Tourism Consumer Behavior PDF

TH2013 THE MARKET AND CONSUMER BEHAVIOR A market is a set of actual and potential buyers of a product. These buyers share a particular need or want that can be...

TH2013 THE MARKET AND CONSUMER BEHAVIOR A market is a set of actual and potential buyers of a product. These buyers share a particular need or want that can be satisfied through exchange relationships (Badilla, 2015). THE TOURIST MARKET AND COMPETITORS In order to market a tourism and hospitality product/service, businesses must be knowledgeable about the different types of tourists. These are the different types of tourists according to different models (Badilla, 2015): Plog’s Tourist Motivation Model Allocentrics – They prefer what is new, unstructured, exotic, or unusual in terms of trips or destination choices. Pyschocentrics – They are those who prefer the structured and familiar destinations or activities. Midcentrics – They portray both characteristics of allocentrics and psychocentrics depending on the situation or season. Cohen’s Model Organized mass tourist – This type of tourist buys all-inclusive packages and ensures that everything goes as planned. Individual mass tourist – This is more autonomous than the organized mass tourist preferring to travel independently but still chooses popular destinations and activities. The explorer – This type seeks new areas but would sometimes opt for the comfort of familiar accommodations. The drifter – This type is known as the "free spirit" who avoids any kind of traditional tourist establishments. Stewart’s Model of Holidaytaking Bubble travelers – They have low affluence and low travel experience, and observe foreign culture from a bubble, which give them the confidence to travel. Idealized-experienced seekers – They have more affluence and a base of overseas travel experience that give them more confidence. Wide-horizon travelers – They have more affluence, greater confidence, and more travel experience. They are ready for more individually oriented travel to a wider range of destinations. Total immersers – They do not seek to merely observe but to be exposed fully to another culture, language, food, heritage, and lifestyle. Aside from classifying the market according to the abovementioned types, the market can be identified using market segmentation. The following are the variables of market segmentation (Badilla, 2015): Geographic – This divides the market into different geographic units such as nations, states, regions, countries, cities, neighborhoods, barangays, towns, etc. 02 Handout 1 *Property of STI  [email protected] Page 1 of 3  TH2013 Demographic – This refers to the segmentation of the market based on variables such as age, life cycle, gender, income, occupation, education, religion, and race. Psychographic – This divides the consumers based on different psychographic profiles such as social class, lifestyle, and personality characteristics. Behavioral – This divides groups based on their knowledge, attitude, and use of response to a product or service. Businesses should check these six (6) characteristics of a segment to have a successful segmentation (Badilla, 2015): Identifiable – The people who comprise the segment can be located and identified such that targeting them would be easy. Cohesive – The consumers should be part of a whole specific qualities that are common to all. Measurable – The marketer should be able to estimate the size and potential spending of the members of the market segment. Accessible – The member of the segment should be accessed by marketing efforts and promotional activities to be conducted. If they are difficult to reach, efforts to reach out to the specific segment might be useless. Substantial – Segments should be large in order to be substantial. If the segment is small, it should have a high spending capability to make a significant impact on the business’ bottom line. Actionable – The company has enough resources and commitment to enable effective penetration of the identified segment to ensure effective positioning. Tourism and hospitality is a highly competitive industry. Businesses must identify who their competitors are in order to succeed. These are the different types of competitors (PowerNoodle, n.d): Direct competitor – This type of competition is observed when businesses in the same sector that offer the same products compete with each other. (Example: Coca-Cola and Pepsi) Indirect competitor – This type of competition offers a different product but with the same goal and consumer resources. (Example: Hotel industry vs. AirBnB. While travelers previously reached to hotels for their temporary lodging at a moderate to high price, AirBnB came into the scene, offering home- shares that are not only less expensive but are unique, homey, better reflect the local community, and offer more than just a typical bed-and-bath combination.) Replacement/potential competitor – This type of competition offers a different product and has a different goal but uses the same consumer resources. (Example: When Grab and Uber came into the transportation scene, they threatened the taxi and limousine industries. However, their shared customer base still has alternatives such as taking public transportation or walking.) TOURISM CONSUMER BEHAVIOR Different factors can influence a consumer to buy a certain product or service. In marketing, it is important to understand these factors in order to come up with the right marketing strategies. 02 Handout 1 *Property of STI  [email protected] Page 2 of 3  TH2013 These are the factors that influence consumer behavior (Badilla, 2015): Motivations – These are inner drives that make people take a specific plan of action to satisfy their needs. Culture – It is the collective mental programming of the human mind that distinguishes one group from another. Age and gender – Age refers to the number of years a person has been living. Likes and preferences of consumers are normally dependent on their ages. Gender also influences consumer behavior. Social class – This is one’s position within the society and is determined by factors such as income, wealth, education, occupation, family prestige, and value of home or neighborhood. Lifestyle – This is a person’s pattern of living, as expressed in one’s activities, interests, and opinions. Life cycle – This refers to the stages an individual goes through their lifetime. Reference groups – These are sets of people who have a direct or indirect influence on other people’s attitudes or behavior. Personality and self-concept – Personality refers to distinguishing characteristics that lead to relatively consistent and enduring responses to the environment. Self-concept refers to the consumer’s personal mental picture. The buyer decision process (customer buying process) helps marketers to identify how consumers complete the journey from knowing about a product to making the purchase decision. Understanding the customer’s buying process is essential for marketing and sales (iEduNote, 2017). The Buyer-Decision Making Process 1. Need/Problem recognition – During need or problem recognition, the consumer recognizes a problem or need that could be satisfied by a product or service in the market. It is the first stage of the buyer decision process. 2. Information search – Once the need is recognized, the consumer is aroused to seek information and moves into the information stage wherein they search for information about the goods/service they want. 3. Evaluation of alternatives – With the information in hand, the consumer proceeds to alternative evaluation, during which the information is used to evaluate brands in the choice set. Consumers generally evaluate the alternatives based on the attributes of the product, the degree of importance, belief in the brand, satisfaction, and the like to choose correctly. 4. Purchase decision – After the alternatives have been evaluated, consumers decide on whether to purchase the product or service. 5. Post-purchase evaluation – The consumer takes action based on satisfaction or dissatisfaction. In this stage, the consumer determines if they are satisfied or dissatisfied with the purchasing outcome. References: Badilla, M.G. (2015). Tourism marketing. Rex Bookstore, Inc. iEduNote. (2017). Buyer Decision Process: 5 Stages of Consumer Buying Decision Process. https://www.iedunote.com/buyer-decision-process PowerNoodle. (n.d.). 4 Types of Competitors. https://www.powernoodle.com/blog-article/4-types-of-competitors 02 Handout 1 *Property of STI  [email protected] Page 3 of 3