Confused by too many choices? Choice overload in tourism

Traditional economic and psychological theories suggest that having more options is beneficial to decision makers. However, according to the choice overload concept too many choices can sometimes cause contradictory results, such as consumers making 'no choice' or experiencing increased perceived regret. Considering that tourism suppliers offer an extensive variety of products, the primary objective of this study was to identify whether the choice overload phenomenon exists for tourism products. Using a scenario method, respondents were randomly assigned to one of ten different scenarios (2(destination) (types) x 5(choice) (sets)). The results of this study showed that having more than 22 choices increased the likelihood of making 'no choice,' regardless of destination type, suggesting that choice overload exists in the tourism industry. This study also demonstrated that when fewer than 22 choices were provided participants who made a choice perceived less regret than those who made 'no choice'. However, the opposite results were found when tourists were provided with too many choices. Further discussion and implications are provided in the main body of this paper. (C) 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.