The Impact of Socio-Demographic Factors on Domestic Tourism Consumption Expenditure in Ghana

Ebenezer Kojo Ocran ,O.a Adebanji ,Solomon Sarpong

doi:10.7176/jths/41-05

Abstract

This study applies quantile regression approach to analyse socio-demographic factors that affect domestic tourism consumption expenditure in Ghana. The approach uses household domestic tourism expenditure as a response variable. The internet access of the household, whether a household owns a mobile phone, and /or at least one car or not are represented as proxies for information and transport accessibility, respectively. Other variables included to constrain household domestic travel budgets are yearly household income and household loan. The rest are demographic characteristics such as age and educational level of household heads. The empirical results show that relatively older and well educated household heads with higher earnings are prepared and willing to expend more on domestic tourism in Ghana. The results further show that, in Ghana, household loans are one of the major constraints of domestic tourism spending for medium and heavy spenders, but positively and significantly influence light domestic tourism expenditure households. Internet access, ownership of a car and mobile phone have no relation with the amount of money spent on domestic tourism in Ghana. Keywords: domestic tourism, quantile regression, tourism consumption expenditure, socio-demographic variables, same-day visitors and overnight tourists. DOI : 10.7176/JTHS/41-05 Publication date :May 31 st 2019

Highlights

The analysis of domestic visitors’ expenditure behaviour to destinations in Ghana has become increasingly important for tourism administrators, policy makers, suppliers, marketers and analysts
The results show that internet access and car ownership play significant roles of increasing domestic tourism expenditure in Taiwan, while household loans are one of the major constraints of tourism spending of light spenders
Education coefficients on domestic visitors’ expenditure are highest at the 90th quantile. This shows that educational level has greater effects on domestic tourism consumption distribution for heavy spenders

Summary

Introduction

The analysis of domestic visitors’ expenditure behaviour to destinations in Ghana has become increasingly important for tourism administrators, policy makers, suppliers, marketers and analysts. To understand the sociodemographic factors that influence visitors spending behaviour may lead to proper planning, better marketing and sales management as well as enhancement of opportunities in the domestic tourism industry. Regarding domestic tourism in Ghana, there is lack of data production and analysis. There is neglect for the study of domestic tourism market in terms of products and services. It is imperative to focus on analysing the spending behaviour of domestic visitors whose activities have not been investigated to comprehend the association between socio-demographic factors and domestic visitors’ expenditure in Ghana. Domestic tourism demand is the quantity of tourism goods or services which visitors/tourists are willing and able to purchase under a given set of conditions for a given time period (Song et al, 2000)

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Conclusion