Tourists' buying behaviour (Kupovno ponašanje turista) was published by Juraj Dobrila University of Pula, Facutly of Economics and Tourism “Dr. Mijo Mirković” in 2017. Book is edited by Iva Slivar, PhD, Dražen Alerić, PhD and Uglješa Stankov, PhD. Editors are employed at different higher educational institutions; Juraj Dobrila University of Pula, Faculty of Economics and Tourism “Dr. Mijo Mirković”, Pula, Croatia and University of Novi Sad, Faculty of Sciences, Novi sad, Serbia. Iva Slivar, PhD is an Assistant Professor at Juraj Dobrila University of Pula, Faculty of Economics and Tourism “Dr. Mijo Mirković” at the Department of Tourism. She has great experience in tourism and has participated in different professional projects related to tourism. Her research interest lies in the field of e-tourism, sustainable tourism, tourist behaviour and innovations and trends in tourism. Dražen Alerić, PhD is an Assistant Professors at Juraj Dobrila University of Pula, Faculty of Economics and Tourism “Dr. Mijo Mirković” at the Department of Marketing. He has great professional and scientific experience and has participated at different scientific conferences. His research interest is related to marketing CRM, e-marketing, marketing communications and innovations. Uglješa Stankov, PhD is an Associate Professor at University of Novi Sad, Faculty of Sciences at the Department of Geography, Tourism and Hospitality. He has participated in several professional and scientific projects at national and EU level. His research interest lies in the field of e-tourism, social media and geoinformatics.
Book is written in Croatian language and contains 282 pages. It comes in soft cover. It is reviewed by three prominent researchers from different universities: Professor Snežana Besermenji, PhD from University of Novi Sad, Faculty of Sciences, Department of Geography, Tourism and Hospitality; Professor Mirela Mihić, PhD from University in Split, Faculty of Economics, Department of Marketing; Professor Danijela Križman Pavlović, PhD from Juraj Dobrila University of Pula, Facutly of Economics and Tourism “Dr. Mijo Mirković”, Department of Marketing. The book starts with Introduction followed with contents divided into ten different parts that are written by 24 authors from three countries: Croatia, Serbia and Slovenia.
In contemporary society tourism has a great influence on world economy. It influences businesses on country, destination and local level, it creates employment opportunities and creates added value for tourists and local communities. As tourist and local communities interact in process of tourist consumption it becomes of a great importance to understand trends as individualism, new market segments as sport and leisure tourism or environmentally conscious tourists. Therefore, understanding tourists, their behaviour, decision-making and factors behind their decisions and ones motivating them in their reactions, create challenging opportunities for researchers. Purpose of this book is to point out importance and necessity to research tourist buying behaviour from exploring and deciding about destination for vacation, to travel arrangements and decision-making in that destination to post-buying reactions and emotions.
Book is organized into 10 parts and in total 17 chapters. Some parts of book include just one and some parts comprise of several chapters. Each chapter starts with Introduction and ends with References.
Part One Theory of need and motivations in tourism includes only one chapter. It discusses classification of tourism and relates theories of motivation to tourist sector. A practical example of motives for selecting a specific tourist destination is analysed.
Tourist destination – a place where tourist needs are satisfied is a second part of the book and it includes only one chapter. It points out destination boundaries and relates it to destination brand and consequently to destination image.
Researching tourists’ buying behaviour is a third part of the book. In one chapter tourist buying behaviour is analysed on a practical example. It also points out the need to research tourist behaviour as well as it points out problems that might occur when research tourists in cross-cultural context.
Fourth part of the book is entitled Segmentation and positioning in tourism. It includes one chapter discussing segmentation practices and possibilities. Also, it relates segmentation process to adequate positioning in tourism.
Factors influencing tourists’ buying behaviour is a fifth part of this book. In this chapter a conceptual framework for analysing factors that influence tourists’ buying behaviour is provided and discussed.
Process of tourist decision-making is a sixth part of the book. It is divided into three sub-parts Planning and buying a travel, Staying in tourist destination and Post-purchase behaviour. Chapters in each sub-part are both providing a theoretical framework and practical examples of research and also discussing theoretical background for tourist decision-making. Authors discuss planning and buying a family vacation, evaluating online travel agencies, exploring rural tourism and local manifestations. But also music and emotions in hotels, online reviews and their implications for tourism as well as tourist negative reactions and complaints are discussed.
Seventh part of the book is entitled Tourist satisfaction and their loyalty. Two chapters cover tourist satisfaction with service quality and how tourist satisfaction can serve as a service quality measurement tool with aim to create tourist loyalty. Both chapters provide practical examples from tourist destination and related to hotel service.
Consumers’ right in EU tourism is covered in eight part of the book. This part provides overview of EU directives and legislative related to consumers’ right.
A responsible tourist is title of ninth part of the book. It discusses ecological, ethical and socially responsible tourist behaviour. It relates selective tourist types with responsibility framework needed to be implemented in future.
Tenth part Tourists of future discusses trends emerging on tourist market. It also provides wider social, economic and technical framework for analysing future trends that will influence tourist behaviour. In this chapter, that is the only chapter in this part of the book, virtual reality together with safety, authenticity and hedonism are pointed out as future trends.
Chapters have on average 16 pages. But range is from 7 to 27 pages depending on the chapter. Majority of book’s parts have just one chapter and just two parts (Process of tourist decision-making and Tourist satisfaction and their loyalty) have multiple chapters included. Distribution of purely conceptual chapters and chapters with empirical example is in slight favour of conceptual ones. Nine chapters are conceptual and eight are providing empirical example or including field research. Including results from field research or providing practical examples ensures usability of the Book for wider audience. Chapters dominantly have tables, in total 23 tables are noted in 9 chapters. Other graphical elements are 8 figures and one graph. Above that, six chapters do not have any graphical element. Chapters have on average 38 references cited but range is from 8 to 90 depending of chapter coverage. Table of contents is nicely prepared with mentioning authors but missing is detailed classification of those two book’s parts that have sub-parts and chapters.
As chapters have been written by 24 different authors this provides international perspective of tourists buying behaviour. Authors are dominantly from higher educational institutions in Croatia (15 authors), Serbia (9 authors) and only one author from Slovenia. Two authors do come from business sector. Regarding their institutions they come from 10 different higher educational institutions and two companies. Dominant is the number of authors from University of Juraj Dobrila, Faculty of economics and tourism „Dr. Mijo Mirković“ with seven authors followed by University of Novi Sad, Faculty of sciences, Department of geography, tourism and hospitality with five authors. This represents a balanced number of institutions with experts in the research field covering different aspects of tourist buying behaviour. Some authors have contributed in more than one chapter in this book. Authors range from former graduate students, MSc students and PhD candidates, to researchers and professors. This contributes to different styles of writing, offers different perspectives and makes the book usable for different audiences.
Book is appropriate for students at different levels of their study. But as offers different viewpoints and covers wide variety of perspectives in the field of tourist buying behaviour it is suitable for wider audience that is in direct contact with tourists. Employees in tourist sector recognize that knowing customers i.e. tourists, their influencing moments, needs and reactions you can predict their behaviour and motivate them to visit you again. Beside obvious use in exploring tourists’ buying behaviour it can be used also for all supporting industries like hospitality, private accommodation or organizing events. Book is easy to read and represents like a handbook of collected materials that can help individuals and companies in tourist sector to improve their business. But also it can help students in the field of tourism and hospitality management to learn on their future customers. So, a good starting point for excelling in your efforts in tourism sector.