Now showing 1 - 10 of 15
  • Publication
    Purchasing a General Ticket for Public Transport - A Means-End Approach
    (Elsevier, 2014-06-26) ;
    Switzerland offers a dense network of public transport means. The Swiss General Ticket (GT) is a popular travel pass, which allows the use of most of the public transport facilities in Switzerland. The buying behavior for public transport general tickets underlies a complex decision process. Public transport customers can deal with the complexity in two ways: either one decides on choice heuristics according to ones rather emotional beliefs or decides systematically based on a rational price comparison. Judgment and decision theory creates the basis for the discussion of heuristic versus systematic decision-making in this paper. The goal of the study is the explanation of the two consumer typologies when buying a GT along the continuum from more heuristically to systematically made decisions. Drivers for a more heuristically based as opposed to. a systematically based decision process, taking into consideration endogenous and exogenous factors, are evaluated. Literature provides some relevant heuristic and systematic decision factors. Primary research with railway customers in Switzerland (research panel) was conducted using an exploratory, semi-standardized approach using the laddering technique, which helps to identify relevant factors involved in the buying decision process. Functional attributes, which were put into context of higher-level personal values using the means-end approach, were detected. These functional attributes are the ones influencing a buying decision. Results show that convenience factors have a high influence when it comes to purchasing a season ticket, but price is the crucial factor behind the final purchase decision.
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    Scopus© Citations 3
  • Publication
    Purchasing a General Ticket - a Means End Approach
    (Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, 2013-07-15) ; ;
    Joao, Victor
    Consumer behavior or decision making by consumer can be viewed from different perspectives. In the case of the underlying study judgment and decision theory and systematic versus heuristic decision making build bases for the research discussion. The buying behavior of season tickets underlies a complex decision process. The railway customer can deal with complexity in two ways. Either he decides on the based on heuristics of his rather emotional beliefs or systematic based on a rational calculation. The goal of the study is the explanation of the two consumer typologies when buying seasonal tickets along the continuum from rather heuristically to systematically made decisions. Drivers for a rather heuristically based vs. a systematically based decision process under consideration of endogenous and exogenous factors and the willingness to pay are evaluated. Literature review is used to find relevant heuristic and systematic decision factors. Further expert interviews verify those factors. Primary research with railway customers in Switzerland is conducted using implicit and explicit research methods to find the relevance of factors influencing a buying decision. Results show the decision process of rail season ticket customers. It is shown that convenience factors have a greater impact on season ticket sales than systematic factors. Furthermore, it is shown that customers who base their buying decisions on heuristic convenience factors rather than systematic price calculations are less price sensitive. Elements of customer benefits have come out of the research. From those benefits factors which make rail travels more valuable will be derived. The knowledge of the impact of heuristic and systematic factors on the buying decision of seasonal railway tickets allows an explanation of willingness to pay for those tickets.
  • Publication
    Information Source or Information Channel? : An Approach towards a Classification
    Existing tourism literature which investigates tourist's information behaviour shows a plethora of used terminology concerning information material. Some researchers refer to the term information source, some to information channel and some use these terms as synonyms. To begin with, this paper provides a brief overview of definitions and concepts of information and communication theory. Consequently, a model of the flow of information has been elabo-rated. Moreover it attempts to deliver a classification of tourism related information media. Yet, with this paper the authors attempt to contribute to a better understanding of the terms information source and information channel. It should further provide a classification scheme of tourism related information carrier which should facilitate research results.
  • Publication
    Differences of Ski Destination Choice Criteria for Day and Overnight Visitors
    (La Trobe University, 2012-02-06) ; ;
    Lade, Clare
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    Melsen, Lisa
    Alpine ski resorts are facing the challenge of attracting tourists. Problems arise from two sides: increasing temperatures that lead to less snow resulting in shorter winter seasons and the number of skier days in the alpine region is decreasing constantly. Especially lower lying ski resorts are threatened by the falling demand. Ski destination in the Alps which are situated close to large cities are characterized by operating at lower altitudes, have therefore a shorter winter season and the majority of visitors are coming for just one day. This paper evaluates differences in destination choice factors for day and overnight visitors. Results show that day tourists put more weight on ski area quality related factors whereas for overnight tourists the overall performance of the ski destination is relevant.
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  • Publication
    Drivers for Ski Destination Choice
    (International Association of Scientific Experts in Tourism, 2011-08-28) ; ;
    Alpine ski resorts are facing the challenge of attracting tourists. Especially ski destinations on lower levels in Switzerland will face problems to sustain with increasing temperatures and less snow. The arising question concerns the motives for skier visits. This study evaluates drivers for ski destination selection on the basis of a sample of potential Swiss skiers. Descriptive statistics and an exploratory factor analysis identify motives for ski destination selection criteria. Five factors were found and are (1) the overall snow and slope conditions, (2) the quality of relevant infrastructure, (3) the overall offer and popularity, (4) the price and the accessibility, (5) the means of transportation of a ski destination. These factors show that there are other factors next to snow and slope conditions, which motivate skiers for a visit. It is interesting the price factor is not the most important one.
  • Publication
    Impact Of An Economic Crisis On The Role Of Mileage Program ASSENGERS' CHOICE OF AN AIRLINE
    (ATRS Air Transport Research Society, 2011-06-29) ; ;
    Monsch, Gian Rico
    Customer loyalty and frequent flyer programs are proven to have a significant loyalty effect and a large influence on buying decisions (such as the choice of airline) in economically stable periods. The goal is to explore whether these influences and loyalty effects of frequent flyer programs still persist in economically difficult times of a likely longer duration, such as the situation in the second half of 2009. Just under 600 travelers have been questioned about their perception of the economic crisis on the one hand, and the influences on their choice and preference of airlines as well as the importance of frequent flyer programs for these choices on the other hand. The result of this research is that the economic crisis in fact has an impact on the importance of frequent flyer programs for the choice of airline, and that this importance has been reduced significantly. A preference for the airline of whose frequent flyer program the passenger is a member can still be found, but the actual behavior differs from it. This effect is measurable for all types of travelers and along various different stratifications (e.g. income, share of business trips) of the participants.
  • Publication
    Monitoring Web 2.0 : User Generated Content in the Hospitality Industry
    (Travel & Tourism Research Association, 2010-06-20)
    Stangl, Brigitte
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    Increased importance of user generated content (UGC) forces hotel managers to place greater emphasis on monitoring their online reputation. The study at hand investigates the hospitality industry's attitude towards UGC as well as if and how the industry monitors online reviews of tourists. Data collected from an online survey conducted in German-speaking countries in Europe (Austria, Germany and Switzerland) are analyzed. The analysis of 693 completed questionnaires revealed that managers in all three countries assess evaluating UGC as highly important. This is also reflected in a high percentage of managers monitoring their hotels' reputation themselves and by not delegating the task to employees. Further, managers have a rather positive attitude towards negative reviews. However, only a minority uses social media for advertising purposes. Further results are proposed and implications are discussed.