Abstract
Tourists are flooded with travel options making competition fierce within their consideration sets. While most research emphasizes the functional attributes of destinations, as narcissism becomes more normalized, it is of increasing interest to examine the influence socially symbolic factors have on tourist decision making. Therefore, this study sought to examine the efficacy of four different socially symbolic predictors of travel—social norms, social self-concept (actual and ideal), and social return—for predicting a person's likelihood to travel to Cuba across three time horizons (1 year, 5 years, and 10 years). Results from a panel of 785 U.S. travelers found social norms to be the best predictor of travel across all three time horizons with social return also being significant across all time horizons. Implications to destination marketing are discussed such as some socially symbolic variables being easier to operationalize in marketing campaigns compared to others (e.g. social return vs. social norms).
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 324-327 |
| Number of pages | 4 |
| Journal | Tourism Management |
| Volume | 68 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Oct 1 2018 |
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Keywords
- Cuba
- Destination choice
- Social return
- Socially symbolic predictors of travel
- Tourist decision making
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Development
- Transportation
- Tourism, Leisure and Hospitality Management
- Strategy and Management
Cite this
The battle of the socials : Which socially symbolic factors best predict intent to travel? / Moran, Casey; Boley, B. Bynum; Woosnam, Kyle M.; Jordan, Evan; Kline, Carol; Knollenberg, Whitney.
In: Tourism Management, Vol. 68, 01.10.2018, p. 324-327.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article
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TY - JOUR
T1 - The battle of the socials
T2 - Which socially symbolic factors best predict intent to travel?
AU - Moran, Casey
AU - Boley, B. Bynum
AU - Woosnam, Kyle M.
AU - Jordan, Evan
AU - Kline, Carol
AU - Knollenberg, Whitney
PY - 2018/10/1
Y1 - 2018/10/1
N2 - Tourists are flooded with travel options making competition fierce within their consideration sets. While most research emphasizes the functional attributes of destinations, as narcissism becomes more normalized, it is of increasing interest to examine the influence socially symbolic factors have on tourist decision making. Therefore, this study sought to examine the efficacy of four different socially symbolic predictors of travel—social norms, social self-concept (actual and ideal), and social return—for predicting a person's likelihood to travel to Cuba across three time horizons (1 year, 5 years, and 10 years). Results from a panel of 785 U.S. travelers found social norms to be the best predictor of travel across all three time horizons with social return also being significant across all time horizons. Implications to destination marketing are discussed such as some socially symbolic variables being easier to operationalize in marketing campaigns compared to others (e.g. social return vs. social norms).
AB - Tourists are flooded with travel options making competition fierce within their consideration sets. While most research emphasizes the functional attributes of destinations, as narcissism becomes more normalized, it is of increasing interest to examine the influence socially symbolic factors have on tourist decision making. Therefore, this study sought to examine the efficacy of four different socially symbolic predictors of travel—social norms, social self-concept (actual and ideal), and social return—for predicting a person's likelihood to travel to Cuba across three time horizons (1 year, 5 years, and 10 years). Results from a panel of 785 U.S. travelers found social norms to be the best predictor of travel across all three time horizons with social return also being significant across all time horizons. Implications to destination marketing are discussed such as some socially symbolic variables being easier to operationalize in marketing campaigns compared to others (e.g. social return vs. social norms).
KW - Cuba
KW - Destination choice
KW - Social return
KW - Socially symbolic predictors of travel
KW - Tourist decision making
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U2 - 10.1016/j.tourman.2018.03.023
DO - 10.1016/j.tourman.2018.03.023
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85045260541
VL - 68
SP - 324
EP - 327
JO - Tourism Management
JF - Tourism Management
SN - 0261-5177
ER -