ABSTRACT
Chapter 16 begins the four-chapter review in Part IV of destination markets and trends. It covers consumer travel behaviors and gives an overview of how people tend to make decisions about destinations, including their motives, selection criteria, perceptions of destinations, and purchasing stages. The chapter begins by briefly reviewing motivational theories that have been proposed for tourism, leisure, and recreation. Although there is no consensus among competing theories, there seems to be some agreement that there are two sides to motivation in pleasure/leisure travel: (1) push (internal to tourists) and (2) pull (destination product and marketing) factors. There are a variety of factors that influence people when selecting destinations for their trips. These are discussed, and a model of destination selection is reviewed. The formulation of people’s destination images is also discussed, and a model is described of image formation. Market segmentation is discussed, and criteria for dividing up markets are explained. Trip purpose and geography have traditionally been used by DMOs to segment markets, but more sophisticated approaches are now being applied by destinations. The chapter ends by reviewing some of the predominant market trends that are impacting destinations. These trends result from changes in demographics, countries of origin, trip purposes, trip planning and travel arrangements, psychographics and lifestyles, special interests, and uses of technology. The implications of these trends for destinations and DMOs are identified.
