This study compares residents' perception of travel agency service attributes' importance with travel agents' beliefs as to what their customers find important. Based on the responses from 266 travel agents and 405 New Zealand residents, the study concludes that there is a wide gap between residents' perceptions and travel agents' beliefs. It is argued that travel agents need to be more aware of what their clients actually want in order to remain competitive and to ensure their long-term viability. Few significant differences were found between different types of travel agencies. However, the segmentation of residents into users and non-users yielded a large number of significant differences based on the mean score results but few differences in attribute rank order.
Duke, C.R. and Persia, M.A. (1993) 'Effects of Distribution Channel Level on Tour Purchasing Attributes and Information Sources', Journal of Travel & Tourism Marketing, Vol. 2, Nos. 2/3, pp. 37-56; Mihalik, B.J., Uysal, M. and Pan, M.-C. (1995) 'A Comparison of Information Sources Used by Vacationing Germans and Japanese' , Hospitality Research Journal, Vols. 18/19, No. 3/1, pp. 39-46; Snepenger, D.J., Meged, K., Snelling, M. and Worrall, K. (1990) 'Information Search Strategies by Destination-Naive Toursts', Journal of Travel Research , Vol. 29, No. 1, pp. 13-16.
2.
Duke and Persia, Mihalik et al., ibid.
3.
Snepenger et al., ref. 1.
4.
Fodness, D. and Murray, B. (1997) 'Tourist Information Search ', Annals of Tourism Research, Vol. 24, pp. 503-523.
5.
Kendall, K.W. and Booms, B.H. (1989) 'Consumer Perceptions of Travel Agencies: Communications, Images, Needs, and Expectations', Journal of Travel Research, Vol. 27, No. 4, pp. 29-37; Meidan, A. (1979) 'Travel Agency Selection Criteria', Journal of Travel Research, Vol. 18, No. 1, pp. 26-32; Ryan, C. and Cliff, A. (1996) 'Users and Non-users on the Expectation Item of the SERVQUAL Scale', Annals of Tourism Research, Vol. 23, pp. 931-934; Ryan, C. and Cliff, A. (1997) 'Do Travel Agencies Measure Up to Customer Expectations ? An Empirical Investigation of Travel Agencies' Service Quality as Measured by SERVQUAL', Journal of Travel & Tourism Marketing, Vol. 6, No. 2, pp. 1-31.
6.
Roehl, W.S. and Krauss, J.L. (1992) 'Identifying Geographic Markets for Travel Agencies', Journal of Travel & Tourism Marketing, Vol. 1, No. 2, pp. 37-51; Rutledge, J.L. and Hunter, J.F. (1996) 'Relation by States, Between Population and Number of Travel Agencies', Journal of Travel Research, Vol. 34, No. 4, pp. 73-76.
7.
Bennett, M.M. (1993) 'Information Technology and Travel Agency: A Customer Service Perspective', Tourism Management, Vol. 14, pp. 259-266; Kroenes, G. (1997) 'Die Automatisierung von Dienstleistungen am Beispiel Reisevermittlung ', Tourist Revieiv, Vol. 52, No. 2, pp. 25-31; Richards , G. (1995) 'Retailing Travel Products: Bridging the Information Gap', Progress in Tourism and Hospitality Research, Vol. 1, No. 1, pp. 17-29.
8.
Michie, D.A. and Sullivan, G.L. (1990) 'The Role(s) of the International Travel Agent in the Travel Decision Process of Client Families ', Journal of Travel Research, Vol. 29, No. 2, pp. 30-38.
9.
Laskey, H.A. , Seaton, B. and Nicholls, J.A.F. (1994) 'Effects of Strategy and Pictures in Travel Agency Advertising', Journal of Travel Research, Vol. 32, No. 4, pp. 13-19.
10.
Bennett, ref. 7; Goldsmith, R.E., Flynn, L.R. and Bonn, M.A. (1994) 'An Empirical Study of Heavy Users of Travel Agencies', Journal of Travel Research , Vol. 33, No. 1, pp. 38-43; Marsh, P. (1994) 'Customer Retention: A Strategy for Travel Agents' , Journal of Vacation Marketing, Vol. 1, No. 1, pp. 75-80; Richter, P. (1996) 'Should Travel Companies be Selling On-line?', Journal of Vocation Marketing, Vol. 2, No. 3, pp. 277-285; Romeiss-Stracke, F. (1997) 'Fund um die Welt in Jet oder im Cyberspace? Herausforderung für Reiseveranstalter und Reisebüros' , Tourist Review, Vol. 52, No. 1, pp. 41-49.
11.
Ritchie, J.R.B. (1996) 'Beacons of Light in an Expanding Universe: An Assessment of the State-of-the-Art in Tourism Marketing/Marketing Research', Journal of Travel & Tourism Marketing, Vol. 5, No. 4, pp. 49-84.
12.
Jackson, D. (1989) 'Determining a Customer's Lifetime Value', Direct Marketing, Vol. 51, No. 11, pp. 60-62; Li , S. (1995) 'Survival Analysis', Marketing Research, Vol. 7, No. 4, pp. 17-23; Pine, B.J., Peppers, D. and Rogers, M. (1995) 'Do You Want to Keep Your Customers Forever?', Harvard Business Review, March-April, pp. 103-114.
13.
Marsh, ref. 10; Reichheld, F.F. (1996) 'Learning from Customer Defections', Harvard Business Review, March-April, pp. 56-69; Reichheld, F.F. and Sasse, W.E. (1990) 'Zero Defections: Quality Comes to Services', Harvard Business Review, Vol. 68, pp. 105-111.
14.
Dick, A.S. and Basu, K. (1994) 'Customer Loyalty: Toward an Integrated Conceptual Framework', Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Vol. 22, Spring, pp. 99-113; Fry, J. ( 1973) 'Customer Loyalty to Service: A Longitudinal Study', Journal of Business, Vol. 46, No. 10, pp. 517-525; Jarvis, L.P. and Wilcox, J.B. (1976) 'Repeat Purchasing Behavior and Attitudinal Brand Loyalty: Additional Evidence', in Bernhard, K. L., ed., 'Marketing 1776-1976 and Beyond', American Marketing Association, NY, pp. 151-152; Ostrowski, P.L. (1993) 'Service Quality and Consumer Loyalty in the Commercial Airline Industry', Journal of Travel Research, Vo. 32, No. 3, pp. 16-24; Sheth, J. and Venkatrusan , M. (1978) 'Risk Reduction Process in Repetitive Consumer Behaviour', Journal of Marketing Research, Vol. 13, No. 3, pp. 307-310; Weiser , C.R. (1995) 'Championing the Customer', Harvard Business Revieiv, November-December, pp. 113-116.
15.
Bennett, ref. 7; Stride, N. (1996) 'Travel Agencies Must be Alert to Change or They Face Extinction', New Zealand Herald , 1st July; Yesawich, P.C. (1996) 'Travel Agents: Dinosaurs or Divas?', Lodging Hospitality, Vol. 52, No. 2, p. 18.
16.
Bennett, ibid.
17.
Persia, M.A. and Gitelson R.J. (1993) 'The Difference among Travel Agency Users in the Importance Ratings of Agency Service Features', Journal of Travel & Tourism Marketing, Vol. 1 No. 4, pp.77-98.
18.
Zeithaml, V.A. , Berry, L.L. and Parasuraman , A. (1993) 'The Nature and Determinants of Customer Expectations of Service', Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Vol. 21, No. 1, pp. 1-12.
19.
Persia and Gitelson, ref. 17.
20.
Oppermann, M. (1997) 'Databased Marketing by Travel Agencies — The State-of-the-Art in New Zealand', 1997Annual CAUTHE Conference Proceedings, Bureau of Tourism Research, Canberra.
21.
Andereck, K.L. and Caldwell, L.L. (1993) 'The Influence of Tourists' Characteristics on Ratings of Information Sources for an Attraction', Journal of Travel & Tourism Marketing, Vol. 2, Nos. 2/3, pp. 171-190.
