Dimensions of a memorable experience within a marine tourism context
- Authors: Jonas, Altouise Glowdean
- Date: 2018
- Subjects: Customer relations -- Management , Customer relations Relationship marketing Tourism -- Environmental aspects Coastal zone management -- Environmental aspects
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , DPhil
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/30540 , vital:30958
- Description: Worldwide, businesses are operating in an environment which is continuously changing, forcing them to adapt their strategies in order to remain competitive. Two changes were of particular importance to this study. Firstly, businesses are faced with an increasing demand from consumers for experiences as opposed to products and services. Secondly, consumers are demanding experiences that are not just ordinary, but are unique and memorable. As one of the largest and most diverse industries globally, tourism offers a multitude of tourist activities. Marine tourism is one of the oldest, most popular and fastest developing types of tourism globally. Marine tourism has also become popular in South Africa. This popularity might be attributed to the country’s expansive coastline and to it being home to one of the most diverse marine systems in the world. Marine tourism makes significant contributions to South Africa’s economy. More benefits can be derived from this lucrative type of tourism if attention is given to the design and provision of marine tourism experiences that go beyond average experiences, and become memorable experiences. The reason for conducting this research was to provide the South African tourism industry, and marine tourism operators in particular, with information which might assist them in designing and staging memorable experiences. Such memorable experiences could result in a competitive advantage and enable the operators to attract more customers, which in turn, will benefit the individual operators, the industry as a whole, and ultimately, the South African economy. The study focused on three marine tourism activities, namely; shark-diving, visits to marine protected areas and whale-watching. Eight dimensions, namely; Delight, Hedonism, Involvement, Knowledge, Meaningfulness, Novelty, Refreshment and Social-Interaction were identified as prospective dimensions of a memorable experience within a marine tourism context. v The study employed purposive, convenience and snowball sampling to identify potential respondents. Primary data was collected by means of an online survey and paper-based self-administered questionnaires. Four hundred and forty-four useable responses were received. The results of the empirical study showed a positive correlation between all the dimensions and memorable experience for each of the three activities and for all the activities combined. A second order factor analysis showed that the eight dimensions loaded onto two factors. The resulting factors were named as the Affective Domain (consisting of Hedonism, Refreshment, Delight and Involvement) and the Cognitive Domain (consisting of Knowledge, Social- Interaction, Meaningfulness and Novelty). A positive relationship was found between the Affective Domain and Memorable Experience and also between the Cognitive Domain and Memorable Experience. The Cognitive domain showed a stronger relationship with Memorable Experience than what the Affective Domain did, for all the activities combined. The memorability of an experience in the case of all three activities combined can, firstly, be improved by Involvement. This is closely followed by the following dimensions in the Affective Domain; Delight, Hedonism and Refreshment. Under the Cognitive Domain the factor which is most important for improving memorability of all the activities combined is Meaningfulness, followed by Knowledge, Novelty and Social-Interaction. Finally, structural equation modelling confirmed a model representing the eight experience dimensions (Delight, Hedonism, Involvement, Knowledge, Meaningfulness, Novelty, Refreshment and Social-Interaction) and identified the relationships between the dimensions and Memorable Experience. This study makes four important contributions. Firstly, it contributes to the under-researched topic of marine tourism in South Africa. Secondly, it adds to the literature on memorable tourism experiences, specifically memorable marine tourism experiences and provides a measurement instrument and framework for further research. Thirdly, the study identifies and confirms that ‘delight’ is an important dimension of a memorable marine tourism experience. vi Lastly, a model was developed which can be used by marine tourism operators to enhance their strategies, operations and facilities which will enable operators to achieve a sustainable competitive advantage.
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- Date Issued: 2018
The influence of persons and marketing related variables on consumers purchasing of environmentally-friendly products
- Authors: Jonas, Altouise Glowdean
- Date: 2012
- Subjects: Consumer behavior , Marketing research , Natural resources , Human ecology
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MTech
- Identifier: vital:9368 , http://hdl.handle.net/10948/d1011098 , Consumer behavior , Marketing research , Natural resources , Human ecology
- Description: The human environment is under serious threat as natural resources such as air, water and forests are being overused. Worldwide, people have become more aware of the threatening situation and consequently many more individuals are showing concern for the environment. Often this concern is not displayed in consumers’ purchasing behaviour, as consumers who claim to be concerned about the environment are not necessarily consuming or showing a preference for environmentally–friendly products. This study examined two sets of variables, namely, person related and marketing related factors, and determined the extent to which these factors influence consumers’ behaviour when buying environmentallyfriendly products. The empirical data was collected by means of a survey, using self-administered questionnaires distributed to adult employed consumers residing in Port Elizabeth. Two hundred usable questionnaires were received. Three person related factors, namely, norms, environmental concern and environmental knowledge, and four marketing related factors, namely, price, product, place and promotion - were found to influence respondents’ behaviour when purchasing environmentally-friendly products. Environmental concern explained the largest portion of variation in purchase behaviour, while promotion explained the smallest portion of variation. Significant differences in the influence of age were found for norms, nvironmental concern, environmental knowledge and price. It is recommended that suppliers of environmentally-friendly products should ensure that these products are located at outlets which are convenient to consumers; more should be done by the relevant stakeholders to increase environmental knowledge and educate South Africans about the benefits of leading a more environmentally-friendly lifestyle; marketers find more innovative methods to convince consumers to act on their environmental concern; further attempts be made to minimise the price difference between environmentally-friendly products and traditional products; marketers should pay more attention to advertisements promoting environmentally-friendly products to ensure that these appeal to their target markets; and the performance of environmentally-friendly products should be on a par with the performance of traditional products.
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- Date Issued: 2012