Shopping has become the main tourist activity and accounts for a considerable amount of tourism expenditure. Many previous studies have found that shopping tourists stay longer at a destination and spend approximately three to four times more than leisure tourists.
Certain ‘shopping tourism’ destinations simply consist of areas where the concentration of corporation-led retail venues is high. A new study published in the Journal of Travel Research analyses the destination preferences of mainland Chinese tourists within the context of luxury shopping and compares the traditional item-based method and conjoint analysis to understand their preference.
Scientists actually want to create more apparent patterns of travelers’ preference. The methods comparison reveals the role of trade-off in consumers’ decision making, which is seldom considered in tourism research.
This is the first attempt to compare conjoint analysis with the traditional approach in one study with empirical data to reflect the role of trade-off in tourist decision making.
Scientists identified these attributes with rigorous procedures to represent the main preferences of Chinese travelers in choosing a destination for luxury shopping. Hypothetically, the characteristics of an extravagance shopping goal are produced without any preparation with a blended strategies approach.
Tourism shopping patterns are identified in this article based on the frequency of shopping and the significant differences in luxury purchasing patterns. Practically, the results suggest some caution in the development of luxury shopping destination.