SOY00411 Assignment 1

8/7/2019 SOY00411 Assignment 1

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SOY00411 Tourism Theories and PracticesAlvin Koh Wan Hup 21830615

In this paper, the purpose is to read and critically review four differentarticles extracted from the journal titled Journal of Travel Research:

Persuasive Design of Destination Websites: An Analysis of FirstImpressionHeejun Kim and Daniel R.Fesenmaier Year-Volume-Issue: 2008-47-1

The design of a website plays an important role when it comes toinfluencing consumers choice-making.

In this article, the authors researched on the persuasiveness of destinationwebsites and the factors affecting a consumers first impression of it.

Today the Internet has evolved into such that the authors believe it is nowone of the most effective persuasive media for destination marketing toinfluence tourists travel planning process. According to the authors, theprocess of information searching basically consists of three stages 1)Search, 2) Primary and 3) Elaboration. The Search stage is reachedwhen a consumer begins searching for information using a search engine.After entering a search term, a list of results will be generated. Proceedingto the Primary stage, a consumers first impression of a website isformed when he or she begins evaluating the metadata of the search resultsgenerated from a search engine after entering a search term. The authorsbelieve that metadata act as a primary cue for information seekers as it

allows them to evaluate a website based on how the metadata is presentedand what to expect from the website. Referring to a recent studyconducted by Xiang and Fesenmaier (2006) , an information seeker will most likely navigate within a website and use it for trip planning if he or she has a good impression of it which concludes the Elaboration stageof the search process. By focusing on the second stage of the searchprocess, the authors argued there are six main design factors that affect thepersuasiveness of destination websites. They are Infomativeness,Usability, Credibility, Inspiration, Involvement and Reciprocity. From theauthors argument, it is hypothesized that a consumer will form afavourable first impression towards a website with any of the six factorspresent. The authors also concluded that among the six design-relatedfactors discussed, the Inspiration factor followed by Usability andCredibility had the greatest impact on first impression formation.

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Timing Matters: Travelers Advance-Booking Expectation andDecision

Chih-Chien Chen and Zvi SchwartzYear-Volume-Issue: 2008-47-1

Timing plays an important role when it comes to the price discriminationof hotel rooms and the travelers decision to book a hotel room.

In this article, the authors present a number of studies to supportassumptions made by researchers in the increase of willingness to book over time by travelers. According to these researchers, the amount of business travelers increases as the date of stay approaches. They believethese business travelers have the tendency to book close to their date of

travel, are not price sensitive and on average are willing to pay for immediate availability of room at the last minute. Whereas leisuretravelers are more price sensitive and willing to book early in order tosecure a better room rate. Based on another study conducted, they alsosuggest that regardless of business or leisure travelers, customers becomemore aware of the risk of a room sellout as the date of stay approaches,hence customers might be more willing to pay for a room as the date of stay approaches due to their change in perception or expectation. Glab(2004) stated that conventional wisdom maintains that the earlier youbook, the better price youll get. Studies also show how the evolution of the Internet has result in the shrinking of information gap, hence affectingcustomers online booking decision and consequently hotel revenues .However according to research, there are still doubts and uncertaintiesfaced by customers when deciding the optimal time for them to stopsearching and booking their reservation. The authors also stress that bothtravelers booking decision and hotel pricing decisions are interrelated.According to other research, the authors also state that a travelers channelselection when booking accommodations is affected by time.

A Multifaceted Analysis of Tourism SatisfactionJanet D.Neal and Dogan GursoyYear-Volume-Issue: 2008-47-1

Recent studies have shown that customer satisfaction is one of the mostimportant and frequently topics discussed, and it plays an important role inthe survival and future of any tourism products and services.

In this article, the authors focus on the overall satisfaction of travelers. Tofurther analyse tourist satisfaction, the authors present a number of

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theories and approach used by researchers to examine travelerssatisfaction, a few examples such as the Expectation-Disconfirmation

model, Equity theory, Norm theory and Perceived Performance Model. Bystudying these theories and approaches, the authors concluded thatcustomers are more likely to develop positive satisfaction behaviour if theend result met the customers expectation or exceeded their expectation.The authors also state that according to researchers, there are in factseveral stages of the travel process; pre-trip services, satisfaction withservices at the destination and satisfaction with the transit route thatcontribute to the customers overall satisfaction. The authors made use of the multiphase model developed Leiper to reinforce this view. Accordingto Leiper (1990), at least one tourist is involved in every tourism system;therefore the consumer is the most important element. There are three

regions a tourist will pass through during a trip. The first is the personshome region, where the trip ends and begins. Pre-trip planning also takesplace in the first region. The second region is the transit route where thetraveller travels to and from his destination. The third region is thedestination region in which the traveler is doing various activities such asshopping or relaxing. Hence it is hypothesized that a travelers overallsatisfaction is the product of his or her satisfaction at all the three regions.

Examining the Antecedents of Brand Loyalty from an InvestmentModel PerspectiveXiang (Robert) Li and James F. Petrick Year-Volume-Issue: 2008-47-1

In this article, the authors aim is to theoretically study the keydeterminants of brand loyalty by introducing the Investment Model (IM)to the field of tourism. Research has shown that the Investment Model wasdeveloped initially to examine interpersonal relationships but Le and Agnew (2003, p.54) states that the Investment Model is not strictly aninterpersonal theory and can be extended to such areas as commitment tojobs, persistence with hobbies or activities, or loyalty to institutions,decision making and purchase behaviours. With the support of variouscase studies, the authors propose that satisfaction, investment size andquality of alternatives are key elements of customers brand loyalty.Hence it can be hypothesized that satisfaction is a positive antecedent of acustomers loyalty, quality of alternative options negatively influences acustomers attitudinal loyalty and investment size positively influences acustomers attitudinal loyalty. In other words, a customers loyalty to abrand is strengthened based on how satisfied he or

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she is with the brand, driven by his or her investment contributed, and

weakened if the quality of alternatives is high. The authors also concludethat among these three factors, satisfaction plays the largest role indetermining customers loyalty.

In conclusion, after reviewing these four articles, I notice the commontheme of these articles is that Customer Satisfaction plays a very importantrole in the tourism industry.

References

Heejun Kim & Daniel R.Fesenmaier, 2008, Persuasive Design of Destination Websites:

An Analysis of First Impression, Journal of Travel Research, vol.47, no.1, pp. 3-13Xiang, Z., and D. R. Fesenmaier, 2006, Assessing the Initial Step in thePersuasion Process: Meta Tags on Destination Marketing Web sites,Information Technology & Tourism, vol.8, no.2, pp. 91-104

Chih-Chien Chen & Zvi Schwartz, 2008, Timing Matters: Travelers Advance-BookingExpectation and Decision, Journal of Travel Research, vol.47, no.1, pp. 35-42

Glab, J, 2004, Does Advance Booking Pay?http://www.travelandleisure

.com/articles/does-advance-booking-pay (accessed November 8,2006).

Janet D.Neal & Dogan Gursoy, 2008, A Multifaceted Analysis of Tourism Satisfaction,Journal of Travel Research, vol.47, no.1, pp. 53-62

Leiper, N, 1990, Tourist Attraction Systems, Annals of TourismResearch, vol.17, no.3, pp. 367-384

Xiang (Robert) Li & James F. Petrick, 2008, Examining the Antecedents of BrandLoyalty from an Investment Model Perspective, Journal of Travel Research, vol.47,

no.1, pp. 25-34Le, B. & C. R. Agnew, 2003, Commitment and Its Theorized Determinants: A Meta-Analysis of the Investment Model, Personal Relationships, vol.10, no.1, pp. 3757

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SOY00411 Assignment 1

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