A General Model of Tourist Destination Perception and Choice


perceptions are not available and the group is not adapted. Different destinations will appeal to different tourists based on how well the marketing meets their individual needs. Customers will consider purchasing these brands based on how likely they believe the brand will meet their needs.

Figure 2.3: General model of tourism destination perception and choice

Source: Woodside and Lysonski (1989, p. 9).

However, in developing a model of the destination choice process, Pearce (2005) pointed out the challenges for destination choice models: (1) travel is not just a single destination but a multi-destination trip; (2) choice models often represent an individual's choice process, but the concept of shared, focal or social decision making is not fully developed in the existing literature; (3) different types of decision making processes such as decisions for countries, entire regions and within a region, or for day trips, short holidays and longer vacations. It is also important to note that destination choice intentions and actual destination choice are not the same concept. According to the theory of planned behavior (TPB) as well as in practice, intended behavior is often found to have a major impact on actual behavior but


It cannot be denied that what people ultimately care about is the actual behavior. Therefore, for the purpose of this study, the author uses the general tourism model of Woodside and Lysonski (1989) to focus on the study of tourists' actual destination choice.

2.6.2. Approaches

Mansfeld (1992) argues that there are two theoretical approaches from previous studies to study tourists' destination choice decision making:

(1) Approach based on neoclassical traditional demand theory and (2) Approach based on

on random utility theory.

The first approach from the utility (value) perspective is based on the neo-classical traditional demand theory, the concept of “economic-rational man” means that tourists have a spatial arrangement reflecting their need to optimize their utility within the constraints of time and money (Girt, 1976; Halperin et al., 1984; Nicolau and Más, 2006). In this theory, the three factors of income, price (relative), and taste are considered the foundation of tourism demand analysis. Tourists will choose the consumption bundle that is the point of tangency between the budget line and the highest indifference curves to maximize their utility.

This theory suggests that when tourists make decisions, they will compare the expected benefits of each alternative in a set of destinations defined by their attributes. Although utility is an unobservable quantity, one can observe the actual choices of tourists and therefore the ranking of the benefits of each alternative can be derived from the observation. However, this approach has been criticized as unrealistic (Rugg, 1973; Mansfeld, 1992; Papatheodorou, 2001). Since a potential tourist can travel to one of many destinations by many different modes, the list of destinations that will be substituted into the traditional utility functions is very large (Rugg, 1973). In addition, tourists' destination choices, with many different types of options, involve a degree of uncertainty (Mansfeld, 1992). On the other hand, this approach ignores the possibility of the emergence of new destinations and the destruction of existing ones.


of old destinations and does not take into account some factors that differentiate the tourism product (Papatheodorou, 2001). These limitations explain why the theory does not take into account the importance of product differentiation and excludes the effects of tourists' attitudes towards the services and attributes of the destination.

To address the problems raised by traditional demand theory in the tourism field, Lancaster’s attribute approach is used in studies to understand tourism demand and tourist behavior. Based on this theory, demand for a product is derived from the benefits received by the intrinsic attributes of the product rather than by the product itself (Lancaster, 1966). Consumers will choose the combination of products that provides the optimal basket of attributes embodied in each product. This theory assumes that product attributes are either additive or combinable. Several scholars such as Rugg (1973), Morley (1994), Lise and Tol (2000), Papatheodorou (2001), Seddighi and Theocharous (2002), Zhang et al. (2004), Aguiló et al. (2005), Naude and Saayman (2005), Lyons et al. (2009), Kuawiriyapan et al. (2010), Li et al. (2011), Liu and Ko (2011) have applied the attribute approach in tourism. In these studies, the service characteristics of the destination are the decisive criteria for the construction of tourists' attitudes and perceptions towards alternative destinations. However, Lancaster's theory also has its own drawbacks. According to Hendler (1975), the attribute demand theory depends on the ability to distinguish between objective and subjective choices. The theory is said to be relevant only under certain assumptions, where there is no criterion for assessing consumer efficiency, unless the goods are known to be mixed or the consumer utility function is given. Problems with the assumption of divisibility of benefits have also been raised. In addition, it is difficult to quantify the identification and measurement of characteristics. The analysis becomes very complicated when there are many characteristics, since products often consist of many characteristics.

The second approach from a behavioral perspective is based on random-utility theory. This theory is based on the combination of the two concepts of “normative rationality” and “behavior probability”.


probabilistic”). The theory assumes that choosing one of several alternative destinations is a probabilistic problem. Initially, tourists also construct a psychological choice set of competing destinations before selecting a final destination to visit. A complex process of elimination then begins by comparing the degree of fit between their desires and the perceived services of each destination.

According to this approach, individuals go through a series of decision stages that Raaij and Francken (1984) refer to as the “holiday sequence”. First, the tourist is motivated by push factors and makes a decision whether to travel or not. This decision is based on an assessment of personal or family constraints and the current economic situation. If the decision to take a vacation is made, the remainder of the decision process moves through the stages of information gathering, elimination of alternatives, and actual choice. This approach has been advocated and applied by a number of scholars (Kim et al., 2003; Hong et al., 2006; Chen and Tsai, 2007; Yue, 2008; Hsu et al., 2009; Zhang, 2009; Guillet et al., 2011; Mutinda and Mayaka, 2012; Yiamjanya and Wongleedee, 2014; Huan, 2014). Although it is still considered more complex and difficult to test empirically than the traditional approach (Sirakaya and Woodside, 2005), this approach provides a better illustration of all the stages that tourists go through when choosing a tourist destination. This is also the author's approach in this study.

2.6.3. Some experimental studies

According to Swarbrooke and Horner (2007), tourist behavior is determined by internal factors (destination and tourism product knowledge; attitudes and perceptions; past travel experiences; family and work conditions; preferences and lifestyle) and is influenced by external factors (friends and relatives; tourism marketing). Destination choice research can be viewed as a subset and an important part of tourism research. The destination decision-making process is complex, especially when tourists can evaluate and choose multiple destinations.


Um and Crompton (1990), Ankomah et al. (1996), Sirakaya and Woodside (2005) explained that in choosing a destination, tourists follow a funnel-shaped procedure, starting from a relatively large initial set of alternative destinations and through a multi-stage process of narrowing down, the tourists finally choose the most promising destination. While going through the stages of the choice process, the decision maker is influenced by many factors. Over time, since the initial theoretical study on the tourist destination choice process by Um and Crompton (1990), there have been many studies exploring the factors in the tourist destination choice model.

Table 2.5: Factors mentioned in the destination choice model


TT

Impact factors

Study


1


Destination attributes

Natural environment

Lise and Tol (2000), Bigano et al. (2006)

Social and cultural environment

Ritchie and Zins (1978), Ng et al. (2007)

Price, distance

Ankomah et al. (1996), Nicolau and Más (2006)

Accessibility

Hasan and Mondal (2013)

Quality

Lee (2010), Liu and Yen (2010), Pars and Gulsel (2011), Paudel et al. (2011), Gill and Singh (2011)

Food

Cohen and Avieli (2004), Henderson et al. (2012)

Security

Sönmez and Graefe (1998), George (2003)


2


Destination image

Crompton and Ankomah (1993), Sirakaya et al. (2001), Molina and Esteban (2006), Beerli et al. (2007), Dolnicar and Huybers (2007), Assaker et al. (2011), Prayag (2011), Mutinda and Mayaka (2012),

Nicoletta and Servidio (2012), Ahn et al. (2013)


3


Engine

Jang and Cai (2002), Murphy et al. (2007), Lee (2009), Guillet et al. (2011), Mutinda and Mayaka (2012),

Ramchurjee (2013), Yiamjanya and Wongleedee (2014)


4


Barriers

Um and Crompton (1992), Oh et al. (1995), Hong et al. (2006), Mao (2008), Chen and Wu (2009), Srisutto

(2010), Chen et al. (2013)

5

Trip Features

Shoval and Raveh (2004)


6


Demographic characteristics

Chon (1990), Crompton (1992), Lam and Hsu (2006), Ndubisi (2006), Torres and Pérez-Nebra (2007), Lim et al. (2008)

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Source: Author compiled from previous studies


Table 2.5 presents a summary of some representative studies. From Table 2.5, it can be seen that there are many factors mentioned in the destination choice model. While some studies consider the individual impact of each factor, some other studies consider the simultaneous impact of many factors on destination choice. The studies can be divided into two main groups with some representative studies as follows:

2.6.3.1. Studies based on traditional utility theory

Using an individual factor approach, using ordinary least squares (OLS) analysis, Lise and Tol (2000) examined the impact of climate over the years on the travel demand of Dutch tourists to Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, the UK, the US, Canada, France, and Germany. The results showed that climate is an important factor in tourists' choice of destinations. On the other hand, there are differences in the level of priority for climate at destinations between age groups and income groups. However, the limitation of this study is the use of secondary data and the assumption that other factors are constant.

Based on data collected from tourists visiting Cyprus, Seddighi and Theocharous (2002) propose a tourism product/destination characteristics model that incorporates service quality, advertising and political instability to create a perception of the tourist destination in the minds of tourists in order to explain the tourists' decision-making process regarding destination choice. Using conditional logit analysis, the authors measure the cognitive, affective and preference development as well as the final destination choice decision. Using a Lancasterian product characteristics approach combined with a consumer transport model, the authors provide a theoretical framework in which tourist and tourism product characteristics play a significant role in determining destination choice. However, the limitation of this study is that it only focuses on destination attributes without clarifying tourists' motivations and the barriers that tourists encounter in the destination selection process.


Domestic

No difference in purchasing power

Foreign

Differences in purchasing power

System characteristics

system

Receive mode

consciousness and emotion

Preferential treatment

Selection mode

select

Personal Income Family Size Age

Nationality

No period

Tourists

Holiday

(Xi)

(Yj)

(P) (C)



X 2 X 3

X n

Travel experience

X

Y 1

P

C

Y 2

Y m

Abstraction process) (Assembly process)


Empirical analysis (logit)

Figure 2.4: Tourist behavior model and destination choice

Source: Seddighi and Theocharous (2002, p. 480)

Studying some destination attributes, Zhang et al. (2004) used analysis of variance and factor analysis to analyze the overseas destination choice of Hong Kong residents. The results of the analysis showed that safety was the top concern among the six destination attribute components that potential tourists considered when choosing a destination. In addition, the authors found statistically significant differences for demographic variables in the evaluation of destination attributes. However, in addition to not considering the influence of travel motivation and trip characteristics as well as not providing an overview of tourists' decision-making process, the main limitation of this study is the use of destination attribute components instead of the destinations themselves, so the results of the study are limited in their use.


At a more general level, Naude and Saayman (2005) studied the determinants of tourist arrivals such as the number of Internet users, political stability, average number of foggy days per year, distance, telephone coverage per employee, morbidity, number of hotel rooms, mortality rate, GDP per capita, life expectancy, urbanization rate, average room price and CPI-adjusted. Using regression analysis of panel data for each year at a destination, the results showed that political stability, tourism infrastructure, marketing, information and level of destination development are the determinants of total tourist arrivals to Africa. All tourists were insensitive to tourism prices, except for European tourists. The limitations of the study are the use of secondary data in time series and the approach from a managerial perspective.

Table 2.6: Summary of variables in Liu and Ko's study (2011)


Variable type

Measurement variable content

Dependent variable

Attracting tourists


Independent variable

Natural landscapes, geographical landscapes, flora and fauna, arts and culture, customs, performances, cultural historical arts, restaurant cuisine, local specialties, gourmet snacks, souvenirs, festivals, outdoor recreational activities, entertainment facilities, amenities

hotel, temple, historical site


Control variables

Tourist demographic characteristics: Age, gender, marital status, education level, occupation, place of residence, income level

Tourist behavior characteristics: frequency of visits, tour groups

travel, travel companion, information source, consumption

Source: Liu and Ko (2011, p. 24)

From the perspective of tourist attraction, Liu and Ko (2011) explored the influence of destination attributes, tourist demographic characteristics, and tourist behavioral characteristics on tourist attraction (Table 2.6). Through discriminant analysis

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