"How Come You Are Here?" Considering the Context in Research on Travel Decisions. (February 2019)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Beritelli, Pietro; Reinhold, Stephan; Luo, Jieqing
• Is Part Of: Journal of travel research. Volume 58:Number 2(2019)
• Page Start: 333
• Page End: 337
• Publication Date: 2019-02
• Subjects: travel decision -- decision context -- decision heuristics -- "how come?" -- social embeddedness; Travel -- Research -- Periodicals; Tourism -- Periodicals; Tourism -- Research -- Periodicals; 910.72
• DOI: 10.1177/0047287517746017
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0047-2875

Abstract

Travel decision research still struggles to explain a large portion of the variance in travel choices. We argue that advances in this domain must originate from a shift in the kinds of questions we ask travelers to understand what triggers their decisions. The proposed shift from "Why did you . . . ?" to "How come . . . ?" changes the emphasis from retrospective sense giving to a contextual understanding of travel choice, focusing in particular on the constellations that produce actual travel behavior. This shift opens research avenues of a new theoretical and methodological nature and has fundamental implications for consumer research as well as destination marketing practices.