Tourism Consumer Behaviour and Insight: Factors and Decision Making

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of tourism consumer behavior, examining the various factors that influence consumer decisions. It explores the impact of cultural, social, and personal elements on consumer choices, as well as the role of technology in shaping current trends. The repo...Read More

Unit 20 - Tourism
Consumer Behaviour and
Insight
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Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
P1 Different cultural, social and personal factors influence consumer behaviour......................3
P2 How consumer trends are changing due to technology..........................................................4
M1 How cultural, social and personal factors influence trends in tourism.................................5
P3 Stages of consumer decision making journey for a service...................................................5
P4 Why marketers map path in consumer decision making........................................................6
M2 How marketers respond to decision making.........................................................................7
P5 Differences in B2B and B2C in hospitality decision making.................................................7
P6 Different approaches to market research................................................................................8
M3 Different factors influence tourism.......................................................................................9
P7 How marketers influence stages of tourism decision making................................................9
M4 How marketers influence each stage of decision making...................................................10
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................10
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................11
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INTRODUCTION
Consumer behaviour refers to understanding their needs related to buying a product or
service. There is a great impact of cultural and social factors on that. However, there are various
stages through which consumer goes through in decision making. Moreover, customer takes a lot
of time to buy a product. It depends on their needs (Confente, 2015). The perception and attitude
directly influence their behaviour.
The report will describe on cultural, social factors and consumer trends impact on decision
making. Also, stages of decision making will be described. Moreover, difference between B2B
and B2C will be explained. In addition, the assignment discusses approaches of market research
and how marketers influence decision making stages.
P1 Different cultural, social and personal factors influence consumer behaviour
A consumer behaviour depends on their needs. It can be affected due to change in cultural,
social or personal factors. Similarly, in selection of tourism brands there are some factors
described below :-
Cultural – it is further classified into three that are mentioned as:-
Consumer culture – it is major factor which influence consumer behaviour. It includes lifestyle,
culture, needs, etc. in this beliefs, values, ethics, etc. are followed. So, it influenced consumer
behaviour as they have to buy those services that are according to their culture.
Sub culture – the sub culture are different groups who are having specific values. It may include
social status, income level. this influence them to prefer Booking. com and purchase their
services. Furthermore, high income level prefers high quality services.
Social class – it is dependent on social class (Pereira, Correia, and Schutz, 2015). It depends on
group that what type of service is preferred. Consumer prefer those services that are affordable.
Social – It is also categorised into three that are mentioned below :
Family – In this background, financial status, etc. of family is taken into consideration. This
influence perception of person and his or her needs. Moreover, their buying behaviour is
impacted as well.
Reference group- In this there are those people who belong to some specific groups. There
needs are same which force them to use Booking. com services.
Social status – this refers to those factors considered in society. It highly influences consumer
behaviour.
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Personal – they are completely related to individual own personal factors. it is described below :
Age – The people are having different needs as per their age. Also, it differs in people who are of
same age. Thus, it influences consumer behaviour.
Occupation – This is also a major factor that influence consumer behaviour. Occupation shows
profession of person. thus, their demand also varies. Therefore, services are availed on basis of
priority.
Lifestyle- the lifestyle of people reflects their living standards. For example- high class people
will look for more comfortable services in Booking. com as compared to others (Su and
Swanson, 2017).
Psychological factors – they are related to perception of individual which are as follows :-
Attitude – this reflect person behaviour and nature towards others. The attitude of consumer
towards any product influences their behaviour and decision making.
Perception- it refers to the thinking of consumer. The decision of purchasing product or service
entirely depend on consumer perception. So, it influences their behaviour.
Experience – here, post purchase behaviour of consumer is significant factor. This enable people
to change their decision as well.
P2 How consumer trends are changing due to technology
Due to technological advancement, market trends are constantly changing. It has
impacted on consumer trends as well. This has changed their needs also. Now, a lot of data and
information is available on internet. The trends are emerged as below :-
Use of internet- the internet has highly influenced on consumer needs. They prefer to use
internet is making things easy for them to make decision. Also, product info is easily available
on internet. Beside this, consumers are using mobile applications to avail tourism services. This
has changed their perception and decision making process. However, variety of services are
provided by organization. Apart from it, marketing is done on internet. Consumer are directly
interacting with companies and are able to gather relevant data.
Influence of social media- Social media is also changing consumer trends. People are able to
communicate with others on social media and then make decision (Min, So, and Jeong, 2019).
They are also using social sites to read comments, reviews, etc. of customers. It has highly
influenced their decision making process. Also, more people are now attracted towards using it.
Similarly, companies are attracting customers through promotion, marketing, etc.
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Digital marketing- this is also a trend that has emerged with digital technology. In that
organization are focusing on different types of social media platforms to advertise their products.
They are sending e mails and offering discounts to them. By promoting on website companies
are generating awareness. Thus, it has enabled them to identify target market and generate leads.
With help of it, target market is easily been converted.
M1 How cultural, social and personal factors influence trends in tourism
There are many factors that influence consumer behaviour. It is stated that in culture, sub
culture, social class include beliefs, ethics, etc. which influence their behaviour. Also, in social
factors are family, reference groups, etc. the personal factors consist of occupation, age, income
level, etc. these all are interrelated to each other. furthermore, perception of consumer is
influenced due to change in these factors.
P3 Stages of consumer decision making journey for a service
A consumer goes through certain stages that is required to purchase a product. It enables
them to fulfil their needs. However, each stage is also influenced due to certain factors. by
analysing decision journey, business is able to identify that how consumer interact with company
product or services. The stages are as follows :-
Need recognition
It is first stage where a consumer identifies his or her need requirement. The needs can
vary from person to person (Mahrous and Hassan, 2017). The purchasing process or consumer
decision making starts with a need or a problem. In the initial stage consumer find a need or face
a problem which can not be solved with the currently available resources. In this case they need
help to solve the particular problem which can be achieved by making available relative
resources, product and services.
Gathering information
After identification of needs, consumer start gathering information. This is done to find
out what product or service is available in the market. The information searching process can be
divided in two types which are- internal and external. The internal information is based on the
personal thinking and experience. On the basis of this personal experience and thinking
individual person search for product or service that can help the person to find the solution for
particular problem. The other type of information search is external search. Which is based on
the information searching from the external sources like friends, family, internet, etc.
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Evaluation of alternatives
In this stage consumer analyse information to select right product. Here, alternatives are
evaluated on basis of different elements such as price, quality, quantity, etc. As the consumer
have multiple choices which all are similar, at this moment prospect theory help to find the last
solution that can help the customer to select one final product. In this theory, the similar product
are compared on the basis of profit and loss. In this process all the options are compared on this
basis evaluation.
Purchase decision
It is the crucial stage where consumer makes decision of purchasing a product. This is
done after analysing all things and reaching an outcome. The purchase decision also depends on
perception of consumer (Gössling, 2017). Here, priorities are considered firstly. For example –
consumer make decision to avail services from Booking. com.
Post purchase evaluation
Here, a consumer evaluates use of product. It means whether his or her is satisfied by
using that product or not. The evaluation can be done on different factors such as quality, price,
brand, etc. Moreover, the expectations are also evaluated in it. Then, customer share experience
of using that product with others. Example – customer can give reviews about Booking. com
services.
P4 Why marketers map path in consumer decision making
Marketers play significant role in mapping consumer decision making. It enables them to
get insight about customer perception. Moreover, process is analysed and changes are made. The
main reason are :-
 It helps in understanding customer needs. Also, how much time they take to search
information, evaluate and take decision.
 With this the sources are identified that from where data is gathered. Thus, marketers
then do a systematic mapping. It allows consumer in ease in taking decision.
 The marketers are able to identify gap and fulfil it. they develop strategies and find out
touch point. It makes east to fulfil their needs.
 With mapping marketers identify customer experience and their behaviour. In tourism
sector services are provided according to their needs.
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Therefore, it will benefit Booking. com to identify overall process and then providing
products and services. It will be easy for company to influence consumer decision. The
purpose of the business organizations is to conduct business successful with generating
optimum output or profit, by knowing the consumer behaviour they will be capable of
designing effective services and policies which are good for consumer satisfaction. Higher
consumer satisfaction of consumer can help the organization to achieve its long term goals.
M2 How marketers respond to decision making
The marketers respond in it various ways. They understand market trends and identify
customer needs (Schuckert, Liu and Law, 2016). Beside this, taste and preference are
determined. Thus, accordingly services are developed and provided to people. Alongside,
through understanding behaviour of consumer, marketers interact in positive way. They add new
features or change way of marketing. In this way they respond to decision making.
P5 Differences in B2B and B2C in hospitality decision making
Basically, consumer decision making process is similar but it differs in B2B and B2C
business. This is because in that way of providing services are different. Also, the target group is
different. The difference is as :-
B2B B2C
In this the needs recognition arises from
business requirements
The need arises from particular situation
Here, customer search information through
various sources such as annual report, market
research, etc.
In this information is gathered through sources
like social media, internet, newspaper, etc. they
also collect it from friend, family, etc.
The alternatives are evaluated at large scale. in
that business compare it on basis of product
quality, cost, etc.
In this process, the evaluation is done at small
level. the comparison is done on quality, price,
quantity, etc. and then decision is taken.
The purchase decision is taken by analysing
results. The decision is either done in meeting
or group.
The decision is taken by individual in similar
way. however, it depends on his or her
perception, attitude, for making decision.
The post purchase behaviour is given by
business through e mail, (Teng, Lu and
Huang, 2018).
In this consumer purchase behaviour is
provided on social media.
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In both B2B and B2C it is analysed that decision making process is same. In first stage
need arises through a problem. However, in information search there are different source
available. It enables in collecting data and info about several products. Here, info is segregated
on certain criteria which support in comparing with alternatives. So, in both B2B and B2C the
process is same. The purchase decision is taken to buy a product. At last post purchase behaviour
is provided back to them.
P6 Different approaches to market research
It is important for companies to do research in order to identify needs of people. The
research enables in providing relevant and crucial data about customer need, market trends,
competitors strategies, etc. furthermore, it helps in getting their reviews and feedback about
product (Bilgihan and et.al., 2016). With this change is done in features or new product is
developed to fulfil needs. Alongside, organisation is able to expand in different market and
generate leads. It is categorised into two that are primary and secondary data approaches (Market
research methods, 2015). The different approaches are :-
Survey – this is the best approach to gather data from market. Here, a questionnaire is developed
and is distributed to target audience. The questionnaire can be related to particular topic or
subject. Survey is mostly used for understating brand awareness, pricing research and market
segmentation. It helps in gathering large data set from different market. Beside survey are done
online through various sites. Moreover, stats and facts and figures are gathered from market.
Questionnaire – it is another approach win which data is gathered from market. Generally, it is
used for getting customer feedback, reviews, etc. the questionnaire is useful in collecting
theoretical information from market.
Focus group – In this approach data is gathered from particular selected groups. It is done for
specific purpose. The data collected is used to find out influence of group on each other. this can
be either small or large groups. It is a time efficient method and cost effective.
Interview
In secondary approaches data is collected from web and is related to statistics. They are
discussed below :-
Sales data – In this approach research is conducted regarding sales of company. It enables
company to identify customer trends and sales (Su and Swanson, 2017)
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Government statistics- here, market research is done to gather data from different government
website and dataset. Organisation get additional data to get insight about future trends in
industry.
Competitor benchmark – it is another research approach where competitor growth metrics and
KPI’s are compared from market. The data is used in comparing performance of companies
within same industry and market.
M3 Different factors influence tourism
It can be analysed the factors highly influence decision making in tourism sector. For
example- Booking. com provide both luxurious and normal services, so consumer of high social
status will prefer luxurious service for more comfort. Thus, social factor played vital role in
decision making.
P7 How marketers influence stages of tourism decision making
A customer decision making is influenced by marketers in many ways. It is done in order
to change their perception and converting them. Beside this marketer directly interact with
customers. They can do it in ways defined as :-
Need recognition
It is first stage where customer identify their needs. The needs of individual depend on
their psychological needs (Min, So, and Jeong, 2019). Thus, marketers can influence this stage
by providing variety of products. They can conduct market research to find out customer
expectation.
Information search
Here, information is gathered from different sources by customers. In this marketer can
influence decision making by providing them accurate and relevant info. It can be available
through social media, newspapers, internet, etc. With this consumer decision can be influenced.
Evaluating alternatives
Here, customer evaluate alternative on certain factors like price, quality, etc. The
marketers can influence decision making by limiting the choice of options available. They can
segregate alternatives on basis of how target market and customer needs. It will enable them to
take quick decision (Mahrous and Hassan, 2017). Moreover, alternative can be categorised on
factors as well like price, quality, quantity, etc.
Purchase decision
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In this purchase decision is taken by customers. It is done by going through all steps. It is
a crucial stage as customer has to take decision. Marketers can influence this by providing expert
advice. They can communicate with consumer and support in taking decision. Furthermore,
through promotion and ads their decision can be influenced.
Post purchase decision
In this stage consumer gives feedback after using product. Here, marketer can influence
this stage by solving their queries. Moreover, they can maintain service quality that will create
positive impact on consumer perception.
M4 How marketers influence each stage of decision making
Here, marketer can use marketing mix in order to influence stage of gathering information.
Here, they can promote it through platforms. So, it will be easy for them to gather info easily and
take decision. Moreover, by placing product in effective way consumer are able to evaluate.
CONCLUSION
It is summarised that consumer behaviour highly impact on their decision making. The
cultural, social factors are sub culture, attitude, family background, etc. which influence their
behaviour. Also, consumer trends emerging are use of internet, social media, digital marketing,
etc. The stages of decision making are need recognition, info search, evaluating alternatives,
purchase decision and post purchase. Furthermore, in B2B and B2C decision making process is
different. Moreover, different market research approaches are primary and secondary. In primary
it is survey, interview, etc. and in secondary they are sales data, competitor benchmark, etc. the
marketers influence decision making by providing relevant info, taking feedback, etc.
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REFERENCES
Books and journals
Confente, I., 2015. Twenty‐five years of word‐of‐mouth studies: A critical review of tourism
research. International Journal of Tourism Research, 17(6), pp.613-624.
Pereira, R.L., Correia, A.H. and Schutz, R.L., 2015. Towards a taxonomy of a golf-destination
brand personality: Insights from the Algarve golf industry. Journal of Destination
Marketing & Management, 4(1), pp.57-67.
Su, L. and Swanson, S.R., 2017. The effect of destination social responsibility on tourist
environmentally responsible behavior: Compared analysis of first-time and repeat
tourists. Tourism Management, 60, pp.308-321.
Min, S., So, K.K.F. and Jeong, M., 2019. Consumer adoption of the Uber mobile application:
Insights from diffusion of innovation theory and technology acceptance model. Journal
of Travel & Tourism Marketing, 36(7), pp.770-783.
Mahrous, A.A. and Hassan, S.S., 2017. Achieving superior customer experience: An
investigation of multichannel choices in the travel and tourism industry of an emerging
market. Journal of Travel Research, 56(8), pp.1049-1064.
Gössling, S., 2017. Tourism, information technologies and sustainability: an exploratory
review. Journal of Sustainable Tourism, 25(7), pp.1024-1041.
Schuckert, M., Liu, X. and Law, R., 2016. Insights into suspicious online ratings: direct evidence
from TripAdvisor. Asia Pacific Journal of Tourism Research, 21(3), pp.259-272.
Teng, C.C., Lu, A.C.C. and Huang, T.T., 2018. Drivers of consumers’ behavioral intention
toward green hotels. International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality
Management, 30(2), pp.1134-1151.
Bilgihan, A., and et.al., 2016. Consumer perception of knowledge-sharing in travel-related online
social networks. Tourism Management, 52, pp.287-296.
Online
Market research methods, 2015. [online] Available through : <
https://about.crunchbase.com/blog/market-research-methods/ >
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