Las preferencias de los turistas rurales y los factores decisivos en el proceso de elección de alojamiento

Abstract

The accommodation choice is one of the most important decisions a tourist faces when planning a trip, not only cost, but also because the accommodation is an essential element in determining the satisfaction and relevance of the tourist’s experience and can influence their future behavior. In this context, the objective of this thesis is to find out the preferences of tourists by rural accommodations, the value of the attributes and services offered by them, as well as the influence that these choices have on the characteristics, feelings and motivations of tourists. The methodology mainly employed are the Discrete Choice Models, from the popular multinomial logit to more complex models, such as the mixed logit and hybrid discrete choice models. In addition, the information used to estimate these models has also been enriched, using different data sources, revealed preference (RP) and stated preference (SP) data, which differ both in their nature and in the procedure for obtaining them. The information necessary to estimate the models proposed in the three applications of this report is part of a survey designed ad-hoc in order to determine the choice preferences of tourists visiting the Northwest Region of the Region of Murcia and was carried out during several weekends in the autumn of 2003. In Chapter 2 is shown how the tourist profile varies according to the type of accommodation available in a given rural tourism destination. To do is, a multinomial logit model has been estimated with the revealed preference (RP) data from the survey, where the alternatives of choice are four types of accommodation obtained using two grouping techniques for qualitative data: a cluster analysis combined with a multiple correspondence analysis and a latent class analysis. Thus, for example, accommodations which are medium- sized, mostly two-bedroom, with typical local architecture and located in a village or the surroundings and lacking other facilities, are preferred by tourists over 40 years old who like better to do cultural activities. In Chapter 3, different logit models (homogeneous, heterogeneous and mixed) have been estimated to evaluate tourists’ preferences using the stated preference (SP) data. Thus, although the appeal of rural houses lies firstly in the natural surroundings and their intrinsic rural characteristics, the obtained results prove that other physical factors of the accommodation are also important in their choice (size, type of building, quality of equipment, etc.). Moreover, heterogeneous (systemic and random) tourists’ preferences with respect to these attributes have been detected. In Chapter 4, we proved that motivations or interests that tourists seek to satisfy by going to a rural environment affect the probability of accommodation rural choice and determine the relevant attributes of an accommodation. Our results also support the hypothesis that the decision context is determinant in the choice of a rural tourist accommodation. Since motivations are latent variables, that is, unobservable, multidimensional and difficult- to-measure variables, we have been necessary to use more complex models, such as hybrid discrete choice models (HDC). Four (latent) motivations are found with the estimation of the MIMIC model: Environment, Individuality, Family and Sociability, which influence on the rural accommodation choice probability.