an
individual in context of a product or service in context of a brand name. Similarly beliefs
and attitude also play a significant role in the consumer behaviour at the travel and
tourism industry.
P2 Explore the various consumer trends that are changing due to the impact of the digital
technology.
The consumer trends are dynamic and tend to have a huge influence of the digital technology in
the tourism industry. The impact of digital technology upon the tourism industry have been
discussed below.
 Engagement with the customers- The digital technology has allowed the customers of
the tourism industry to stay more connected with the employees. The organisations of the
tourism industry have become more engaged with their customers and the potential
customers with the help of the digital technology. The tourism organisation can share
their details through online portals which increases the transparency between the
organisation as well as customers (Kotsi, Pike and Gottlieb, 2018).
 Multiple devices- The tourism industry organisations have been positively affected by
the digital technology as it has facilitated the use of multiple devices as well as
technology. The consumers have been using various devices which has led to increase
upon the global internet traffic. The internet and technology have allowed the consumers
to gather information regarding the various tourism industry organisations as well as their
services that can be analysed and compared by the organisation.
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 High expectations of the customers- The digital technology has raised the expectations
of the buyer from the various organisations of the travel and tourism industry. The
consumers have had a high expectations due to the digital pioneers as the consumers have
the facility of comparing the various participants of the industry and then choose the most
suitable one.
TASK 2
P3 Explain the various stages of the consumer decision making journey and also map a path to
the purchasing for the tourism industry.
The consumer decision making is a process wherein an individual tends to involve themselves in
the purchasing process of a product or service in the travel and tourism industry. The steps of the
consumer decision making process in the travel and tourism industry have been discussed below.
 Recognition of the problem- The first step in the decision making process is where a
customer tends to recognise the need of a particular product or service. For example, an
individual may generate a need of hotel room during a tour which will be considered as
recognition of the problem (Park and et.al., 2018).
 Information search- Information search will be when the individual will collect
information regarding the products and services available in the market to fulfil the
requirements such as hotels, dormitories, etc.
 Alternative evaluation- The next step in the decision making process will be where the
individual will evaluate the various players of the industry. The evaluation will be done
while comparing the various options based upon the price and quality.
 Purchase decision- The next of the evaluation will be to purchase a product or service to
fulfil the requirement of the individual.
 Post purchase evaluation- The last step in the decision making process is to reflect the
purchases that have been made by the customers on the basis of their experience.
P4 Importance of Consumer decision making journey:
Consumer journey mapping is important in tourism sector as it help the company to better
understanding the needs and wants of the tourist in much better way. Their expectation is very
crucial for optimising the consumer. Consumer decision making is important foe both small and
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medium size enterprise as well as so that they can know there customer in much better way in
this dynamic environment (Gupta, 2019). The importance for marketer to map a path for
consumer decision making in tourism sector are as follow:
 Prioritize the activities: If the marketer maps the path of consumer decision making then
they can prioritize the activity which impact both the consumer and the tourism business.
Every organisation of the tourist industry has an shortage of idea regarding who they can
bring more consumer toward them. So by marketing and researching they can know
about what their buyers want from tourist sector, what is there paying capacity for
different categorize of class and many more. So by this that prioritize the activity which
is more loudest for the consumer. By this they may sure that there consumer are satisfy
by the service they provide to them in the giving budgets.
 Identify the buying stages: consumer journey mapping also help the tourist sector by
identifying the buying sages of the buyer and then identify those stages where more
attention is needed. By using this companies gather the real data and then allow the
marketer to monitor and measure the buying behaviour. By collecting this data the tourist
organisation can know how long an buyer cycle take place in purchasing the service
( Andrade and Dimanche, 2019).
This concept also help the marketer to know the consumer personas and help them to understand
what are the goals of the consumer during the each stage of travel. By this marketer also get to
know the desired destination where they want to go and what are the tourist activities that suits in
their package of travel dairy.
Task 3
P 5 Comparison between B2B and B2C in context of Tourism sector:
Basis B2B B2C
Meaning The selling of goods and
services between two
tourism organisation is
If the buying and selling take
place between the tourist
enterprise and consumer then
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known as business to
business approach.
this is known as business to
consumer approach.
Customer In this the customer is the
two firm of tourist sector
In this the end user is the
buyer who avail thee service
from the tourist organisation
Focus on In this approach more focus
is giving to maintain a strong
relationship so that
competition is being cut
(Beck and Egger, 2018).
In this focus is given on
given service to the
consumer so that a strong
customer loyalty can be
maintained
Relationship Relation are as follow:
Supplier –Wholesaler-
Retailer
Retailer - Consumer
For example If BKNG booking shake
hand with TUIT TUI then
this is known as B2B
tourism . as they both are the
tourist industry who make a
relation so that they can cut
there competition
If TUIT TUI sale their
service package to the citizen
of Uk to travel in abroad
then that is B2C
Buying and Selling cycle A lengthy process to make a
transaction
A short process to do a
business
P6 Different approach and method that are be used by marketer to understand decision making
process
There are so many methods and approaches that are used by the marketer to know the
decision making process of the buyers:
a) Social data collection method: this is the most powerful method that can be used by the
marketer to know the decision making process of the buyer. In tourist sector this is a grateful
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source as data is collected by various social media sites like : Facebook, twitter, Instagram,
Google+ and many more. This platform helps the tourist sector to gather the most appropriate
decision idea of the consumer. This method helps them to gather real time data and ideas of the
consumer (Zhang and Du, 2020).
b) Interview method: in recent time interview method has being done with the help of
technology aided market. Internet has opened a gate for researcher to collect data without
interacting with the respondent. A new technology that is computer aided personal interview help
the marketer to collect the data without knowing or going to the audience. By this the tourist
sector marketer can collect the decision making process of the consumer without any
geographical boundaries. Through this marketer can also reach with vast audience.
c) Advertising method: This is the most important approach that help in assessing the market
response. The aim is this method to be used by the researcher is to know the ability if the
advertisement in increasing the sale of the tourist sector. For using this approach it is very
important that the concept behind making the ad is understood by the buyer and is know about
the services that are being offered by them to the tourist. In this method message and visuals
both are being pictures so that buyer can recognise the particular organisation of the tourism
sector (Sales-Vivó, Gil-Saura and Gallarza, 2021).
d) Focus Group method: This is the most common method of doing the market research. This
method is used when the researcher want to know the the behaviour of the whole population
regarding the tourist industry. In this a small section of the people are being targeted on behalf
of the whole population and their view point is been analysed.
e) Ethnography: Ethnography research reveals similar insight about the decision making
process of customer journey. This method is difficult to collect data for longer time period.
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TASK 4
P 7 Different stages of tourism decision making process
There are the five steps in consumer decision making process and the marketer can influence
these stages in such a manner:
1) Recognising the problems and need:
This is the very first stage of consumer decision making process. In this step the buyer try to
identify the problem and need that are coming while travelling. Buyers need are different and are
solve in different ways. So at this they recognise their need and find the problem. This step is
also a time consuming so to solve this problem the marketer pre identify the problem that are
going to arise while travelling in the particular country or state (Heinonen and Medberg, 2018).
For example Consumer who just went to Minnesota for holiday does not know that winter coats
are being needed in that country. So the marketer influence their decision by warning them the
problem that are going to arise there.
2) Information search:
This is the second stage where consumers try to search for those internal and external
information about their problem or need. In this buyer identify the option and then further
clarified these. At internal search the buyer memorize or collect the information by their own
personal experience and in external research they consumer do not a prior information about it
and try to gather information from various other sources. So marketer influence the consumer
decision process by collecting the data various sources like: online, through television
advertisement and many other( Lin and et. al, 2018).
3) Evaluating the alternative:
The third stage is evaluating the alternative sources of data collection. In this buyer evaluate all
the tourist sector industry and try to find the best one which is suitable according to their need.
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So i this marketer give all the detail about the particular tourism organisation like their pay,
services offer their commission and many more. So by this researcher make it easy for the
consumer to choose among them.
4) Purchase:
At this stage a consumer make a intention to purchase of the particular service from specific
tourist industry are being made. So that a preferable package can be obtained. So marketer by
their giving information helps the buyer to come at the final decision of making a buy.
5) Post purchase behaviour:
This is the last stage of consumer decision making process. In this stage consumer assist that
whether they are satisfied by the service they avail or not. There satisfaction level help them in
making a purchase (Karl, Muskat and Ritchie, 2020).
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Conclusion:
From the above information it is been concluded that in tourism industry consumer
motivation and behaviour plays an important role. Their culture, beliefs, personality all impacts
the tourism industry. With the constant change in technology and rising use of digital technology
a major change is been seeing on the consumer trend. The buyer expects more from the
hospitality sector and their buying behaviour depends upon it. It is also been discussed in the
report that there are seven stages of consumer decision making journey which road the map of
purchasing and theses consumer decision is very important for the tourism industry. To
understand their decision many marketer has collected the information by using the social media
or by focus group method.
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References
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