What to do on Our Holiday: The Case of in Situ Decision-Making

The majority of research on vacation decision-making focuses on decision-making processes that take place prior to the actual vacation (i.e. need recognition; up-front information search; choice of destination, accommodation and/or mode of transportation as well as actually buying the vacation product). However, vacation decision-making differs from decision-making relating to traditional products insofar vacation decision-making encompasses both decision-making prior to and during the vacation. In order to contribute to our understanding of vacation decision-making, this paper draws on in situ qualitative interviews with 126 informants, who account for the extent and nature of vacation decision-making during their vacation. Although both extent and nature of vacation decision-making during the vacation differ profoundly across the informants, a key finding is that, to some tourists, many decisions - and especially those relating to sightseeing and other experience offers - are not taken before the informants arrive at the destination and furthermore, the end result of such decisions often is to choose 'to do nothing'. Hence, we need to take these kinds of decisions into account if we wish for satisfied tourists and thus, for our destination to prosper.