The Influence of the Characteristics of Online Itinerary on Purchasing Behavior

Qian Jin, Hui Hu, Xiaozhi Su and Alastair M. Morrison
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Qian Jin: School of Tourism & Research Institute of Human Geography, Xi’an International Studies University, Xi’an 710128, China
Hui Hu: Economic Development Research Centre & School of Economics and Management, Wuhan University, Wuhan 430072, China
Xiaozhi Su: School of Tourism & Research Institute of Human Geography, Xi’an International Studies University, Xi’an 710128, China
Alastair M. Morrison: Department of Marketing, Events and Tourism, Greenwich Business School, University of Greenwich, London SE10 9LS, UK

Land, 2021, vol. 10, issue 9, 1-19

Abstract: This study presents insights into the influence of the characteristics of tourism itineraries on tourist purchasing behavior. We adopted data between 1 August 2019 and 30 November 2019 from the Qunar, the biggest online tourism platform in China and 4366 samples on travel itineraries were obtained. The ordinary least square regression (OLS) method was used. Controlling for product-related and channel-related factors, we demonstrate that in terms of tourism destination choice, outbound tourism products attract an increased number of tourists; in terms of the types of travel, private travel has replaced group travel to become the majority of the tourism market; in terms of the length of travel, mid-term travel (4–6 days) is the first choice, outnumbering short-term and long-term ones; price promotions such as discount for early decision, multi-person price reduction and membership prices significantly lead to increased sales; online reviews also have great impact on tourist purchasing behavior. In sum, this study uses a unique data set to reveal the influence of online tourism product characteristics on sales and provide potential guidance of the marketing strategy in response to consumer behavior for the online tourism industry.

Keywords: online tourism; characteristics; tourism itineraries; purchasing behavior; tourists (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q15 Q2 Q24 Q28 Q5 R14 R52 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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