A Visitor-Focused Assessment of New Product Launch: The Case of Quilt Gardens TourSM in Northern Indiana's Amish Country

Abstract

ABSTRACT Understanding the needs and wants of consumers in the process of new product development has been recognized as an essential aspect of preparing effective marketing strategies for the success of business. The new product development strategy has now moved into Consumer-Driven Innovation (CDI), which not only asks consumers about their needs and wants but actually involves them in the product design, promotion, and even assessment processes. Informed by the new concept of CDI, this study aims at identifying to what extent visitors as tourism product consumers and co-producers can be involved in a new product development process and reinvent the products by providing ideas and suggestions with their own creative insights. More specifically, using data collected from a trip diary and an online survey with 273 respondents, this article examines visitor assessment on a newly launched product, Quilt Gardens TourSM, in Northern Indiana's Amish Country. The data were analyzed using geo-visualization of tourist spatiotemporal mobility, descriptive statistics, and qualitative analysis of visitors' descriptions. The results show that the visitors are central role players in a new product development process, adding their creativity to the tour itinerary and design elements. Several lessons and significance for future development of the tour are provided.