Tourism: towards a Behavioural Approach

This monograph looks at the planning implications of a behavioural approach to the study of tourism. One of the main problems in planning tourism facilities is that of predicting tourists' expectations from these facilities and, hence, the potential of destinations to attract tourists. Until recently, studies aimed at detecting travel behaviour concentrated either on examining tourists' destination-choice behaviour or on the spatial patterns of tourist flows. This study deals, for the first time, with the decision-making and actual travel processes together in order to examine whether: destination-choice is class-differentiated; spatial behaviour is class-differentiated; and causal relations exist between tourist's choice and actual travel behaviour? A modified "value stretch" model is employed to investigate, in a case study, the destination-choice and spatial behaviour of North-West London Jewry. Results show that tourists belonging to various socio-economic or life-style classes demonstrate significantly different destination-choice and spatial behaviour patterns. Moreover, the study managed to detect the leading travel needs of each class in terms of destination-attributes.
Isolating the unique travel behaviour of distinctive groups of tourists and the causal relationship between each group's choice and spatial behaviour can increase the efficiency of tourist infra- and superstructure planning. In particular, this information will enable planners to attract more tourists by tailoring the tourist product according to tourists' needs and expectations. Thus, development policies set by either government agencies or the private sector to control the clientele mix will be more achievable. The result will be, on the one hand, a more competitive destination and, on the other, a more balanced development process, one that is sensitive not only to tourist's needs but also to local social and environmental needs.
 
This monograph looks at the planning implications of a behavioural approach to the study of tourism. One of the main problems in planning tourism facilities is that of predicting tourists' expectations from these facilities and, hence, the potential of destinations to attract tourists. Until recently, studies aimed at detecting travel behaviour concentrated either on examining tourists' destination-choice behaviour or on the spatial patterns of tourist flows. This study deals, for the first time, with the decision-making and actual travel processes together in order to examine whether: destination-choice is class-differentiated; spatial behaviour is class-differentiated; and causal relations exist between tourist's choice and actual travel behaviour? A modified "value stretch" model is employed to investigate, in a case study, the destination-choice and spatial behaviour of North-West London Jewry. Results show that tourists belonging to various socio-economic or life-style classes demonstrate significantly different destination-choice and spatial behaviour patterns. Moreover, the study managed to detect the leading travel needs of each class in terms of destination-attributes.
Isolating the unique travel behaviour of distinctive groups of tourists and the causal relationship between each group's choice and spatial behaviour can increase the efficiency of tourist infra- and superstructure planning. In particular, this information will enable planners to attract more tourists by tailoring the tourist product according to tourists' needs and expectations. Thus, development policies set by either government agencies or the private sector to control the clientele mix will be more achievable. The result will be, on the one hand, a more competitive destination and, on the other, a more balanced development process, one that is sensitive not only to tourist's needs but also to local social and environmental needs.