Title: Investigating the key factors influencing the travel decisions of international tourists

Authors: Mehran Nejati; Badaruddin Mohamed

Addresses: Graduate School of Business (GSB), Sustainable Tourism Research Cluster (STRC), Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM), Penang 11800, Malaysia ' School of Housing, Building and Planning, Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM), Penang 11800, Malaysia

Abstract: This study explores the key factors that encapsulate the travel decision of international tourists and examines their impression of the destination based on the identified factors. The findings of this study provide invaluable insights to marketers for effective tourism marketing and promoting the destination. Using a sample of 803 international tourists visiting Penang Island in Malaysia, this study revealed that three major aspects of the destinations that influence the travel decision of tourists included 'quality', 'uniqueness' and 'distance and value'. Additionally, it was found that the after-trip impression of travellers for the quality of the destination was lower than the other two factors, indicating an area of improvement to tourism administrators and service providers.

Keywords: tourism marketing; travel decisions; travel impressions; destination quality; tourist destinations; Malaysia; international tourists.

DOI: 10.1504/IJLTM.2014.065877

International Journal of Leisure and Tourism Marketing, 2014 Vol.4 No.2, pp.106 - 116

Received: 15 Aug 2013
Accepted: 08 Jan 2014
Published online: 28 Nov 2014 *

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