Influences of pro- all-inclusive travel decisions

Influences of pro- all-inclusive travel

decisions

Wineaster Anderson, Catalina Juaneda and Francisco Sastre

Abstract

Purpose – This paper aims to identify the motivations for choosing all-inclusive package tours when

traveling, and to specify the visitor and travel attributes associated with those motivations.

Design/methodology/approach – A specific visitor-exit-survey involving all-inclusive tourists visiting

the Balearic Islands (n ¼ 843) was conducted during the summer of 2006 at the Airport of Palma de

Mallorca. Then, through discrete choice models-binary logit, relationships between the identified

motivations and specified attributes were analyzed by looking for the attributes that are more associated

with each motive.

Findings – The study results show that tourists traveling through all-inclusive tours attach more

importance to the motivations related to convenience and relaxation, economies of resources as well as

safety and security in their vacationing processes; with specific tourist and trip attributes influencing the

probability for confirmation.

Practical implications – Understanding the motivation of different tourist profiles visiting the

destinations is useful in managing the tourism industry for satisfying specific tourist segments without

jeopardizing the interests of the host community. A full understanding of all-inclusive motivation would

help travel organizers and marketers to plan, design and deliver products and services that cater for the

specific needs of the all-inclusive market, with the aim of capturing the financial benefits which are the

central element of the economy.

Originality/value – There is still little knowledge in the literature about all-inclusive package tourism.

Specifically, the knowledge of tourist motivation with reference to the tour mode choice within the tourism

landscape is still diluted, and therefore the motive behind one traveling through certain tour modes like

all-inclusives continues to miss the ground works. Nor have the factors that influence evaluation of the

motivations related to the decision of this type of trip have been much studied, which renders this field of

study one of the underdeveloped areas in the tourism social sciences. The paper attempts to contribute

where there is this lack of knowledge.

Keywords Tourism, Motivation (psychology), Spain

Paper type Research paper

1. Introduction

The motivations that lead tourists to choose a certain destination have been extensively

studied which is reflected in the number of contributions to the literature in the field. However,

the specific motivations that influence tourists in their choice of a certain type of tour mode

have not received the same amount of attention. Choice of tour mode can be considered one

decision nested in travel style choice that tourists prefer for each holiday experience. In this

sense, Woodside and Dubelaar (2002) contend that similar behavior patterns can be found

among visitors to a destination who have chosen the same type of travel style and made a

series of similar decisions as a result. Tourists’ motivations play a fundamental role in the

choice of travel style and, therefore, tour mode. Studying the specific motivations behind

choosing package tours is indispensable for many mass tourism destinations, whose offer is

essentially based on this type of product. As Becken and Gnoth (2004) indicate,

ascertaining the behavior and characteristics of tourists associated with each travel style

PAGE 4 j TOURISM REVIEW j VOL. 64 NO. 2 2009, pp. 4-18, Q Emerald Group Publishing Limited, ISSN 1660-5373 DOI 10.1108/16605370910963482

Wineaster Anderson is

Researcher in the

Department of Applied

Economics, University of

Balearic Islands, Palma de

Mallorca, Spain, and

Lecturer in the Department

of Marketing, University of

Dar es Salaam, Dar es

Salaam, Tanzania. Catalina

Juaneda is Chair Professor

and Francisco Sastre is

Professor, both in the

Department of Applied

Economics, University of

Balearic Islands, Palma de

Mallorca, Spain.

Received: 26 August 2008

Revised: 20 October 2008

Accepted: 18 December 2008

The research was enabled by

the PROGECIB-9B project

financed by the Conselleria

d’Economia, Hisenda i

Innovacio´-Govern de les Illes

Balears; to whom the authors

are very grateful.