Tourism Productivity by Attracting Children’s Market: The Role of Children in Decision Making
Subject Areas : Business ManagementMehdi Karoubi 1 , Mahmood Ziaee 2 , Zohre Mohammadi 3
1 - Associate Professor, Department of Tourism Management, Faculty of Management and Accounting, Allameh Tabatabai University, Tehran, Iran
2 - Associate Professor, Department of Tourism Management, Faculty of Management and Accounting, Allameh Tabatabai University, Tehran, Iran
3 - PhD Candidate, Department of Tourism Management, Faculty of Management and Accounting, Allameh Tabatabai University, Tehran, Iran
Keywords: Perceived Travel Benefits, Children’s Market, Children Decision Making, Leisure Behavioral,
Abstract :
Tourism productivity relies heavily on social and economic improvement. Children have largely been ignored as beneficiaries of tourism who can play a highly influential role. Existing research had failed to considered children as active agents who can impact their lives and environments. The purpose of the current study was thus to address the existing research gap and qualitatively investigate children's perceptions of the trips they had experienced and to explore whether their decision making and the consequences of their leisure behaviors might play any ameliorating role in economic recovery. The research sample comprised 96 children within the age range of 9 -12 years old who had been selected based on gender and socioeconomic status, as the moderator variables, to take part in semi-structured interviews to narrate their memories. The recorded memories were further thematically analyzed. Exploration of their best trips revealed that novelty/entertainment, nature, and social relationships were perceived to be the major merits which stimulated emotional loyalty and the desire to return to the place. Emotional loyalty was observed to be stronger among males and middle socioeconomic class. Moreover, the findings supported the important role children can play in decision making and impacting the family’s selection of future tourist destinations.
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Agapito, D., Pinto, P., & Mendes, J. (2017). Tourists' memories, sensory impressions and loyalty: In loco and post-visit study in Southwest Portugal. Tourism Management, 58, 108-118.
Barnes, S. J., Mattsson, J., & Sørensen, F. (2016). Remembered experiences and revisit intentions: A longitudinal study of safari park visitors. Tourism Management, 57, 286-294.
Blichfeldt, B., Pedersen, B., Johansen, A., & L. Hansen. (2010). Tween tourists: children and decision-making. Journal of Tourism Consumption and Practice, 2(1), 1-24.
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Chen, C. F., & Tsai, D. (2007). How destination image and evaluative factors affect behavioral intentions?. Tourism management, 28(4), 1115-1122.
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Cullingford, C. (1995). Children’s attitudes to holiday overseas, Tourism Management, 16(2), 121–127.
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Gram, M. (2007). Children as co-decision makers in the family? The case of family holidays. Young Consumers, 8(1), 19-28.
Guest, G., Bunce, A., & Johnson, L. (2006). How many interviews are enough?: An Experiment with Data Saturation and Variability, Field Methods, 18(1), 59-82.
Gunter, B., & Furnham, A. (1998). Children as consumers: A psychological analysis of the young people's market. Psychology Press, 1-216.
Jenkins, R. L. (1978). Family vacation decision-making. Journal of Travel Research, 16(4), 2-7.
Kang, S. K., & Hsu, C. H. (2005). Dyadic consensus on family vacation destination selection. Tourism Management, 26(4), 571-582.
Kang, S. K., Hsu, C. H., & Wolfe, K. (2003). Family traveler segmentation by vacation decision-making patterns. Journal of Hospitality & Tourism Research, 27(4), 448-469.
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Nickerson, N. P., & Jurowski, C. (2001). The influence of children on vacation travel patterns. Journal of Vacation Marketing, 7(1), 19-30.
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Punch, S. (2002). Research with children: The same of different from research with adults?. Childhood, 9(3), 321-341.
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Ruiz, E. C., González, G. B., & Zamora, D. T. (2018). Destination image, satisfaction and destination loyalty in cruise tourism: the case of Málaga (Spain). Tourism & Management Studies, 14(1), 58-68.
Ryan, C. (1992). The child as a visitor. World Travel and Tourism Review: Indicators trends and Issues, 2(2), 135-139.
Schänzel, H. A., Smith, K. A., & Weaver, A. (2005). Family holidays: A research review and application to New Zealand. Annals of Leisure Research, 8(2-3), 105-123.
Schwandt, T.A. (2007). The Sage dictionary of qualitative inquiry. Los Angeles:Sage,3.
Schwartz, B. (2011). Memory: Foundations and applications. Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications.
Scott, J. (2000). Children as respondents. Research with children: Perspectives and practices, 98-119.
Seaton, A. V. (1992). Social stratification in tourism choice and experience since the war: part 1. Tourism Management, 13(1), 106-111.
Shaw, G., & Williams, A. M. (1994). Critical issues in tourism: a geographical perspective. Blackwell Publishers.
Shaw, S. M., Havitz, M. E., & Delemere, F. M. (2008). "I decided to invest in my kids' memories": Family vacations, memories, and the social construction of the family. Tourism, Culture and Communication, 8(1), 13-26.
Small, J. (2008). The absence of childhood in tourism studies. Annals of Tourism Research, 35(3), 772-789.
Torrance, K. (1998). Contemporary childhood: parent-child relationships and child culture. DSWO Press, Leiden University.
Tung, V. W. S., & Ritchie, J. R. (2011). Exploring the essence of memorable tourism experiences. Annals of Tourism Research, 38(4), 1367-1386.
Turley, S. K. (2001). Children and the demand for recreational experiences: The case of zoos. Leisure Studies, 20(1), 1-18.
Valkenburg, P. M., & Cantor, J. (2001). The development of a child into a consumer. Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology, 22(1), 61-72.
Wang, P., & Godbey, G. (1994). A normative approach to tourism growth to the year 2000. Journal of Travel Research, 33(1), 32-37.
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Abrams, L.S. (2010). Sampling ‘hard to reach’ populations in qualitative research: The case Incarcerated Youth, 9(2).
Agapito, D., Pinto, P., & Mendes, J. (2017). Tourists' memories, sensory impressions and loyalty: In loco and post-visit study in Southwest Portugal. Tourism Management, 58, 108-118.
Barnes, S. J., Mattsson, J., & Sørensen, F. (2016). Remembered experiences and revisit intentions: A longitudinal study of safari park visitors. Tourism Management, 57, 286-294.
Blichfeldt, B., Pedersen, B., Johansen, A., & L. Hansen. (2010). Tween tourists: children and decision-making. Journal of Tourism Consumption and Practice, 2(1), 1-24.
Buetow, S. (2009). Thematic analysis and its reconceptualization as ‘saliency analysis’, Journal of Health Services Research & Policy, 15(2):123-125.
Carr, N. (2011). Children's and families' Holiday experience, Routledge Publisher, 22.
Chen, C. C., & Petrick, J. F. (2016). The roles of perceived travel benefits, importance, and constraints in predicting travel behavior. Journal of Travel Research, 55(4), 509-522.
Chen, C. F., & Tsai, D. (2007). How destination image and evaluative factors affect behavioral intentions?. Tourism management, 28(4), 1115-1122.
Clark*, A. (2005). Listening to and involving young children: A review of research and practice. Early child development and care, 175(6), 489-505.
Cohen, E. (1972). Toward a sociology of international tourism. Social research, 164-182.
Cooper, C., Fletcher, J., Fyall, A., Gilbert, D., & Wanhill, S. (2000). Turismo: princípios e prática. Bookman, 1-454.
Creswell, J.W. (2007). Qualitative inquiry & research design: Choosing among five Approaches, Sage Publications 1-448.
Crompton, J. L. (1979). Motivations for pleasure vacation. Annals of tourism research, 6(4), 408-424.
Cullingford, C. (1995). Children’s attitudes to holiday overseas, Tourism Management, 16(2), 121–127.
Guest, G.; Bance, A.; Johnson, L. (2006), experiment with data saturation and variability. Field Methods, 18(1), 59-82.
Floersch, J., Longhofer, J.L., Kranke, D., & Townsend, L. (2010). Integrating thematic, Grounded Theory and Narrative Analysis: A Case Study of Adolescent Psychotropic Treatment, Qualitative Social Work 9(2).
Gram, M. (2007). Children as co-decision makers in the family? The case of family holidays. Young Consumers, 8(1), 19-28.
Guest, G., Bunce, A., & Johnson, L. (2006). How many interviews are enough?: An Experiment with Data Saturation and Variability, Field Methods, 18(1), 59-82.
Gunter, B., & Furnham, A. (1998). Children as consumers: A psychological analysis of the young people's market. Psychology Press, 1-216.
Jenkins, R. L. (1978). Family vacation decision-making. Journal of Travel Research, 16(4), 2-7.
Kang, S. K., & Hsu, C. H. (2005). Dyadic consensus on family vacation destination selection. Tourism Management, 26(4), 571-582.
Kang, S. K., Hsu, C. H., & Wolfe, K. (2003). Family traveler segmentation by vacation decision-making patterns. Journal of Hospitality & Tourism Research, 27(4), 448-469.
Fraser, S.; Lewis, V.; Ding, S.; Kellet, M., and Robinson, C. (2004), Doing Research with Children and Young People, London: The Open University, 161–74.
Larsen, S. & Jenssen, D. (2004). The school trip: travelling with, not to or from. Scandinavian Journal of Hospitality and Tourism, 4(1), 43-57.
Larsen, S. (2007). Aspects of psychology of the tourist experience. Scandinavian Journal of Hospitality and Tourism, 7(1), 7e18.
Lehto, X. Y., Choi, S., Lin, Y. C., & MacDermid, S. M. (2009). Vacation and family functioning. Annals of Tourism Research, 36(3), 459-479.
Martin, D. (2010). Uncovering unconscious memories and myths for understanding international tourism behavior. Journal of Business Research, 63(4), 372-383.
McNeal, J. U. (1992). Kids as customers: a handbook of marketing to children. New York: Lexington Books.
Mielke, K. W. (1983). Formative research on appeal and comprehension in 3-2-1 CONTACT. Children’s understanding of television: Research on attention and comprehension, 241-263.
Nanda, D., Hu, C., & Bai, B. (2007). Exploring family roles in purchasing decisions during vacation planning: Review and discussions for future research. Journal of Travel & Tourism Marketing, 20(3-4), 107-125.
Newman, M., Woodcock, A., & Dunham, P. (2006). ‘Playtime in the borderlands’: children's representations of school, gender and bullying through photographs and interviews. Children's Geographies, 4(3), 289-302.
Nickerson, N. P., & Jurowski, C. (2001). The influence of children on vacation travel patterns. Journal of Vacation Marketing, 7(1), 19-30.
Pearce, P. L., & Lee, U. I. (2005).Developing the travel career approach to tourist motivation. Journal of Travel Research, 43(3), 226-237.
Poria, Y., & Timothy, D. J. (2014). Where are the children in tourism research?. Annals of Tourism Research, 47, 93-95.
Poria, Y., Atzaba-Poria, N., & Barrett, M. (2005). The relationship between children’s geographical knowledge and travel experience: An exploratory study. Tourism Geographies, 7(4), 387–397.
Punch, S. (2002). Research with children: The same of different from research with adults?. Childhood, 9(3), 321-341.
Ritchie, J. R. B., & Crouch, G. (2003). The competitive destination: A sustainable tourism perspective. Cambridge: CABI Publishing.
Ruiz, E. C., González, G. B., & Zamora, D. T. (2018). Destination image, satisfaction and destination loyalty in cruise tourism: the case of Málaga (Spain). Tourism & Management Studies, 14(1), 58-68.
Ryan, C. (1992). The child as a visitor. World Travel and Tourism Review: Indicators trends and Issues, 2(2), 135-139.
Schänzel, H. A., Smith, K. A., & Weaver, A. (2005). Family holidays: A research review and application to New Zealand. Annals of Leisure Research, 8(2-3), 105-123.
Schwandt, T.A. (2007). The Sage dictionary of qualitative inquiry. Los Angeles:Sage,3.
Schwartz, B. (2011). Memory: Foundations and applications. Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications.
Scott, J. (2000). Children as respondents. Research with children: Perspectives and practices, 98-119.
Seaton, A. V. (1992). Social stratification in tourism choice and experience since the war: part 1. Tourism Management, 13(1), 106-111.
Shaw, G., & Williams, A. M. (1994). Critical issues in tourism: a geographical perspective. Blackwell Publishers.
Shaw, S. M., Havitz, M. E., & Delemere, F. M. (2008). "I decided to invest in my kids' memories": Family vacations, memories, and the social construction of the family. Tourism, Culture and Communication, 8(1), 13-26.
Small, J. (2008). The absence of childhood in tourism studies. Annals of Tourism Research, 35(3), 772-789.
Torrance, K. (1998). Contemporary childhood: parent-child relationships and child culture. DSWO Press, Leiden University.
Tung, V. W. S., & Ritchie, J. R. (2011). Exploring the essence of memorable tourism experiences. Annals of Tourism Research, 38(4), 1367-1386.
Turley, S. K. (2001). Children and the demand for recreational experiences: The case of zoos. Leisure Studies, 20(1), 1-18.
Valkenburg, P. M., & Cantor, J. (2001). The development of a child into a consumer. Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology, 22(1), 61-72.
Wang, P., & Godbey, G. (1994). A normative approach to tourism growth to the year 2000. Journal of Travel Research, 33(1), 32-37.
