Abstract
Similar to most global tourism markets, UK consumers adjusted their behavior during the global financial crisis, emphasizing value for money in travel choices. However, there is little evidence concerning consumers’ value-seeking behavior and especially how deals, discounts and other sales promotions influence tourist decision making. This project explores concepts of value consciousness and deal proneness to shed light on attitudes towards monetary value in travel purchases. Using focus groups, the study found that deals and discounts frequently underpin some tourist choices, but that value consciousness is related to deal proneness, and interactions between the two could result in negative, positive or mixed emotions. This relationship was captured through a dynamic categorization of tourists’ attitudes and behavior into four approaches to deals and value, namely deals 1) as a way of life, 2) as a bonus, 3) as a problem and 4) as toxic. The categories were dynamic in that individuals could move across them. The implications for tourism marketers are outlined.
Highlights
The tourism industry is one of the most competitive and dynamic industries in the service sector
We identified four categories of attitudes towards deals by comparing consumers’ deal proneness and value consciousness, addressing Lichtenstein et al.’s (1990) call to understand how high/low degrees of deal proneness and value consciousness relate to each other and uncovering the complexity of this relationship
The relationship between deal proneness and value consciousness can change depending on the type of holiday, stage in life cycle and other factors
Summary
The tourism industry is one of the most competitive and dynamic industries in the service sector. Tourists are more able to evaluate the value and quality attributes of these products and services (Buhalis and Law 2008) These contextual factors generate questions about how consumer perceptions and attitudes towards deals offered by the tourism industry are changing, and the implications arising for businesses. There is a lack of research on the implications of price discounting for customer perceptions of value. This is an important omission since prices play an intrinsic role in brand perceptions and service quality (Boz, Arslan, and Koc 2017; Jeong and Crompton 2017; Zeithaml 1988)
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