Tourism Consumer Behavior and Insight: A Comprehensive Analysis Report

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of tourism consumer behavior and insight, focusing on the factors that influence consumer decisions and attitudes. The introduction highlights the importance of understanding consumer behavior in the tourism industry, using TUI UK and Ireland as a case study. The report delves into the impact of cultural, social, personal, and psychological factors on consumer behavior, as well as the changes brought about by digital technology. It examines the stages of consumer decision-making and how marketers can map the path to purchase, including an evaluation of how marketers respond to the decision-making process. The report also compares and contrasts the key differences between B2C and B2B decision-making processes in the hospitality sector and explores different market research approaches. Furthermore, it analyzes how marketers influence the different stages of the tourism decision-making process, supported by specific examples and the application of relevant theories, concepts, and models. The report concludes with a critical evaluation of emerging trends in consumer behavior and attitudes, using specific examples from the tourism industry to support arguments.

Tourism Consumer
Behaviour and Insight

Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
P1.Investigation of different cultural, social, personal and psychological factors that affect
consumer behaviour and attitudes..........................................................................................1
P2.Changes which are occurred in consumer behaviour due to the impact of digital technology
................................................................................................................................................3
M1 Analyse how cultural, social, personal and psychological factors that influence consumer
behaviour and attitudes are changing and driving trends in tourism......................................4
D1 Critically analyse the emerging trends in consumer behaviour and attitudes, using specific
examples from the tourism industry to support your arguments............................................4
TASK 2............................................................................................................................................5
P3. Stages of consumer decision making journey and map path to the purchasing for tourism
service.....................................................................................................................................5
Consumer decision making:................................................................................................5
P4. Importance of map a path to purchase and understand consumer decision making for
marketers in tourism sector....................................................................................................6
M2 Evaluate how marketers are responding to the decision-making process, applying relevant
examples from the tourism sector...........................................................................................7
TASK 3............................................................................................................................................8
P5.Compare and Contrast the key difference of the hospitality decision making process in
context of B2C and B2B.........................................................................................................8
P6. Different approaches to market research and methods of research used for understanding
the decision making process...................................................................................................9
M3 Provide a coherent and justified evaluation of how different factors influence tourism
decision-making and buying behaviour, supported by specific tourism examples..............10
TASK 4..........................................................................................................................................11
P7. Different stages of tourism decision making process which are influenced by marketers.
..............................................................................................................................................11
D2 Critically evaluate the application of appropriate theories, concepts and models that
influence and impact upon the tourism decision-making process, supported by specific
tourism examples and contexts.............................................................................................12

CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................12
References:.....................................................................................................................................13

INTRODUCTION
Tourism is a very vast industry which is providing different product and services to its
customers. This can be define as a activities of travelling as well as touring which consist of
different functions of an organisation (Cai and et.al., 2004). There are many organisations which
is dealing in travel and tourism sector as well as providing various adventurous activities to the
customers. This sector consist of transportation, airline industry, accommodation facilities as
well as food and beverages. It is very essential to analyse as well as evalute the behaviours of
employees in order to attract them towards the organisation. There are different customers with
different needs so tourism company have to carefully evaluate requirement of customer in order
to full fill their demands. Company chosen for conducting this report is TUI UK and Ireland.
This company is dealing in travel and tourism sector as well as providing its services to different
parts of the world. This is one of the leading organisation in respective sector as it is providing
different services to its targeted customers. TUI UK and Ireland company products and services
consist of passengers transport, travel services as well as other accommodation. It has approx
300 owned hotels which is located in around 30 countries. Its is providing its services from very
long time and its headquarter is located in England, United Kingdom. This report consist of
different cultural, social, personal as well as psychological impact on customers as well as
different trends of market that is change due to digital technology. Different stages of customer's
decision making has been analysed and importance of marketers to map a path in order to
understand customer decision making is been evaluated. Difference between b2b and B2C
decision making has been analysed as well as different approaches to market research is
evaluated. Apart from the how marketers can influences the different stages of of tourism
decision making is analysed properly.
P1.Investigation of different cultural, social, personal and psychological factors that affect
consumer behaviour and attitudes.
There are various factors which can have huge impact in consumer behaviour as well as
influence their decision making. The major factors that are related to consumer behaviour and
attitude are culture, social class, personal factor as well as perception (Cohen and et.al., 2014).
Each and every individual have their culture, social as well as personal life which can have
impact on their thinking as well as attitude. It is very important for a company dealing in tourism
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sector to analyse as well as evaluate all of these factors careful in order to understand the impact
on consumer behaviour and their attitude. All of these factors are mention below in detail.
Culture – Culture is very important part of a person as well as affect their decision making and
behaviour. Each and every person belongs to a certain culture and this will have determine their
behaviour as well as attitude towards other things. Culture consist of individuals pattern of
behaviour, their beliefs as well as values (Correia, Kozak and Ferradeira, 2013). As per their
culture a consumer will take decisions as this will have huge impact on their mind set.
Social Class –This refers to a particular society in which consumer belong. Each and every
consumer belong to a certain society which consist of their family, friends as well as peer group.
Social class is classified into some categories such as social factor and reference group. Social factors – Social factor will have huge impact on behaviour of consumer as well as
their attitude to decision. It consist of family member, relatives, role of society which
have great impact on individual decision making as well as there attitude. All of these
factor play a essential role in influencing their power to take decisions.
 Reference group –Each and every individual have some reference group which implies
their supporting people. Reference group consist of close relatives, neighbours, family
and friends as well as group at workplace. All of these people will lead to have huge
impact on customer behaviour as affect their decision making.
Personal factor - Personal factor includes the interest as well as opinion. There are many
personal factors which can have affect on decision taken by people as well as behaviour of
consumers. An individual will take decision which can full full their needs and wants of
customer. Occupation – Occupation of person will have huge impact on their behaviour as well as
attitude. When a person is a occupation which consist of travel then they have positive
attitude towards travel as well as it affect their behaviour.
 Income - Income represent the financial status of a person and this will play a huge role
in influencing attitude as well as behaviour of consumers (Ekinci and Hosany, 2006).
Each and every person will take there decision as per the their income.
Psychological factors – Psychological factor consist of a person's perception, attitude, as well as
needs and wants. There are various factor which can have psychological of a person and a person
will take decision as per their psychological mind set
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 Perception – Perception refer to the ability of a person which can affect their thinking as
well as senses. Consumer behaviour will be affected by the interpretation of something.
A person will change their attitude as well as behaviour as per their perceptions.
P2.Changes which are occurred in consumer behaviour due to the impact of digital technology
Digital technology has revolutionised the world in and out. Not only the businesses are
profiting from it but it has changed the consumer behaviour in a lot many ways.
Consumer is far more informative about what he needs and what will satisfy the value derived
from the worth he is paying (Funk and et.al., 2016). A lot benefited industry in the recent times
has been Tourism industry. People are exploring the world like never before. There has been a
drastic difference created by the digital technology.
Exploring the Unknown.
Before: Back in the day the tourism population would travel to the mainstream locations namely
The Great Australian Outback, The UK, The Americas, etc. The common places used to be the
hotspots for tourists. Also, the travel was limited to specific months or time periods. The
flexibility of choices would remain limited only to a few.
Now: People are exploring; be it culture or destinations. If compared to the time back then, now
people are opting to travel to destinations of their choice, what fantasizes them the most. A
classic example of such a place is Bali; the place has gained worldly attention for the naturistic
beauty and the hospitality. In recent years, internet has become a major contributor of diving into
the unknown places and boosting the tourism.
Out of the box Experience.
Before:The tourist population stepped on to the boat that everyone was traveling on. As noted,
there were mainstream locations that every other tourist would be visiting to. Everyone would
share the same set of experience as the option of customization was limited to an extent.
Now: You can personalize your experience for each travel destination that you are up for. The
travellers look for out-of-the box experience that will give them value for the worth they are
paying for. The traveller can create his own experience by exploring the internet, in fact the
travel companies have begun to stress on the experience and opted for influencer marketing
techniques.
Solo Travel
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Before: Throwback to the 90s, Solo travel used to be myth amongst the population. A myth that
avery few would live and others would remain unknown of. People would travel abroad to spend
time with their family or with the groups. Besides, Solo Travel used to be considered a leisure.
Now: Solo Travel is one of the new trend and internet has created so much hype for the solo
travellers and people wanting to travel alone(Horner and Swarbrooke, 2016). A major part of the
population desires to travel alone and experience the various cultures around. The ease of
planning the trip has come to the comfort of sofa. Internet has been so information rich that
people can get any information that is needed by them; deciding the destination, things to do at
the destination, where to book your stay, which stay to book and the transportation.
Digital Technology has enhanced the experience of travelling to places. Countries can
promote the tourism through the use of digital media and tourists can explore the places through
media and the enhancements.
M1 Analyse how cultural, social, personal and psychological factors that influence consumer
behaviour and attitudes are changing and driving trends in tourism
Culture, social, personal as well as psychological factor will have huge impact on the
influence of the consumer behaviour as well as their attitude as all of these factors are very
important part of the person. Today’s culture and social life will have huge impact on their
decision making as major of the people influenced by the digital and social media
platforms (Weeden, 2013). Driving trends in the tourism sector are influencing their
personal behaviour as well as psychology on individuals. So this is having huge impact on
consumer behaviour and attitudes towards tourism sector.
D1 Critically analyse the emerging trends in consumer behaviour and attitudes, using specific
examples from the tourism industry to support your arguments.
There are various trends which are emerging in tourism sector as well as have huge impact on
attitude and behaviour of consumers. For example digital technology and social networking sites,
this is a very attractive way to influence consumer towards business (Jauhari and Manaktola,
2007). There are various social media platform which provide different features such as posting
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images, videos and other content. This trend is having major impact on consumer behaviour and
attitude.
TASK 2
P3. Stages of consumer decision making journey and map path to the purchasing for tourism
service
Consumer decision making:
Consumer decision making is an action of analysing decision making of consumers
through business leaders or retailers. Retailers have simplified the process of decision making in
five stages. It is implemented in every organization. TUI is a travel group or tourism company
headquartered in UK. Consumer decision making of TUI company is as follows:
Need Recognition:
It is the first stage of consumer decision making followed in TUI. The company first
analyse the need of the consumers as need is consider to be most important element in customer
buying a service. Determination of needs and wants of the consumers help company to analyse
further decision making process (Legoherel1, 1998). Being a tourism company it is important to
focus on some factors like level of involvement, situational factors etc. to make customer to buy
their services.
Searching and gathering Information:
The second stage comes after consumer identify their needs. This stage involves
searching and gathering information. The respective company should provide all the basic and
general information through their online portal to the consumers so that they can think before
investing their money. In this case, the consumer analyse and identify all the pros and cons of the
services before spending money on it. TUI can hire candidates that convey all the useful
information and make them understand better.
Evaluating the Alternatives:
The third stage begins when consumer starts searching all the available options and best
deals until it matches with their set criteria. Consumer analyse quality, price and stability of the
service and product. TUI should provide better services to the customer with relatively low
prices to stop their customers from switching to their rivalry. Company could also add some
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unique and specific features in their services that are totally different from other tourism
companies. Company should work according to consumer satisfaction and needs.
Actual Purchase of the Product or the Service:
This is an important stage in consumer decision making where consumer finally buy or
purchase a product after going through different stages. In order to make consumer to buy
services and product, respective company should showcase their services and packages that
attract consumer (Li, M. and Bihu, 2013). They should include some eye catching places for
consumers and should set a desirable budget which consumers can easily afford. Company
should include all needs and requirement of consumers and provide all necessary facilities under
their set budget.
Post Purchase Evaluation:
This is the last stage of consumer decision making process in which consumer evaluate
and analyse purchased product or services. Consumer identify weather the product or service is
according to their needs or not. The company should provide good services to their customers so
that they could become loyal.
TUI can take a honest feedback from the customers after service ends and should take
disagreements sportingly to work on them. The company should build healthy customer
relationship and should gain their trust. TUI can provide some extra discounts and additional
services to their customers to make them not to switch to other rivalry companies.
P4. Importance of map a path to purchase and understand consumer decision making for
marketers in tourism sector
There are various benefits of mapping a path to purchase as it is an effective tool and
techniques for an organisation to achieve it desired goals and objectives. The world has evolved
a lot in terms of tourism (Lockshin and Corsi, 2012). The old brain mapping would no longer
help the marketer in influencing the modern traveller. You are to deliver more than a quality
service. An experience that he is looking forward to avail. Importance of map a path to purchase
as well as understand the consumer decision making in mention below.
 This will be very helpful for business to focus on particular needs and wants of
customers.
 It is beneficial in enhancing the experience of customer as well as full filling their
desired wants.
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 Mapping a path to purchase will help in highlighting the development priorities of the
organisation.
Experience Factor in the Purchase Mapping:
All the decisions that a consumer is to make, are experience driven. Each step of the
above-mentioned mapping has to be understood to depth, so as to create the perfect experience
right from the point of ideation. Although each consumer has his own choices, but all of them
driven by one single leash of Experience. The experience is directly proportional to the value
satisfaction that a consumer expects to receive.
Satisfying the Experience with Influencer Marketing:
It’s not an easy task to streamline your marketing efforts by only keeping in mind the
experience factor. For the benefit of marketers, the purchase mapping for majority of the
clients/consumer is static (Malone, McCabe and Smith, 2014). The efforts to enrich the
experience can be derived from influencer marketing that plays a vital role in decision making
process of a consumer in the tourism industry. Influencer marketing is a vital tool for marketers
in hospitality and tourism industry.
The tourist population is in search of unique and out of the box experiences. And the experience
starts right from the time one gets the idea to take a few days off and enjoy a vacation.
M2 Evaluate how marketers are responding to the decision-making process, applying relevant
examples from the tourism sector
Marketers are considering the decision making process as very important part while taking
important business decisions (San, Collado and Rodriguez del Bosque, 2013). For example
this process in helping marketer to consider each and every aspect of decision making
process not only one. This is very beneficial for company and marketer as it help in
achieving desired goals and objectives.
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TASK 3
P5.Compare and Contrast the key difference of the hospitality decision making process in
context of B2C and B2B
Tourism decision making process is the involvement of tourists to analyse their needs,
gather information, evaluate alternatives and make their buying decision (Morgan, 1996). It
involves each and everything starts from identifying consumer needs to post purchasing events.
Business to business consumer decision:
Business to business is a situation in which two business together are commercially
linked to each other. In tourism decision making , B2B work as following manner:
Need recognisation: It is the first stage of consumer decision making followed in TUI. The
company should make their consumers to recognise need of their service and to convince them to
purchase their service.
Searching and gathering Information:
The second stage comes after consumer identify their needs. Buyers gather information
about particular services through different sources. The TUI company should provide all the
basic information and collect useful data of customers from secondary data collection such as
from websites, surveys, field observation etc.
Evaluating the Alternatives:
It is the stage where consumers reach out the best suitable option for them after
comparing through other services. Research is done by the costumers through online portals.
Hence, it is company's look out to provide all sufficient information online which is necessary
for their tourists.
Actual Purchase of the Product or the Service:
This is the stage where customers finally buy the service. The company should display
their service to make consumers to take their services (Moutinho and Vargas-Sanchez, 2018).
Company should give full assurance to their consumers for their personnel and confidential
details and gain their trust so that they will not switch to their competitors.
Business to customer consumer decision:
Business to customer provide services and products directly to customers or end users.
Companies selling their services and products directly to their customers as consider as B2C
companies. In tourism decision making, B2C works as:
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Need recognisation: The prior thing of the company is to recognise needs and requirement of
customers. The company should make tourists to purchase their services by convincing them in
best possible ways.
Searching and gathering Information: After recognising the needs, the consumers start
gathering information through various sources (Niezgoda, 2013). The company should gather
information of customers needs and requirement from primary data collection such as personnel
interviews, questionnaire, research data etc. Company can make a set of questions to be ask from
customers and make a direct approach to them.
Evaluating the Alternatives: This is the stage where customer analyse and identify best
available deals for them. To stop customers from switching to other companies, TUI can improve
quality of their services and sell them at relatively low prices.
Actual Purchase of the Product or the Service: This is the final stage where customers finally
decide to buy the product. Company should provide them best service by reducing the chances of
risks and failures. Company may also offer some extra amount of discounts to attract more
customers and make them to buy extra services. Company should build a healthy relationship
with their customers so that they will be loyal to them and would not switch to other rivalry.
P6. Different approaches to market research and methods of research used for understanding the
decision making process.
It is very important for company which is dealing in travel and tourism sector that they
analyse as well as evaluate the market needs and demands. This will be very helpful in
understanding the requirement of customers and clients as well as develop strong strategies for
the growth of business. Respective company is providing it service to large customer so it is
essential for carefully analyse as well as evaluate the market area and then conduct business
activities. There are different approaches for market research such as field trial, interviews,
survey and many other. All of these approaches are help in understanding the customer needs in
order to full fill their requirement (Pappas, 2016). TUI company is offering it services to both
business to business and business to consumers. Different methods are mention of research
which will help in understand the decision-making process is mention below.
Market research approach in B2C
This is the market approach which is used to analyse the information as well as
requirement of customers. In this respective business is targeting customers only and try to
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