A Review of Differences in Attitudes of Tourism Clients toward the Choice of a Holiday Package
Dr. Martina Ferencová, Dr. Lubomír Karas
Journal of Management Policies and Practices, 1(1), pp. 01-08.
Abstract
On choosing a holiday, the client of tourism is influenced by several factors e.g. destination, the purpose of holiday, the price, transport, catering services as well as accommodation. The article examines differences in attitudes tourism clients toward the choice of a holiday package. It gives the results of a survey conducted by means of a questionnaire filled in by respondents – clients of tourism from Poland, Slovakia and Czech Republic. Predictors in the survey were gender, education, income and size of the city where the respondent lives.

Keywords:Clients of Tourism. Attitudes. Tourism. Holiday package.

JEL Classification: L83, M31.

Introduction

In the media and in everyday life the term “marketing” is often confused with the term “sale”. Until the sale is aimed to fulfill the needs and defending the interests of the manufacturer and retailer, marketing is understood broader than a sale and is focused to fulfill the needs of consumers. According to marketing theory - a sale concept is based on aggressive selling and promotional efforts of companies and marketing concept is based on determining the needs and wants of target markets (Armstrong et al, 2009). If a company, firm, company knows the needs and desires of consumers and explores the characteristics, motives, habits, preferences, it can prepare a product that will sell successfully (Kotler - Keller, 2006). The survey of consumer behavior and attitudes of consumers in product selection is important in the field of tourism.

Tourism is presented as one of the key social science disciplines by which contemporary human mobility can be understood and also it is presented as worldwide industry which is integral to many government's regional development strategies (Hall, 2005). Development of tourism products and increase the number of products and services for tourism clients provides corporate profitability of tourism companies and significantly affects the economic indicators of countries. Tourist products are the places and experiences, which are identified, created and sold to the clients. It is essential to take into account the expectations, desires and needs of the clients in the process of their formation so clients can choose and buy them and be satisfied with them.

Literature Review

Tourist products can be determined on two distinct levels (Koutoulas, 2004, p. 2): 1. The total tourist product comprises a combination of all the elements, which a tourist consumes during his/her trip. 2. The specific products are components of the total tourist product and can be sold as individual offerings such as accommodation, transport, attractions and another facilities for tourists. This definition explains the complex nature of the product of tourism and suggests the criteria, factors and determinants of tourist product choice by tourism clients.

Tourism clients make decisions based on for example tourist attractions in the country, beautiful scenery, customs and culture, hospitality service providers including tour guides, hotel and restaurant staff, the quality of food and the friendliness of local people toward foreign tourists. These criteria are also the criteria of satisfaction with the visit of the country, which was confirmed by research in Malaysia (Sellech et al, 2013). Clients are decided also on the basis of attributes of tourism products - quality, value, lifecycle, perishability, diversity and niche. “The quality of tourist products is considered as depending on the beauty of the tourist patrimony, on the accessibility, and on the technical performances of the tourist infrastructure, on the professionalism and competence of the service providing personnel. In this context, the subjective factor has a major influence in the clients’ evaluation of the qualitative level of a tourist product” (Butnaru, 2011, p. 63). The author examined, in two destinations in Romania (230 clients), the quality of tourist products and services - quality of the accommodation services, the quality of infrastructure, quality of food services, quality of entertainment, the spatial quality (quality of the roads, and the clarity of the sign posts, the car parking facilities), quality of the additional services. Answers - clients were mostly satisfied, respectively dissatisfied, very few answers were very satisfied.

It pays attention to enhancing the level of services provided in the accommodation and catering in order to meet tourism clients' needs even in Slovakia. The structure of the accommodation facilities changed in favor of the facilities providing more complex product and a higher standard of services during years 2000-2009 (Čuka – Šenková, 2012). The application of the principles of healthy lifestyle significantly affects the provision of catering services. Preparing meals from organic products and an open kitchen are the trends in product innovation catering business (Šenková, 2013). The researches in Slovakia and Poland are also focused to finding attitudes of tourism clients toward the choice of tourism products depending on prices. The research results confirm that the price is significant to the gender in Poland and to salary in Slovakia. The price and the first minute price were significantly dependent on gender in Poland. Both prices were more important for women than for men.

The holiday price and the first minute price were significantly dependent on income in Slovakia. Both prices were less important with increasing an income of respondents (Kot et al, 2011; Ferencová – Karas, 2012).

Tzu-Kuang Hsu et al investigated the factors that influence the tourists' choice of destination and evaluates the preferences of tourists for destinations. The survey was realized at the sample of tourists in Taiwan. The results of survey indicate that visiting friends/relatives and personal safety appear to be the 2 most important factors for inbound tourists to Taiwan, price is the least important (Tzu-Kuang Hsu et al, 2009).

According to some authors the other factors can influence the choice of tourism product in a particular destination as a political stability / instability as well. Seddighi and Theocharous dealt with a model of tourism destination choice.

Within the proposed model the characteristics of the tourism product / destination including quality of service, advertising and political instability are combined to generate a perception / feeling in the mind of the tourists. They concluded the political instability is the characteristic trait that is attached to the tourist product of Cyprus (Seddighi - Theocharous, 2002).

It may be noted that tourism clients select a holiday package, trip, a visit to the country on the basis of several criteria (some have been mentioned), but mainly on the basis of their own experience or the experience of a product or service provided (Heung, 2000). Several determinants influence the consumer behavior and decision-making process (Moutinho, 1987). It also can be said that "Nevertheless the reality is that very little tourism literature has explored the tourism in the context of transnational behavior" (Duval, 2004b, 2004c In: Hall, 2005, p. 45).

1 Objective and methods

The aim of a survey was a review of differences in attitudes of tourism clients toward the choice of a holiday package in three countries – Poland, Slovakia and Czech Republic. The survey was conducted during the period from February 2012 to May 2012. The sample was made up of 127 tourism clients from Poland, 59 from Slovakia and 103 from Czech Republic. The selection of respondents was intentional, on the basis of accessibility. Data were collected through a 36-item questionnaire in all countries. For the purpose of this paper 6 items were selected. The items were associated with the following areas:

A Destination

B Purpose of a holiday

C Price

D Transport

E Catering services

F Accommodation

Predictors in the survey were gender, education, income and size of the city where the respondent lives. Possible responses were defined using 5-point Likert scale (very important, substantial, I do not care, irrelevant, no essential). The gathered data were processed by SPSS software using the categorical regression method and descriptive statistical methods. The article analyses the results of statistical tests at the significance level of α = 0,05 or 0,10.

2 Search results and discussion

Research involved 91 men (31.5%) and 198 women (68.5%) in total. The sample consisted of 21 men (35.6%) and 38 women (64.4%) in Slovakia, 48 men (37.8%) and 79 women (62.2%) in Poland and 22 men (21.4%) and 81 women (78.6%) in Czech Republic.

A Destination

Location (destination), where I go on vacation, I consider: very important, substantial, I do not care, irrelevant, no essential.

The education and income has an influence in Poland. The importance of destination selection decreases with the increasing importance of education (significance level α = 0.05, p-value = 0.001). The importance of choosing destination increases with the income growing (significance level α = 0.05, p-value = 0.003). The population, income and gender have an influence in Slovakia.

The importance of choosing destination decreases with the population growing (significance level α =0.05, p-value = 0.010). It grows the importance of choosing destination with increasing income (significance level α = 0.05, p-value = 0.032), the holiday destination is more essential for women (significance level α = 0.10, p-value = 0.052). The importance of choosing destination is influenced only by the gender in the Czech Republic. The holiday destination is more essential for women (significance level α = 0.05, p-value = 0.027).

B Purpose of a holiday

I consider the purpose of a holiday (holiday focused on sports, entertainment, relaxation, etc.) as very important, substantial; I do not care, irrelevant, no essential.

Based on the responses of respondents from Poland it can be concluded that the impact is just gender - the purpose of holiday is essential for women (significance level α = 0.05, p-value = 0.023). In Slovakia the impact has also the gender - the purpose of holiday is essential for women (significance level α = 0.05, p-value = 0.040). There was no dependency on any of the predictors in the case of the Czech Republic.

C Price

The price of a holiday is for me: very important, substantial, I do not care, irrelevant, no essential In Poland holiday package price for women is more important than holiday package price for men (significance level α = 0.10, p-value = 0.082). The significance of price in choosing holiday package in Slovakia depends only on income concerning to the respondents in Slovakia. In Slovakia price is less important with increasing an income of respondents (significance level α = 0.10, p-value = 0.064). There was no dependency on any of the predictors in the Czech Republic.

D Transport

When choosing a holiday transport is for you (e.g. car, bus, train, air, etc.): very important, substantial, I do not care, irrelevant, no essential

There was found the dependence on population, income and gender in Poland. It is the less important the means of transport for the respondents from a smaller town (significance level α = 0.10, p-value = 0.065). Mode of transport is more fundamental to the growth of income (significance level α = 0.10, pvalue = 0.054).

For women it is more important than for men (significance level α = 0.10, p-value = 0.099). In Slovakia the impact has only the gender – it is more important for women than for men (significance level α = 0.05, p-value = 0.000). There was no dependency on any of the predictors in the Czech Republic.

E Catering services

When choosing a holiday the catering services is for you (e.g. half board, full board, all inclusive, ultra all inclusive, /continental/ breakfast, continental breakfast enhanced /extended/, buffet style dining, buffet, etc.): very important, substantial, I do not care, irrelevant, no essential

There was found the dependence on income in Poland. The type of the catering services is more significant with the income growth (significance level α = 0.05, p-value = 0.000). The gender and income have an impact in Slovakia. The type of the catering services is more significant for women (significance level α = 0.05, p-value = 0.022), and more significant for the growing income (significance level α = 0.05, p-value = 0.040).

The population of the city where the respondents live was an important predictor in the Czech Republic. The type of the catering services is more significant with the growing population (significance level α = 0.05, p-value = 0.000).

F Accommodation

When choosing a holiday the accommodation is for you (e.g. private accommodation, camping, caravanning, hostel, guest house, hotel ***, hotel ****, etc.): very important, substantial, I do not care, irrelevant, no essential

The income and gender have an influence in Poland. The type of the accommodation is more significant with the income growth (significance level α = 0.05, p-value = 0.000). The type of accommodation is more important for women than for men (significance level α = 0.10, p-value = 0.099). There is only impact on the gender for Slovak respondents - the type of accommodation is more important for women than for men (significance level α = 0.05, p-value = 0.003). The population and gender has an impact in the Czech Republic. The type of accommodation is more significant with the growth of population (significance level α = 0.05, p-value = 0.016). For women the type of accommodation is more significant (significance level α = 0.10, p-value = 0.053) than for men.

3 Conclusion of the search results

Based on the research results it can be concluded that among the countries where the research was carried out there are several differences. The differences are obvious in attitudes of tourism clients when choosing a holiday upon the destination, the purpose of holiday, prices, transport, catering and accommodation.

A Destination: In Poland it was found that the choosing destination depends on education and income. The population, income and gender have an influence in Slovakia. In the Czech Republic the choosing destination depends only on gender.

B Purpose of a holiday: Based on the responses of respondents from Poland it can be concluded that the impact has just gender and it is the same in Slovakia. There was no dependency on any of the predictors in the case of the Czech Republic.

C Price: The gender has an impact for choosing the holiday based on the price in Poland. The income has an impact in Slovakia. There was no dependency on any of the predictors in the case of the Czech Republic.

D Transport: There was found the dependence of population, income and gender in Poland. In Slovakia the impact has only the gender. There was no dependency on any of the predictors in the Czech Republic.

E Catering services: There was found the dependence on income in Poland. The gender and income have an impact in Slovakia. The population of the city has the impact on the selection of holiday based on catering services in the Czech Republic.

F Accommodation: It was found that the income and gender have an influence in Poland. There is only impact on the gender for Slovak respondents. The population and gender has an impact in the Czech Republic.

In Poland – it decreases the importance of choosing the destination with education increasing, it increases the importance of choosing the destination with income increasing. The purpose of holiday is more significant for women. Holiday package price for women is more important than holiday package price for men. The type of catering services is more significant with income growth. The type of accommodation is more significant for respondents with higher income. The type of accommodation is more significant for women than for men.

In Slovakia – the importance of choosing the destination is decreasing with the population growing and increasing with salary increasing, the holiday destination is more significant for women. The price is less important with increasing an income of respondents. For women it is more important than for men. The type of catering services is more significant for women and more significant with the salary increasing. The type of accommodation is more significant form women than for men.

In the Czech Republic – the holiday destination is more significant for women. The type of the catering services is more significant with the growing population. The type of accommodation is more significant with the growth of population. The type of accommodation is more significant for women than for men. There was no dependency on any of the predictors in the case of the holiday purpose, price and transport.

With a growing population in a more fundamental type of diet. With the growth of population is kind of accommodation noticeable. For women the kind of accommodation important than for men. For the purpose of vacation, prices and delivery has not revealed any dependence of the predictors.

Summary

According to the results of our research it can be concluded that:

In Poland – predictor gender had a significant relationship to the purpose of holiday, price, transport, accommodation; predictor income had a significant relationship to the destination, mode of transport, meals and accommodation; predictor size of the city where the respondent lives had a significant relationship to the mode of transport; predictor education had a significant relationship to the destination.

In Slovakia – predictor gender had a significant relationship to the destination, purpose of holiday, mode of transport, meals and accommodation; predictor income had a significant relationship to the destination, price, mode of meals; predictor size of the city where the respondent lives had a significant relationship to the destination selection.

In Czech Republic – predictor gender had a significant relationship to the destination selection, mode of accommodation; predictor size of the city where the respondent lives had a significant relationship to the meals and mode of accommodation.

Similar types of studies can clarify the position of each country citizens to choose holidays and also the selection of tourism products. The differences between the positions of individual clients in selection of tourism products can be used for upgrading existing products or to create new products which could be catching and attractive for clients of each country. Such studies can enhance the knowledge about consumer behavior in tourism, attitudes and expressions of satisfaction / dissatisfaction with tourism products and also knowledge of the field of tourism in the context of transnational behavior.