senior tourists purchasing decisions

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olume 18 n umber 1 n Summer 2007 n 39

Ana o a: An In erna ona Journa o Tour sm an Hosp a y Researc

Volume 18, Number 1, pp. 139-154. 2007

Copyr g 2007 ana o a

Pr n e n Tur ey. A r g s reserve

1303-2917 07 $20.00 + 0.00

Senior Tourists Purchasing Decisions in GroupPackage Tour

ABSTRACT

T e sen or emograp c group s grow ng rap y. Fam y ecs on-ma ng researc as requen y exam-

ined relationships between husbands and wives across stages and subdecisions. To supplement previous

research, this study examines how different roles influence over the decision-making stages when the

sen or our s par c pa es n a group pac age our. A o a o 293 sen or our s s rom Ta wan were surveye

and asked to indicate the amount of influence each family member and others had. Results showed that

us an s en o ave e mos n uence n e na purc ase, an one n eres ng n ng s a o ers

exhibit the highest degree of influence in the information search stage. In addition, the husband shows

more influence in 9 subdecisions, and as family income level rises there is a rise in the likelihood of hus-

an omna ng w respec o e GPT. F na y, mp ca ons or our sm mar e ers an areas or u ure

research are discussed.

Key words:Travel decision-making, group package tour, Taiwanese senior tourists.

KUO-CHING WANGTour sm, an Hosp a y Managemen

Na ona C ay Un vers y

C ay

Ta wan

E-ma : wang c ma .ncyu.e u.tw

Kuo-C ng Wang s present y an Assoc ate Pro essor at Gra uate Inst tute o Recreat on, Tour sm, an Hosp ta ty

Management, Nat ona C ay Unvers ty, C ay, Ta wan. H s researc nterest s toursm mar etng, an as pu -

s e art c es n t e A vances n Hosp ta ty an Le sure, Tour sm Management, Journa o Bus ness Researc ,nd Annals of Tourism Research.

Josep S. C en s a au ty mem er o t e Department o Recreat on, Par an Tour sm Stu es at In ana Un ver-

s ty B oom ngton, USA. He researc nterests enta consumer e av ors, cross-cu tura stu es, an nnovat ve

researc met o s n t e area o osp ta ty an tour sm.

S u-Hu C ou s a au ty mem er o t e Department o Tour sm at Prov ence Un vers ty, Ta c ung, Ta wan. Her

researc nterests enta consumer e av ors, serv ce qua ty n tour sm, an cross-cu tura researc .

JOSEPH S. CHENTour sm Managemen Program

Depar men o Recrea on an Par

A m n s ra on

In ana Un vers y a B oom ng on

USA

E-mail: [email protected]

SHU-HUI CHOUDepar men o Tour sm

Prov ence Un vers y

433 Ta c ung Hs en

Ta wan

E-ma : s c ou pu.e u.t


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2 n Anatolia: An International Journal of Tourism and Hospitality Research

Senior Tourists Purchasing Decisions in Group Package Tour

INTRODUCTION

he senior population has been continuously rising because of longer lifexpectancy. Recognizing the fact that we are rapidly becoming a gray soci-ty, several studies that explore the theoretical linkage between aging andhe profession (i.e., McCormick 1991; Kelley 1992; Penalta and Uysal 1993).

With respect to the travel industry, one segment that has caught the market-rs aention is the elderly traveler. The travel potential of this group cannot

be overlooked (Jang and Wu 2006; Lehto, OLeary and Lee 2001; Capella andGreco 1987).

Asia is no exception to this trend, where the population of seniors is grow-ng rapidly. As indicated in Sakai, Brown, and Maks (2000) study, Japansopulation is aging rapidly as a result of the shi from high to low birth andeath rates. In Japan, the senior has increased from 16.2 percent in 1998 to 20.0ercent in 2005 (Statistics Bureau 2005). In Taiwan, according to the onthly

Statistics of the R.O.C. (Executive Yuan 2006), by the year 2005, the over-50 agegroup constitutes 24.19 percent of the Taiwanese population. Similar demo-graphic shis are also taking place in many countries throughout the world(March 2000; Fintel 1990).

Seniors have generally made their nancial and time investments in homend family, have become free from their childrens dependency, and possessrelatively large share of all discretionary dollars (Zimmer, Brayley and

Searle 1995). Supernaw (1985) noted that when Americans over y retire,he number one thing they say they want to do is travel. Rosenfeld (1986)lso indicated that older Americans travel more frequently, stay away longer,nd rely more on travel agents than any other segment of the population.

O vious y, rom a manageria stan point, it is very important or mar eters

o understand these consumers decision-making process. The study of fam-ly decision-making could help tourism marketers in the development andacilitation of exchange based upon product decisions, price structures, pro-

otional campaigns and distribution channels (Sharp and Mo 1956; Nicholsnd Snepenger 1988; Kersteer and Pennington-Gray 1999).

Essentially, Western researchers have been studying family decision-mak-ng almost since the late 1950s (Lalwani 2002). Marketing and advertising re-earchers have been concerned with determining which family members havehe dominant inuence in travel decision so that marketing and advertisingtrategy can be oriented accordingly. To date, very lile research dealing withamily decision-making has focused on Chinese leisure goods/or services.

However, t e internationa tourism in ustry is now ace wit an increas-ng number of inbound travelers from Asia, such as Australia (Reisinger andurner 2002) and Guam (Iverson 1997). Group travel is a major force in theourism industry; it is also a highly competitive market in which both agen-ies and operators need to understand the buying decisions of tourists.

With regard to travelers in Asia, in countries such as Taiwan, Japan, Korea,China, etc., the rou acka e tour hereaer abbreviated GPT is one of the


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Volume 18 n umber 1 n ummer 2007 n 3

uo-Ching Wang - Joseph S. Chen - Shu-Hui Chou

ain modes of outbound travel (Lo and Lam 2004; Wang, Hsieh and Huan

2000; Prideaux 1998; Tourism Bureau 2004; Wang and Sheldon 1995; Nozawa1992). In Taiwan, nearly 49 percent of the overseas travelers are traveling forleasure. Among the pleasure travelers, almost 64.3 percent of the senior

ourists (50 years old and above) choose the GPT as their outbound travelode (Tourism Bureau 2004).

In brief, despite the vast quantity of literature addressing senior adults andhe GPTs, to the knowledge of the authors no research has fully discussedecision-making of the senior adults for the GPT, and this area is constantlyvolving. Thus, the key issue of this research is to focus on the roles of seniorourists GPT decision-making.

LITERATURE REVIEW

Previous research has discovered that the inuence of the husband, wife or hilday also vary according to the stage in decision-making. Numerous ways of

xamining the decision-making process have been identied in the study ofonsumer behavior. The most common approach has been to break down theurchase decision process into three distinct stages: (1) problem recognitionr problem initiation; (2) information search; and (3) nal purchase (Davisnd Rigaux 1974; Szybillo and Sosanie 1977; Nelson 1979; Howard and Mad-igal 1990).

Earlier research in family vacation decision-making; Sharp and Mo (1956)rovided an analysis of husband-wife roles in arriving at some economic de-isions frequently faced by the metropolitan family. Their results showed that

70 percent of greater Detroit husbands and wives make family vacation deci-ions together. Jenkins (1978) replicated the work of Davis (1970) in a study

hat examined which family member was the most inuential for specicacation subdecisions. Results indicated that husbands dominated vacationnformation collection and decisions on length of trip, timing of vacation, andxpenditures. Joint decision making between the husband and wife was com-on for decision on whether to take the children, mode of transportation,

ctivities, lodging, and destination. Darley and Lim (1986) found that dier-nt individuals within a family may play dierent roles at dierent stages.

Recent studies relevant to travel mainly focused on vacation decision-makingbetween husbands and wives (Litvin, Xu and Kang 2004; Kersteer and Pen-nington-Gray 1999; Ritchie and Filiatrault 1980; Filiatrault and Ritchie 1980;Nichols and Snepenger 1988); and the inuence of the children in vacation

ecision-ma ing (Fi iatrau t an Ritc ie 1980; Ritc ie an Fi iatrau t 1980;Cosenza and Davis 1981; Nichols and Snepenger 1988; Howard and Madrigal1990; Fodness 1992).

With respect to senior tourists, Romsa and Blenman (1989) examined the if-erences between under-50 and over-60 vacationers. Their results showed that

greater personal exibility allows retirees more latitude in the selection of theen th of the vacation and time when it can be taken. aval i, Thomas and


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Rao (1992) also reported the travel behavior of American senior and nonsen-ior groups in the pleasure travel marketplace. The study indicated that seniortravelers (55 and older) in the pleasure market appear to go for package tripsand tend to make both transportation and accommodation arrangementswit a trave agent. Besi es, B azey (1992) stu ie t e re ations ip etweenpre- and postretirement status, use of various forms of travel information, andkey items related to older adult travel activity. Other studies which are highlyrelevant to the senior tourist include, senior tourist and market segmentation(Shoemaker 2000; Lieux, Weaver and McCleary 1994; Reece 2004; Hornemanet al. 2002), uses of travel information (Capella and Greco 1987), constraints totravel (Blazey 1987; Fleischer and Pizam 2002), and motivation (Guinn 1980).

The preceding studies were mainly concentrated on domestic travel or for-eign independent tour (hereaer abbreviated FIT), both of which dier in keyrespects from the GPT. Wang, Hsieh, and Huan (2000: 177-178) indicated that

there are two main dierences between GPT and FIT, namely, the buying proc-ess and the contact employee:

In the GPT buying process, the customer might buy the GPT product throughthird parties such as friends, relatives, parents, companies, schools, churches,or t roug retai trave agencies. On t e contrary, FIT customers usua ycontact the travel agencies personally in order to get travel information andcounseling. Second, the GPT customer relationship is mediated almost entirelythrough a single contact employee. That is, in the GPT, the travel agency

ould assign a tour guide to escort the tour. In some countries or cities such asSingapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Korea, Paris, Vienna, and London, etc., local

guide are also provided, but this is not necessary for FITs.

As a rule, in a FIT, aer tourists have made up their mind and decided totakea vacation, a host of involved decisions arise, for example, choice of regionand resort, timing, length of stay, mode of transportation, travel organization,accommodation, kinds of activities, and nancing (Jenkins 1978; Filiatraultan Ritc ie 1980; Snepenger et a . 1990). Consequent y, a er t e tourists avechosen to travel in the FIT way, a great deal of decision-making and informa-tion gathering are then needed. In GPT, the tourists may consider many of theabove-mentioned travel related factors; however, there is no need for them tomake detailed, specic decisions or even to gather information with regard tothe accommodation, mode of transportation, kinds of activities, etc.

Besides, in view of the decision-making, no research has directly investigatedthe process of senior tourist decision-making in the GPT, though two recentstudies have touched on the issue. Using a sample of 124 escorted tour travel-

ers 50 and older, Milman (1998) found that senior travelers relied mainly ontour operators, estination roc ures, an trave agencies as t e major sourcesof information for their trip. Milman focused primarily on the impact of traveland tourism experiences on travels psychological well-being or level of hap-piness, and asked seniors to assess their happiness before and aer the tour.Furthermore Sheldon and Maks 1987 mode choice model for acka e tour


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learly indicated that visitors who are elderly, intend to visit several destina-

ions, travel with few people in the party, intend to make short visits, and aren their rst trip to Hawaii are more likely to purchase package tours thano travel independently. Their ndings have some interesting conceptualnd applied implications, but the denition of the package tour used in theirtudy was too broad. Moreover, the samples largely consisted of U.S. west-

bound visitor.

Although the above research is interesting, none of these studies examinedhe specic issues addressed in our research. In summary, despite the im-ortance of the senior market to the travel industry, there is an obvious lackf empirical study regarding the seniors decision-making for GPT. Accord-ngly, the objectives of this research are: rst, to explore the inuence of fam-ly members for GPT decisions and specic GPT subdecisions, and second, toxamine the decision-making roles of seniors relate to their retirement status,

ducation level, and family income levels. Moreover, it was felt that studyinghis service would give a chance to compare results of family roles in Chineseamily with those in the West. Therefore, the operational denition of GPT de-isions was dened that the three-stage decision (problem recognition stage,nformation search stage, and nal purchase) of consumers before travel. Theub-decisions is dened as the detail decisions related to travel, for example,here to go, how much money to spend, how much time o spend, where to

tay...etc. (Belch, Belch and Ceresino 1985; Jenkins 1978, 1979; Szybillo andSosanie 1977).

Hypotheses

It is natural to inquire whether decision-making paerns are the same for all

groups, or vary with sociological and economic factors (Wolgast 1958), mar-eters must remain abreast of the impact of the family role changes and theironcomitant consumer purchasing paerns in order to modify marketing anddvertising strategies accordingly (Jenkins 1979).

Belch, Belch and Ceresino (1985) used three stages approach and examinedamily members inuence as a function of the product category and specicecision areas. For vacation categories they found that the childs greatest in-

uence occurs in the initiation stage and is lower in the search and nal deci-ion stages, husbands and wives have about the same amount of inuencecross the three stages of the decision process. Davis and Rigaux (1974) foundhat the syncratic paern characterizes decisions about family vacation. Pastesearch has shown that couples from developed countries are more likelyo exhibit joint decision-making, whereas couples from developing countriesre more likely to exhibit husband-dominated decision-making (Green et al.

1983; Ford, LaTour and Henthorne 1995). Therefore, it may be suggested thathusbands might also play a dominant role in travel decision-making process.

In addition, previous studies mainly focused on the relative inuences mongamil members. Nevertheless, Chinese societ is t icall collectivist, em ha-


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izing connections to others and interpersonal relationships (Hofstede 1991;

riandis 1988). Wang, Hsieh and Huan (2000) also indicated that third partiesould play an important role in the GPT buying process. Therefore, it may bemplied that instead of husband, wife, and children,others ight also playn important role in the senior tourists GPT decision-making process. For theurposes of this study, ot erswere dened as friends, relatives, neighborstc. Thus, it is posited that:

-a: The inuence of family members andothers will vary in the GPTproblem recognition stage.

-b:The inuence of family members and others will vary in the GTP

information search stage.

-c: The inuence of family members andotherswill vary in the GPT

nal purchase stage.

Jenkins (1978) found that wives perceive husbands to be dominant in de-isions regar ing in ormation co ection, engt o vacation, actua ate oacation, and amount of money to spend. Wives and husbands have equalnuence on mode of transportation, kinds of activities, selection of lodging,nd selection of destination points. Neither husbands nor wives perceive theives to be dominant in the modal inuence paern for any subdecision in

acation decision-making.

Jenkins (1979) indicated that both spouses perceive children to be highly in-uential in vacation decisions, and some specic vacation subdecisions ould bealled children dominate! Szybillo and Sosanie (1977) stated that the wheno go subdecision is characterized as predominantly a complete family de-ision (58%) or a husband and wife joint decision (33%). For the subdecision

how much to spend, joint decision-making between husband and wife wasominant (73%). Belch, Belch, and Ceresino (1985) found that the nancial e-ision regarding how much to spend is dominated by the husband, but he showsess inuence in the where-to-go and where-to-stay vacation decisions.

The results of the above-discussed studies seem inconsistent with regardo the family members relative inuences in vacation-related subdecisions.

However, many Asian countries and Taiwan are traditionally viewed as pa-riarchal societies where female seniors perception is typically inuenced byheir husbands. An old and wide-spread Chinese proverb also says Malesre gold, females are water (Chen, Lai and Tarn 1999). Consequently, accord-ng to the preceding discussion, it is then hypothesized as:

H2: In seniors GPT decision-making, husbands will have more inuenceon subdecisions.

Economic-demographic variables used as independent variable have tendedo be emphasized in decision-making studies (Dunsing and Hafstrom 1975).

Kim, Wei and Ru s 2003 indicated that of the travel aributes for seniors,


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wo demographic factors were found to be signicantly important: marital

tatus and income. Nevertheless, researchers ignore several variables that areeen to aect seniors travel behavior. The most notable among them are re-irement status (Blazey 1992), education (Yavas, Babakus and Delener 1994;

Javalgi, Thomas and Rao 1992), and family income (Gitelson and Kersteer1990; Spiro 1983).

Blazey (1992) examined the relationship between dierent retirement sta-us. A fear of certain modes of travel and lack of transportation to and fromhe point of departure further constrain retirees in signicantly greater num-

bers; they may feel that travel requires too many decisions to be made.

Similarly, when the senior tourist decides to participate in a GPT, there areots of decisions to be made. However, in the GPT, the tour leader and travelgency will take care of many things; thus, retirees are then less bothered byhe language, transportation, travel information collection, and arrangement

f itineraries. Hence, their fears of lack of transportation, information, andunfamiliarity with the C. I. Q. (custom, immigration, and quarantine) proce-

ures problems are lessened. Thus, it is posited that:

H3:T e retirement status o t e senior tourists as no signi cant in uencen the GPT decision-making process.

As revealed by Javalgi, Thomas and Rao (1992), travelers with more formalducation are more likely to engage in a detailed information search beforeaking a purchase decision. Capella and Greco (1987) found that individualsith less education rated consumer publications and direct mail as important

ources of information. Zimmer, Brayley and Searle (1995) indicated that asducation increased, the tendency to travel increased; they also found those

ith higher educations, income level, and life satisfaction scores tended tohoose more distant destinations. Jenkins (1979) once concluded that higherhe level of education of husbands, the less inuence they perceived theirhildren to have.

Generally, most Chinese are inuenced by lial piety, older Chinese aremuchess inuenced by Westernization (Labouvie-Vief et al. 2000), and the averageevel of education for seniors (50 years of age and above) is lower than that ofheir children (Executive Yuan 2006). Therefore, it is reasonable to infer thathe inuences of lial piety, lower education levels than children, and lack of

Westernization, senior tourists inuence on outbound GPT decision-makingill be varied by dierent education levels. The above discussions then led to

he following hypothesis:

H4: Dierences in the education level of senior tourists will signicantly inuence the GPT decision-making process.

Sharp and Mo (1956) indicated that increasing inuence of the husbandccompanied an increase in income; also as income level rises, there is a risen the likelihood of mutual decision-makin between s ouses with res ect to


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amily vacations. Jenkins (1979) had found that neither the absolute income of

ach spouse nor spousal dierences in income is signicantly related to par-nts perceptions of childrens inuence. Wolgast (1958) indicated higher in-ome greatly increases the husbands importance and diminishes the wifes.

Previous studies mainly focused on the inuence of husband and wife withegard to family income and decision-making. However, a GPT is not cheapnd considering the lial respect in Chinese society, we may postulate thehildren might pay the travel fees for their parents. Therefore, the relativenuence of the senior tourist on the GPT decision-making process would be

ore complicated than prior studies have revealed. Thus, the following hy-othesis may be derived from the above discussion:

H : Family members and others inuences will vary by dierent family n-ome levels in the GPT decision-making process.

METHODOLOGY

A questionnaire was developed consisting of three parts. In the rst part, tovaluate the inuence of family members and others across three stages ofhe senior tourists GPT decision-making process, respondents were asked tondicate the amount of inuence exercised by each of the family members and

by others. A six-point scale was used, ranging from no inuence at allto allof the inuence(Belch, Belch and Ceresino 1985).

In the second part, the subdecisions were assessed. Subdecisions werede neds the specic decisions regarding the participating in GPT. Twelve ubdeci-ions were employed in this study (Belch, Belch and Ceresino 1985; Wang, Hsiehnd Huan 2000). First, the respondents were asked if they had taken certain

u ecisions into consi eration, i t ey a , t en t ey were urt er as e t enuences of each family member and others specically on the subdeci-ions. The subdecisions mainly included the destination (where to go), budg-t (how much money to spend), days (how much time to spend), accommoda-ion (where to stay), departure day (when to go) (Belch, Belch and Ceresino

1985), airline, restaurant, coach, shopping, optional tour, travel agency, andour leader (Wang, Hsieh and Huan 2000). A six-point scale was used rangingrom no inuence at all to all of the inuence.

In addition, the respondents were asked to provide information on variousociodemographic variables including age, gender, education, retirement sta-us, and family income (here dened as husbands and wifes joint income).

Finally, they were also requested to indicate the destination of their trip andther related travel behavior.

Sample Selection

he denition of a senior traveler varied among past studies. In general, the en-or traveler has been dened as an individuals of (1) 50 years old and aboveHawes 1988; Blaze 1992; Milman 1998 , 2 55 ears old and over Lieux,


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Weaver and McCleary 1994; Shoemaker 2000), and (3) 60 years and older (Capella

nd Greco 1987). This study operationally denes seniors as individuals be-ng 50 years old or above.

Previous research has shown that if the purpose of a study is limited to e-cribing the relative inuence of husband versus wife in making various de-isions, it is su cient to question only one spouse (Davis 1976; Howard and

Madrigal 1990). Therefore, an on-site intercept interview procedure was uti-ized at an international airport in Taiwan. Before the tour groups departedrom the CKS Taipei International Airport, which is the major internationalirport in Taiwan, the researchers approached family groups having at leastne senior tourist to ask if they would like to participate in the surveys. Ithould also to be pointed out that even when the senior couples were present,nly one completed the questionnaire.

Before large-scale data collection took place, this study used a small-scale am-

le to conduct a pre-test in order to uncover any potential problems. The haracter-stics of the 30 respondents who participated in the pre-test were as follows:here were sixteen males, fourteen females; 57 percent of the respondentsaid the travel costs themselves, 30 percent had travel costs paid by theirhildren; and most of them traveled abroad one or two times per year. Basedn the respondents results and comments, some revisions were made to im-rove the clarity of the items.

In total, 306 seniors (from 306 dierent families) were nally obtained, ofhich 293 were usable. Chi-square analysis was performed on 13 of the in-

omplete questionnaires. The results showed no signicant dierences wereound between the incomplete returns and the 293 completed questionnaires.

While the possibility of nonresponse bias cannot be ruled out with the data,

t was thought that with the respectable 95.7 percent response rate nonreturnbias would have minimal eect on interpretation (Guinn, 1980).

DISCUSSION OF FINDINGS

he characteristics of the 293 respondents were as follows: 55.6 percent wereale and 44.4 percent were female; 26.6 percent were 70 years of age and

lder, and 23.5 percent were 50-54 years old; while 22.9 percent of the re-pondents occupations were business, followed by homemaker 19.5 percent;he majority of employment status were retired, 56.3 percent. The family in-ome per month was mostly under NT$ 49,999 (about US$ 1,471), about 43.3ercent; the primary family status were three generations living together ac-ounted for 39.6 percent of the respondents.

Most of the respondents had received only a primary school diploma 37ercent; followed in second place by senior high school diploma 18 percent,nd 16.7 percent of the respondents had a college educational background.his nding is inconsistent with prior studies where the majority of respond-nts were mainly high school or college graduates in the West (Hawes 1988;aval i, Thomas and Rao 1992; Milman 1998; Lieux, Weaver and McClear


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1994). Regarding the travel des-tinations, 28 percent of the respondents went

o China, Hong Kong, and Macao; 24 percent to Northeast Asia. Most of theespondents traveled with their spouses (26.3%), friends (22.2%), or children(19.4%). Nearly 68 percent of the respondents paid the tour expenses byhemselves and 21.5 percent were paid by their children. About 31.7 percentf the respondents traveled once a year, and 24.6 percent trav-eled two timeser year. Finally, in terms of purchasing behavior, about 33.4 percent of theenior tourists bought the GPT by themselves, nearly 25 percent were boughtia children, and 15.7 percent were bought via friends. The sample was allaiwan-ese.

Extent of In uence across Decision Stages

he rst hypothesis suggested that the inuence of family members and oth-rs will vary with the dierent stages of the GPT decision-making process. Inrder to test this hypothesis, the relative inuence scores of family membersnd others across the three decision stages were analyzed. The mean scoresepresenting the respondents perceptions of family members and othersnuence are reported in Table 1. Examination of this table reveals that thenuence of each member is likely to vary by information search and nalurc ase stages. No signi cant i erences were oun among t e our eci-ion-makers with regard to the problem recognition stage. Surprisingly, oth-

ers have the highest mean score (M=3.19,p


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Volume 18 n Number 1 n Summer 2007 n 1


nd where to go (50.2%).

According to the mean score in Table 2, subdecisions for where to go, howuc money to spen , ow muc time to spen , w ere to stay, w en to go,

irline, coach, travel agency, and tour leader, the husband had substantiallyore inuence than the wife, child, and others. On the other hand, the wife

nly shows more inuence for restaurant, shopping, and optional tour. Over-ll, children and others show less inuence in the 12 subdecisions. In conse-uence, H2is then partially supported.

Sociodemographic Variables and the In uence across Decision Stages

Analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used to test whether there were signi-ant dierences in perceptions regarding the inuence of family membersnd others according to retirement status and education level in separate andverall decision-making stages. Retirement status and education level were

used as independent variables, and inuence scores given by respondentsith regard to the four decision-makers represent the dependent measure.he results in Table 3 show that there is no signicant dierence in the four re-

irement statuses with regard to overall inuence (F=2.508,p>.05). According-y, H3is supported. However, the inuence of children was found to vary byhe senior tourists individual retirement status. For senior tourists who wereetired or unemployed, the inuence of children tended to be stronger. Blazey

(1992) indicated that preretirees appear to be more intensive users of travelnformation. However, Table 3 reveals that no maer what the senior touristsetirement status, they show less inuence in GPT information search and notatistically signicant dierence was found between the four dierent retire-

ent statuses F =1.479, >.05 .

a e . n uence y stages o t e ecision process

Decision Process

I II III

ro em ecogn on Information Search na urc ase

usband . (2.35) 2.37bc (2.14) . a (2.44)

ife 3.09 (2.33) .94c (1.83) 3.17b (2.39)

hild . (2.28) 2.48b (2.22) . c (2.20)

Others2 3.16 (2.48) 3.19a (2.47) 1.94d (1.94)

. . .

. Each score represents the average of the husbands, wifes, childs, and others influence, aseasured on a scale where 1= no influence at all and 6 = all of the influence. Numbers in paren

eses are stan ar eviations. eans wit simi ar superscripts are not signi icant y i erentbased on Scheffe tests p significant at .05 level. If no superscripts appear, none of the means wassignificantly different.

. According to the respondents, others refer to as eight categories; they are friends, travel ,agent,elatives, companies, neighbors, colleagues, churches, and union. Among these categories

rien s p ay t e most important ro e in pro em recognition . , in ormation searc. , an ina purc ase . .

Represents F ratio significant at .001 level.


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As shown in Table 4, signicant dierences were found in the six dierentducation levels ( =4.924,p


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49,999, the inuence of children is signicantly higher than wife. And accord-ng to the mean score, the inuence of the child in this income interval is also

higher than husband and others, though not signicantly dierent. One un-xpected nding is that for family income between NT$ 50,000-99,999, the in-uence of others is signicantly higher than child, and others has the highest

ean score in this income interval. For seniors with family income per monthbetween NT$ 100,000-149,999, the inuence of husband is signicantly higher

han wife, child, and others. Likewise, for family incomes above NT$ 200,000,he inuence of husband is signicantly higher than the other three decision-

akers. This above result indicates that family members and others inuencearies by dierent family income levels; therefore, H

5

is then supported.

It appears that evidence of two apparent trends can be found in Table 5. Asamily income increases the inuence of husband and wife is also increasing,nd the inuence of children is decreasing. Moreover, a noticeable increasen the inuence of husband accompanying an increase in family income isound, which agrees with the ndings of Sharp and Mo (1956) and Wolgast

(1958). As family income level rises, there is also a rise in the likelihood of ahusband dominating with respect to the GPT. This is consistent with Wol-gasts point, but inconsistent with Sharp and Mos point, since they indicatedhat as income level rises, there is also a rise in the likelihood of mutual deci-ion-making.

CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS

Few empirical studies have explored how senior tourists have evolved in re-ation to t e GPT, an more speci ca y, in re ation to t e ecision-ma ingaern for the GPT. This study has provided some interesting and revealing

nsights into understanding the nature of Chinese group package tour deci-ion-makin rocess.

a e . ucation eve an extent o in uence across ecision stages

Education rimary Junior Senior Junior College raduate F

School High High College School School School

=293 108 43 54 31 9

ro em recogn on . . . . . . .

nformation search 2.00b 2.60ab 2.98ab 2.87ab .66a 3.00ab 3.244*

na purc ase . . . . . . .

Overall influence 2.86b 3.44ab 3.91a .69ab .07a 4.20ab 4.924**

n uence o c . a . a . . a . . a .

nfluence of others .74 .92 3.09 2.72 2.61 1.00 1.855

. Means with similar superscripts are not significantly different based on Scheffe tests p significant at .05 level. If no superscripts appear, none of the means was significantly different.

. Overall influence is the average of Problem recognition, Information search, and Final purchases age.




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In conclusion, the results of the present study indicated that the inuence ofamily members and others varied by stages of the decision-making processnd by various subdecisions. We also found that this present study supports

he contention that the relative inuence of the family members is likely toary according to the type of purchase decision. Lalwani (2002) found that

others had negligible inuence in all decisions of the choice of a ne diningestaurant. However, others have the highest inuence in problem recogni-ion and information search stages compared to husband, wife, and child inrip decisions of GPT. This result is consistent with several scholars point that

Chinese, who are collectivists, connect to others based on who one is; that is,he family, the work organization, or social class membership (Hui and Au

2001; Triandis 1988; Hwang 1987). Thus it could be predicted that others playn important role in the GPT.

In the 12 subdecisions the major concern of respondents in this study is theravel agency (65.9%), and choice of travel agency is mostly made by husbandnd others. However, this result also revealed that when senior tourists take

art in group travel, as many as 35 percent of senior tourists do not take theravel agency into consideration, which is probably due to the fact that mostf the senior tourists join tours because of solicitations from friends or rela-ives. And they are less likely to have an integral consideration for subdeci-ions, which accommodates the perspective of the Chinese community re-

garding social relationship highly. This also agrees with the research resultsf Labouvie-Vief et al. (2000) that the Chinese are more socially inclined than

Americans. Thus, this nding is certainly an important issue for the travelgency to take hold of this 35 percent of potential travelers.

Besides, there should be specialized marketing projects focused on senioritizens who have high income, are highly educated, and still working. Thistudy has also found that senior tourists who are of lower income, house-

ives, or less educated have tour expenses substantially provided by theirhildren. The tour expenses nearly 35 percent for those with the lower income(0-49,999) are provided by their children, housewives are nearly 32 percent,nd senior tourists with only primary education are about 45 percent. Forarticipation in a GPT, the inuences of children tend to be stronger; never-

heless, ast studies showed senior tourists to be a market se ment of needs

a e . ami y income an extent o in uence1

Family Income (NT ) N Husband Wife Child thers F Decision

a ern

0-49,999 127 .68ab 2.29b 3.12a 2.80ab 4.060** hild dominates

50,000-99,999 83 .04ab 2.83ab 2.28b 3.12a 3.522* Others dominate

, - , . a . . c . c . us an om na es

, - , . . . . .

. Means with similar superscripts are not significantly different based on Scheffe tests p significant at .05 level. If no superscripts appear, none of the means was significantly different.

Represents F ratio significant at .05 level.* Represents F ratio significant at .01 level.

**Represents F ratio significant at .001 level.


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(Shoemaker 1989) and preferences (Lieux, Weaver and McCleary 1994). Only

n this study, where the senior tourists seem to share lower inuence in de-ision-making, would marketing campaigns focused on them possibly notork eectively.

Furthermore, those accompanying senior tourists on the GPT are spouse(26.3%), friends (22.2%), and children and grand-children (43.5%). Milman(1998) also found that those accompanying senior tourists are mostly spouses(43.5%), friends and relatives (43.5%), and other family members (only 6.5%).

hus, the role played by children in GPTs is rather signicant. Therefore, aarketing campaign focused on children, could aract more travelers since

Chinese are so much inuenced by lial piety. And with lial piety taken ashe focus of marketing strategy a promotion or marketing slogan like Explor-ng t e Wor wit Your Parents! cou e e ective.

In this present study, most of the senior tourists over 60 years of age who

ere visiting their destination for the rst time, amounted to 75.1 percent,hile those who had visited the destination more than six times was 3 per-

ent. However, Romsa and Blenman (1989) pointed out that half of the Ger-an respondents (51%) favor visiting new spots of sightseeing, but as ageatures to over 60 years the proportion drops to 37 percent. In addition, for

ne quarter of the senior tourists who favor the same sightseeing spots morehan six times, the older they become the more likely they will be to visit theame p ace. T ey a so in icate t at wit t e increase o age t e pressure oisiting a new place increases.

This contradiction in traveling could be aributed to the dierent modes ofravel, and the investigation done by Romsa and Blenman is rather extensive,ncluding domestic travel and FIT. On the other hand, the study by Shoe-

aker (2000) also reveals that senior tourists over 55 years of age must con-ront the travel constraints of health, age, nancial considerations, and lack ofccompaniment. While the tour investigated in this present study is of GPTith tour guides, where most of the maers are taken care of by the travel

gency, so that the tour participants are less bothered by issues such as beingxposed to unfamiliar places, safety, and inconveniences. Senior tourists can,herefore, experience the customs and traditions of dierent countries con-eniently, and senior tourists taking part in a GPT can be considered as seek-ng new destinations and experiences. Thus, senior tourists who have beeno many countries have more pride orface,and the importance offace also toome extent aects the consumption behavior of the Chinese (Yau 1988).

It is found in this study that the focus of marketing should be placed onhusbands when the target market is the family with a high income. With

egard to the three decision-making stages and the subdecisions, wives areikely to hold lower position within the household, and they have lile inu-nce in terms of the information search stage. This is contrast to nding by

Mser and Weiermair (1998) that the wife is the typical information collector,hich could be aributed to the notion that Taiwan remains less oriented toomens views than western culture, and elders are much aected b Chi-


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nese traditional roles (Chen, Lai and Tarn 1999) that they are not given muchuthority with regard to decision-making. In recent years, with the increase

eminism ema es ave gra ua y een given more po itica ree oms, aveeceived higher education, and enjoyed higher consumption ability. In addi-ion, the role young wives play has gradually become increasing importantnd these changes are important for tour operators to consider.

Our study is important for theoretical as well as practical reasons: First,frommanagerial standpoint, this study provides useful marketing information

or those interested in the GPT, especially in the senior tourist segmentation.As researchers such as Wang and Sheldon (1995) and Zhang and Chow (2004)lso pointed out, China represents the largest population in the world and isurrently experiencing stunning growth in outbound travel as Chinese trave-ers are now discovering the rest of the world. Since Taiwan and China areimilar in race, culture, and language; it is reasonable to believe China will

become the largest outbound GPT export country in the world (Wang, Hsiehnd Huan 2000). Certainly, it is worthwhile for the destination countries toay closer aention to it and to its outbound senior tourist market. Second,

rom a theoretical perspective, the results of this present study provide in-ights and answers to the original research questions. The results also ll the

gap between the FIT, domestic travel, and the GPT with regard to seniorsecision-making in traveling. The authors believe that with such rigorouslaboration and research design, this study can increase the knowledge ofravel theory.

Finally, some ideas for future study are suggested by the limitations of the ur-ent research. Because the sampling was conducted during winter vacation,

ere were more GPTs going to Austra ia an New Zea an t an to NortAmerica, and sampling in a dierent season might yield dierent results. Fu-ure research might take this point into consideration. Another limitation ishe data were collected from one of the senior spouse. Respondents may not

be representative of the family travel decision in Taiwan. Thus, in any futuretudy, family members could be separately examined for both GPT decisionsnd sub-decisions to obtain more useful information. In addition, to further

understand tourists decision making, future research eorts should aempto explore other variables that can understand variances of tourists purchas-ng decision. Finally, families with three generations can be taken as a direc-ion for future study because this study found that the family status of three-

generations living together accounted for 39.6 percent of the respondents.Furthermore, a study by March (2000) clearly indicated that family tours withhree generations traveling together is an emerging trend, so this seems to befruitful area for future GPT research.

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Submied 28 July 2006

esubmied 30 October 2006esubmied 01 December 2006Accepted 10 December 2006

Refereed anonymously

senior tourists purchasing decisions

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