Consumer Behavior in Travel and Tourism/GROUP 2: Decision rules
Interview 8 people who have the experience of making a purchase of leisure tour packages. Based on their most recent purchase experience, find out how these individuals are making the decision, the decision rules they use, and the factors influenced their decision. Audio-tape or videotape these verbal responses and prepare transcripts for analysis.
Analysis: a) How did they come up with the decision? b) What criteria have they considered when making the decision? c) Summarise and compare the decision rules (e.g., compensatory, non-compensatory, etc.) used by these consumers. d) Develop implications for the marketing managers of tour packages. Attach tables and/or charts comparing the decision rules used for the brands.
Group 2:
- MAN Chui Ying, Rachelle (07598597d)
- LAI Ka Yi, Jackie (07599489d)
- CHEUNG Lai Sha, Lisa (07553985d)
- MAK Wing Ka, Maggie (07576790d)
Introduction
1.1 Background of the study
Hong Kong people usually travel outside Hong Kong for the main purposes of leisure and relaxation as Hong Kong is a fast-paced city and people easily suffer from high working pressure. To travel outside, all-inclusive package tours are the most popular travel mode for Hong Kong travelers (Mok and Armstrong, 1996). Most of the Hong Kong travelers purchase the all-inclusive package tours by the travel agencies. And every individual has different decision making on purchasing the package tours by different travel agencies. The most common decision making process which includes three steps: (1) need recognition; (2) prepurchase search, and (3) evaluation of alternatives (Schiffman & Kanuk, 2007). It is important to know the consumers’ decision making process recently as the marketing managers of the package tours needed to understand the consumers’ behavior to cater the fast changing needs and tastes of the consumers in Hong Kong.
1.2 Problem statement
As the all-inclusive package tours are still the major travel mode taken by most of the Hong Kong outbound travelers, it is necessary to understand the selection criteria towards making decision on purchasing an all-inclusive package tour. Previous studies investigated the selection criteria that Hong Kong residents use to select outbound package tours in 2002 (Wong and Kwong, 2004). However, no previous studies are found to specifically investigate the decision rules the consumers used. Besides, the consumer decision making towards the package tours is always changing. It is going to know the consumers’ decision criteria and how they come up the decision to purchase the package tours in recent years. In this study, it will be focus on finding the criteria the consumers considered when making the decision on a purchase of leisure all-inclusive package tours and determining the decision rules the consumers used to choose the all-inclusive package tours. Therefore, a qualitative in-depth interview to 8 people who have the experience of making a purchase of leisure all-inclusive package tour will be used. A better understanding of the selection criteria and the prevailing decision rules allows the tourism marketers and travel agencies to have a better marketing and promotional strategies. By doing this study, the travel agencies not only can tailor-make more effective marketing strategies to cater for the Hong Kong travelers’ preferences in selection criteria, but they can also enhance their competitiveness and the attractiveness to lure the existing and potential customers joining the all-inclusive package tours as well as gain much more profits.
1.3Objectives of the study
The specific objectives of this study are: (1) to examine the decision making criteria in purchasing a leisure all-inclusive package tour; (2) to determine the decision rules used by the consumers; (3) to compare the decision rules used by the consumers and (4) to provide suggestions to the marketing managers of package tours in tourism industry.
2. Theoretical background
The theoretical background is divided into two parts. The first part provides the definition of terms. The second part summarized the criteria of choosing all-inclusive package tours.
Definition of Terms
2.1.1 Consumer decision rules
Consumer decision rules have been classified into two categories including compensatory and non-compensatory decision rules. In the following, compensatory decision rules mean a consumer evaluates brand or model options in terms of each relevant attribute and computes weighted or summated score of each brand. The computed score reflects the brand’s relative merit as a potential purchase choice. The assumption is that the consumer will select the brand which scores highest among the alternatives evaluated. A unique feature of a compensatory decision rule is to allow a positive evaluation of a brand on one attribute to balance out a negative evaluation on some other attributes. Unlike the compensatory decision rules, non-compensatory decision rules do not allow consumers to balance positive evaluations of a brand on one attributes to balance out a negative evaluation on some other attribute. There are three non-compensatory decision rules including conjunctive decision rule, disjunctive decision rule, lexicographic decision rule and affect referral decision rule. The definitions and meaning of the following rules are quoted from Schiffman and Kanuk (2007).
Conjunctive decision rule
The consumer establishes a separate, minimally acceptable level as a cutoff point for each attribute. If any particular brand or model falls below the cutoff point on any one attribute, the option is eliminated from further consideration. The conjunctive rule can result in several apply an additional decision rule to arrive at a final selection.
Disjunctive decision rule
The disjunctive rule is the ‘mirror’ image of the conjunctive rule. In applying this decision rule, the consumer establishes a separate, minimally acceptable cutoff level for each attribute (which may be higher than the one normally established for a conjunctive rule).
Lexicographic decision rule
A lexicographic decision rule, the consumer first ranks the attributes in terms of perceived relevance or importance. The consumer then compares the various alternatives in terms of the single attribute that is considered most important.
Affect referral decision rule
A simplified decision rule by which consumers make a product choice on the basis of their previously established overall ratings of the brands considered, rather than on specific attributes.
2.1.2 All-inclusive package tours
All- inclusive tours are standardized, quality-controlled, reputable offers comprising transport, accommodations, food, destination attractions, other facilities, and services that are sold to consumer as a comprehensive package for a single price (Fay, 1992, Middleton, 1994).
2.2 The criteria of choosing all-inclusive package tours
Since the majority of outbound travelers in Hong Kong purchase all-inclusive package tours through travel agencies, it is important that marketing managers of travel agencies realize what criteria are used by prospective outbound travelers to select these package tours.
Price is a major consideration for people to select all-inclusive package tours. Quiroga (1990) agreed that price is a factor to be considered in the evaluation process before prospective travelers make their final decision to purchase. Some unusual factors affecting purchase decisions include operating hours, assistance during non-business hours, availability of evening services, early-bird or group/family discounts (Heung & Chu 2000; Kendall & Booms 1989), and the hidden costs in the total cost of a trip (Burke & Resnuk 1991). Touche Ross (1975) stated that overall convenience and tour economies are the most frequently cited reasons for travelers purchasing a package tour.
Apart from the price, there are still many factors will influence people when they purchased package tours. Travelers normally expect package tours to be the best method of seeing as much as possible combined with comfort, scenery and experienced tour guides (Duke & Persia, 1993). Some previous studies also found that it is reasonably assumed that travelers on all-inclusive package tours prefer high-quality restaurants, accommodation, transportation, guided tours, and visiting attractions and scenic spots (Heung & Chu 2000, Hsieh, O’Leary & Morrison 1993– 1994, Philips & Webster 1983, Quiroga 1990, Wang, Hsieh & Huan 2000). Enoch (1996) indicated that a package tour is a rational and effective way for tourists to visit the largest number of sites on a trip in a given period, to travel in a relatively safe way to faraway countries with strange cultures, to avoid unreliable transportation and doubtful standards of hygiene, while being usually less expensive than taking an individual trip to the same destination.
Departure date is a concern for people in choosing the package tours. Dellaert, Ettema & Lindh (1998) noted that tourists may be restricted by holidays when choosing the period in which to travel; therefore, it is difficult to alter a tourist’s travel schedule if he/she is traveling in a group, in which timing is mutually agreed upon. Dellaert et al. stated that a guarantee of a promised departure date for the tour is very important for the participants of the tour. Similarly, Quiroga (1990) indicated that a traveler’s choice of tour package depends on the convenience of the departure dates. With convenience in planning and departure dates, economic pricing, friends’ recommendations, and the desire for specialized activities and experience, tourists can literally sit back and enjoy their trips by taking package tours (Cohen, 1972; Middleton, 1991; Hsieh, O’Leary, & Morrison, 1992, 1994; Liberson, 1994).
Previous studies have found there to be a significant relationship between perceived quality and company image (Gronroos 1982, 1984, Lam & Zhang 1999, LeBlanc 1992). Conceptually, an image is an overall impression of a company perceived by customers based on the evaluation of characteristics deemed important by them (Kotler 2003). Heung and Chu (2000) have found that interactive agent quality, formal communication, overall convenience, pricing, product features and image affect customers’ perception of a travel agency in Hong Kong. A survey conducted by Holiday Which (2001) showed that accommodation, convenience of travel arrangements, value for money, brochure description and services of a representative are the five important considerations for consumers choosing their tour operators.
Methodology
In this research, a qualitative approach, an in-depth interview was being used in analyzing data. A total of 8 interviewees completed the interview. The data collected in the interviews would then be interpreted and analyzed.
Firstly, a screening question will be asked the interviewees that if they have purchased the all-inclusive tour package for their most recent purchase experiences to ensure all interviewees are qualified. Then, a total 10 questions (shown in appendix 1) in the interview are guided by a checklist of questions which ensure the consistency and reliability. Those questions are set neutral as to prevent influence or leading effect on the interview. The interviews are open-ended took on “a life of their own” rules. Interviewees were selected by convenience sampling method. During the interview, interviewees are encouraged to talk and express their views, feelings, opinions and experiences. The data are hoped to show the in-depth insight of their decision rules on purchasing their all-inclusive tour packages.
The data will be analyzed by using content analysis. Data given by the interviewees will be summed up and categorized. Data display in a tabular form is used to identify and categorize information obtained. All interpretation is based on the information given by the interviewers at the interviews.
Findings
The demographic profiles, the most recent trip profile and the process of interviewees’ decision making will be summarized and described by using tables in the followings. Then, a number of decision making criteria and other external influences affecting in the consumers’ decision making will be summarized and described from the interviews with eight interviewees.
4.1 Demographic profiles of the interviewees
The following table summarized the demographic profiles including age, gender, marital status, educational level, occupation and annual household income of eight interviewees.
4.2 Most recent trip profile of the interviewees
The following table summarized and described the most recent trip profile of eight interviewees. It included the people who accompanied you in the most recent trip, travel agency chosen and the all-inclusive package tour purchased.
4.3 The Process of interviewees’ decision making
It is found that all interviewees had their travel needs’ recognitions and they had pre-purchase search before making the package purchasing decision.
For the need recognitions, all interviewees stated that they travelled for leisure or personal interest. All interviewees searched the information by external search such as friends, family, travel agents, newspapers and internet.
4.4 Decision making criteria of the interviewees
From the interviews, it is found that the following criteria (i) price, (ii) itinerary, (iii) accommodations, (iv) meals, (v) transportation, (vi) departure date and time, (vii) Hotel facilities, (viii) reputation and brand of travel agency are the main criteria affecting them to make the decision in purchasing the all-inclusive package tours.
i) Price
Interviewees A, B, C, E, F and G considered the price as one of the criteria in their decision making on purchasing the all-inclusive package tours.
Interviewee A said that price was the least important factor affecting her to purchase the package and the price must be below HK$6,000.
Interviewee B said “price is less important” and the package must be below HK$10,000. Interviewee C said that price was the chief consideration when purchasing the package and stated that the package tour must be below HK$2,800.
Interviewee E said that she highly concerned about the cheaper price of the package which was below $3,000 and she purchased the package because she said the price was the cheapest among other travel agencies.
Interviewee F considered price as a factor in decision making process but she said that the price of the package she purchased was higher but other items in the package were generally better.
Interview G considered the price as a factor in purchasing the package. As she said she needed to pay the package by herself, she would like to choose the package tour as cheap as possible.
ii) Itinerary All interviewees considered the itinerary as one of the criteria in their decision making on purchasing the all-inclusive package tours.
Interviewee A stated that “the itineraries are very important for me!” and “the tourists sports must be satisfied my need and want. If not, I won’t choose the package”. It can be seen that she considered itinerary as one of the factor affecting her to purchase the package.
Interviewee B said that she needed to consider the itinerary which could fulfill her son’s needs.
Interviewee C considered itinerary as a decision making criteria but she said that it was not the major consideration when she purchased the package tour. Also, she stated that having free time in the itinerary was needed when making the decision on the package tour.
Interviewee D said that she did not think that the itinerary was a main concern but she mentioned “the tour must include admission fee to the attractions”. It showed that she also considered it as a factor for purchasing the package.
Interviewee E considered itinerary as a criteria in decision making. She said “the itineraries of most of the travel agencies were more or less the same” and she said that the itinerary including the attractions and activities were those she wanted to visit and was interested in.
Interviewee F also considered itinerary as a decision making factor and she wanted to have the itinerary with more attractions each country in the package tour.
Interviewee G said that itinerary was one of the important factors in choosing the package. She mentioned that she would choose the package with more attractions and activities.
Interviewee H said that itinerary was an important concern in her decision making.
iii) Accommodations
Interviewees A, B, C, E, F and H considered the accommodations as one of the criteria in their decision making on purchasing the all-inclusive package tours.
Interviewee A said that she really concern the quality of accommodation when purchasing the package tour. Interviewee B also concerned the accommodations and the hotel facilities in the tour.
Interviewee C said that “clean room is okay”. It showed that she considered accommodation as a factor in her decision making.
Interviewee D mentioned “simple room is alright”. It can be seen that she also concerned accommodations when purchasing the package.
Interviewee E considered the accommodations that she mentioned 3-star hotel rooms were alright in the package.
Interviewee F stated that she preferred the hotels with higher quality and 4 to 5-star hotels in the package. It showed that she considered it when purchasing the package.
Interviewee H said that she cared the comfort and the accommodation environment of the hotel.
iv) Meals Only Interviewees D & F mentioned in the interview and considered meals as one of the decision making criteria.
Interviewee D said that “all meals must be included in the price” and it showed that she regarded it as a decision making criteria.
Interviewee F considered the meals provided in the package tour as she mentioned the “the lunch in Wing On Travel was not provided every day in tour but the other one provided all meals every day”.
v) Transportation
Interviewees A, B, F and H considered the transportation as one of the criteria in their decision making on purchasing the all-inclusive package tours.
Both Interviewee A and B said that she really concern the airline used in the package when purchasing the package tour.
Interviewee F considered the airline used in the package. She stated that she chose British Airways as it was a famous airline and she thought it is better because she usually took British Airways to travel.
Interviewee H mentioned that she concerned the reputation of the airline included in the package as she thought that it would affect the safety and service quality of the airline.
vi) Departure date and time Interviewee A, B, C and E considered the price as one of the criteria in their decision making on purchasing the all-inclusive package tours.
Interviewee A said that “the departure date is important element for me” when making decision.
Interviewee B said that “the departure date must be in between 25 March to 10 April 2008” and showed that she considered it as one of the decision making criteria.
Interviewee C pointed that “the tour must leave Hong Kong early and return at evening hours”. It can be seen that she purchased the package with this factor.
Interviewee E considered the departure time in her decision making. She mentioned that she could has much more time to hang around, have sightseeing and go shopping when the plane left Hong Kong in the morning and departed in the evening included in the package.
vii) Hotel Facilities
Only interviewee B considered the hotel facilities as one of the criteria in her decision making on purchasing the all-inclusive package tours.
Interviewee B mentioned that the hotel facilities must be provided with Spa services and Hot Spring.
viii) Reputation and brand of travel Agency
Interviewees C, G and H considered the transportation as one of the criteria in their decision making on purchasing the all-inclusive package tours.
Interviewee C said that she chose travel agency with good reputation.
Interviewee G stated that she would only choose the travel agency with a longer operational history that would enhance her confidence of purchasing tour package.
Interviewee H thought that the reputation and the brand of the travel agent that might affect can the quality of the package and services provided by the travel agency. 4.5 External Influences affecting in consumer decision making
i) Family and friends influences Interviewees A, B, D, F, G and H had the family, friends and colleagues influences to their decision making on purchasing the all-inclusive package tours.
Interviewee A said that she would listen to their friends and family’s advices or recommendations of the package.
Interviewee B considered opinions from friends and family would also affect her to purchase the package.
Interviewee D mentioned that her husband influenced me a lot because he is the decision maker.
Interviewee F pointed out that my friends and colleagues referred two package tours to her before making the decision.
Interviewee G stated that her decision was depended on the opinion of family members.
Interviewee H noted that her decision was made by her husband.
ii) Marketing and promotions by the travel agencies Interviewees D, E, G and H had the influences of marketing and promotions by the travel agencies to their decision making on purchasing the all-inclusive package tours.
Interviewee D she mainly read the newspaper advertisement for information search for purchasing the tour package.
Interviewee E pointed out that attractive advertisement in newspapers with reasonable price.
Interviewee G stated that the Korean TV dramas and travel programmes shown in Hong Kong TV channels had aroused me the desire to visit the destination.
Interviewee H mentioned that she chose the tour package was because of the promotion and advertisement shown on the newspaper.
Discussion, recommendations and conclusions
Based on the findings mentioned above, the decision rules used by the interviewees were determined and summarized as follows. It is found that both compensatory decision rule and non-compensatory decision rules could be applied and were used by the interviewees. Discussions and implications of the findings will be provided and a number of recommendations will be given as well.
i) Compensatory decision rule
It can be concluded that Interviewee F and G were both used compensatory decision rule to make a purchase decision of the all-inclusive package tour.
From the interview with Interviewee F, it can be seen that she used compensatory decision rule to purchase the East Europe package tour from Wing On Travel. She said that she had been hesitated between two East Europe all-inclusive packages of Wing On Travel and Morning Star Travel. As can be seen from the transcript and Table 1, she evaluated the attributes of the East Europe packages in terms of price, accommodations, itinerary, transportation and meals of the packages. She selected and purchased the East Europe package tour by Wing On Travel by weighting all attributes with higher overall scores. She thought that the price of Wing On Traval package was higher and it did not include all meals in this package. However, she preferred the higher quality of accommodations when living outside Hong Kong so she purchased the Wing On Travel one which had 4 to 5-star hotels. And she said that she preferred taking British Airways as well as visiting more attractions. Therefore, she evaluated the attributes of better accommodations, more itineraries and activities as well as more famous airline could compensate the price and meals attributes. Thus, Interviewee F made the decision and purchased the package from Wing On Travel rather than Morning Star Travel.
Table 1: Compensatory decision rule by Interviewee F
From the interview with Interviewee G, it can be seen that she used the compensatory decision rules to evaluate each brand in terms of each relevant attribute and then select the brand with the highest weighted score.
According to the transcript with Interviewee G, she said that she had compared all the attributes in the tour package of each travel agency. The main attributes included the content of the package program with free admission fee included, the price of the package, quality of accommodation and the choices of airline.
Based on the criteria of Interviewee G, she finally chose the package by Morning Star Travel Agency referring to Table 2. The reasons were because Morning Star not only fulfilled the decision criteria of the quality of accommodation and the choices of airline, but also outperformed other travel agents on the decision criteria of the content of the program, free admission fee for visiting the attractions, and the price of the package.
ii) Non-compensatory decision rules
1) Conjunctive decision rule
From the findings, both Interviewee C and D were determined to use the conjunction decision rule in making their purchase of all-inclusive package tours.
Based on the interview with Interviewee C, it is found that she applied the conjunctive decision rule in the decision making process. As can be seen in Table 3, Interviewee C stated that price and transportation were the two chief considerations. The price of the all-inclusive package tour to Thailand must be below HK$2800. And the tour must leave Hong Kong early and return at evening hours. She did not consider the travel itinerary of the tour as this was the first time to her to travel Thailand. She thought that the all-inclusive package tours to Thailand were similar among the travel agencies. She only chose the travel agency with good reputation and brand. Besides, the quality of accommodation and the clean room is alright. The price of Wing On Travel could not meet the criteria so it was eliminated.
After interviewing with Interviewee D, it is found that she applied the conjunctive decision rule in the decision making process. Interviewee D stated that all meals must be included in the price. Also, the tour must include admission fee to the attractions. She did not consider the price whether it was expensive or not. Also, she did not consider the travel itinerary of the tour as this was her first time to her to travel Western Europe. It showed that she eliminated some attributes from further considerations, for example, the meals could not meet the expectation of interviewee D so she chose Miramar Travel.
2) Disjunctive decision rule
It is resulted that both Interviewee B and E used disjunctive decision rule when making purchase decision.
From the interview with Interviewee B, it could be seen that she used disjunctive decision rule. In refer to the transcript of Interviewee B, she established a minimally acceptable cutoff point for each relevant product attribute. Besides, she also stated at the questionnaire “I will go through each criteria, if all are qualified, then I will choose package”. It revealed that she used the disjunctive rule in her decision making. From the Table 3, it compared the selection attributes between Wing On Travel package and Hong Thai Travel Package, the final decision made by interviewee B was Hong Tai Travel Agency. It was because all criteria met with the minimally acceptable cutoff point of Interviewee B.
From the interview with Interviewee E, it is found that she used the non-compensation rule by which positive evaluation of the Thailand all-inclusive package did not compensate for a negative evaluation on other attributes. Disjunctive decision rule can be applied to Interviewee E as she said that she considered the price, itineraries, accommodations, transportation as the attributes of the Thailand all-inclusive travel package. She established the minimally acceptable cutoff point for her each attributes. She stated that her minimum requirements for the package tour were that the price of the package must be below $3,000 and the itineraries must include the interesting and exciting attractions and activities she wanted to visit, the hotel must be at least 3-star, the flight schedule must leave Hong Kong in the morning and return home in the evening. And she finally purchased the package tour from Hong Thai Travel Services Ltd. as the price among other packages she saw was the cheapest and other factors were reached and fulfilled her minimum requirements.
3) Lexicographic rule
Interviewee A and H were found to use lexicographic rule to make the decision in purchasing the all-inclusive package tours.
From the interview, interviewee A’s decision rule could be identified as Lexicographic rule. In refer to the transcript of Interviewee A and Table 7, she firstly ranked the product attributes in terms of importance and then compared the brands in terms of the attributes considered most important. Firstly, she stated that “the itinerary is the most important to me”. Secondly, she said that “the departure date is important element for me”. Thirdly, she pointed that “I do really concern the quality of accommodation, then, airline used in package”. Fourthly, she mentioned that “price is the least important”. Besides, she also stated at the questionnaire “I will prioritize the factors”. It revealed that she used the lexicographic rule for the decision making. As can be seen in Table 4, the final decision of Interviewee A chose Sunflower Travel. She ranked each product attribute and compared one by one. The ranking of the importance of the attribute in decision making were (1) Program and Itinerary, (2) Departure Date, (3) Accommodation, (4) Airline and (5) Price. However, the departure date of Hong Tai Travel Agency was 19 Nov, 2008 which was not qualified the minimally acceptable cutoff point of interviewee A (must be in between 21 Nov- 28 Nov, 2008). Thus, interview A chose Sunflower Travel instead of Hong Tai Travel Agency.
From the interview with Interviewee H, lexicographic decision rule could be applied in her decision making. From the transcript and Table 8, she ranked the product attributes in terms of importance and compared brands in terms of the attribute considered most important.
For the interviewee H, she stated that, firstly, the most important factor was the reputation and quality of travel agents. The second important factor would be the program and itinerary involved in the tour package. The third factor would be the quality of the accommodation and followed by the choices of airline included in the tour package.
Interviewee H ranked each product attribute orderly which were (1) Reputation and brand of travel agents, (2) Program and activities, (3) Accommodation, and (4) Airline. Since the Interviewee H rated the highest importance on reputation and brand of travel agents which the travel agent must be a longer history in operation and the brand was in a good reputation, and compared with the Hong Thai Travel, Miramar has a longer history of establishment, so Interviewee H finally chose the Miramar Travel Agency no matter other criteria were the same as the package of Hong Thai Travel package.
By understanding more about the decision making criteria they considered and the decision rules the interviewees used, it is recommended that the marketing managers of the all-inclusive package tours should realize that which criteria are more considered by the Hong Kong outbound travelers in order to retain the customers’ loyalty to purchase and re-purchase the all-inclusive package tours. The results in this study found that price, departure date and time, accommodations as well as transportation these product attributes were considered as higher concerning factors from all the interviewees.
The travel agencies and the marketing managers should have better pricing strategy by doing more market researches, adjusting the prices based on the market situation especially during the outbreak of the economic uncertainty recently, and monitoring the prices of the all-inclusive package tours regularly.
Besides, marketing managers should also pay attention to the itineraries and programs in the all-inclusive package tours. They should satisfy their needs by personalized products and services such as updating more attractions and activities more often and adding value to the itineraries.
Also, they should diversify more all-inclusive package tours catering for different market segments so as to attract more existing and potential consumers.
The results also showed that the external influences like the company image and branding was considered as one of the decision making criteria by most of the interviewees in this study. Therefore, the travel agencies should have better branding strategies to develop its branding such as creating innovative slogan and logo, branding itself by involving more community services and being more socially responsible.
To conclude, the four decision rules including compensatory, conjunctive, disjunctive and lexicographic decision rules were determined and discussed above for all interviewees and they were mainly affected by the attributes of the all-inclusive packages. There were no interviewees choosing affect referral decision rule as it might be due to the limited sampling size. The results in this study showed that price, itinerary, accommodations, departure date and time as well as transportation these product attributes were considered as higher concerning factors from all the interviewees. Moreover, this study also found that there were other external factors affecting the some of the interviewees’ decision making like the family and friends influence and marketing and promotions by the travel agencies were considered as the criteria when making decision on purchasing the all-inclusive package tours. In addition, it cannot be seen that the interviewees tended to make decision by using particular decision rules as different consumers might have different decision making criteria and rules. However, the results conducted in this study could be a valuable reference for the marketing managers of tour packages and numbers of recommendations were made in the study as well.
The limitations of the study are, firstly, the limited number of interviewees could not fully represent the whole and the Hong Kong outbound travelers purchasing all-inclusive package tours. Also, due to the shortage of time and resources, this study could not be extensive and comprehensive. Some of the decision making criteria might be neglected.
References
Burke, J. & Resnuk, B. (1991). Marketing and Selling the Travel Product. South Western Publishing Co.
Cohen, E. (1972). Towards a sociology of international tourism. Social Research, 39, 164–182.
Dellaert, B. G. C., Ettema, D. F. & Lindh, C. (1998). Multi-faceted tourist travel decisions: A constraintbased conceptual framework to describe tourists’ sequential choices of travel components. Tourism Management, 19(4), 313–320.
Duke, C. R.&Persia, M. A. (1993). Effects of distribution channel level on tour purchasing attributes and information sources. Journal of Travel and Tourism Marketing, 2(2/3), 37–55.
Enoch, Y. (1996). Contents of tour packages: A cross-cultural comparison. Annals of Tourism Research, 23(3), 599–616.
Fay, B. (1992). Essentials of Tour Management. Prentice Hall.
Gronroos, C. (1982). A service quality model and its marketing implications. European Journal of Marketing, 18(4), 36–44.
Gronroos, C. (1984). An applied service marketing theory. European Journal of Marketing, 16(17), 30–41.
Heung, V. C. S. & Chu, R. (2000). Important factors affecting Hong Kong consumers’ choice of a travel agency for all-inclusive package tours. Journal of Travel Research, 39, 52–59.
Holiday Which (2001). Which tour operator? Holiday Which?. 12–15.
Hsieh, S., O’Leary, J. T.&Morrison, A. M. (1993–1994). A comparison of package and non-package travelers from the United Kingdom. Journal of International Consumer Marketing, 6(3/4), 79–97.
Kotler, P., Bowen, J. & Makens, J. (2003). Marketing for Hospitality and Tourism. Prentice Hall, NJ.
Kendall, K. W. & Booms, B. H. (1989). Consumer response to travel agency advertising and consumer perceptions of travel agencies: travel patterns and agency images. Proceedings, 18th Annual Conference, Travel and Tourism Research Association, Working Sessions
Lam, T. & Zhang, H. Q. (1999). Service quality of travel agents: the case of travel agents in Hong Kong. Tourism Management, 20, 341–349.
Liberson, J. (1994). Segment report: Return of resorts. Lodging September, 39–41.
LeBlanc, G. (1992). Factors affecting customer evaluation of service quality in travel agencies: an investigation of customer perceptions. Journal of Travel Research, 30 (spring), 10–16.
Lo, Ada and Lam, Terry. (2004). Long-haul and short-haul outbound all-inclusive package tours. Asia Pacific Journal of Tourism Research, 161-176
Middleton, V.T.C. (1994). Marketing in Travel and Tourism, 2nd edition. Oxford
Mok, C., & Armstrong, R. W. (1995). Leisure travel destination choice criteria of Hong Kong residents. Journal of Travel and Tourism Marketing, 4(1), 99–104.
Mossberg, L. L. (1995). Tour leaders and their importance in charter tours. Tourism Management, 16(6), 437–445.
Persia, M. A., and R. J. Gitelson (1993). The Difference among Travel Agency Users in the Importance Rating of Agency Service Features. Journal of Travel & tourism marketing, 1 (4): 77-97.
Philips, R. G. & Webster, S. (1983). Group Travel. Van Nostrand Reinhold, New York.
Quiroga, I. (1990). Characteristics of Package Tours in Europe. Annals of tourism research, 17: 185-207.
Schiffman & Kanuk. (2007). Consumer Behavior, 9th edition. Pearson.
Touche Ross and Company (1975). Tour wholesaler industry study. New York: Touche Ross and Company.
Wang, K. C., Hsieh, A. T. & Huan, T. C. (2000). Critical service features in group package tour: An exploratory research. Tourism Management, 21(2), 177–189.
Wong, C. C., Kwong, W. Y. Y. (2004). Outbound tourists’ selection criteria for choosing all-inclusive package tours. Tourism Management, 25(5), 581-592
[[Category:Template:FULLBOOKNAME|GROUP 2: Decision rules]]