Decision Making Process of Purchasing Family Vacation Travel

Abstract

This paper aims to discuss the consumer behavior regarding the influence of family members in decision making process of purchasing family vacation travel. Several ways to examine the decision making process were identify in the literature, however, this work made use of the three stages process: problem recognition, information search and purchase decision. In this sense it was developed an exploratory study where 40 questionnaires were collected between June 15th and July 15th 2012, from respondents who had purchased one or more tour packages over the past two years from a travel agency in São Paulo. The results indicate that most part of decisions are taken in group and the role of parents and children in purchasing family vacation varies according to the steps of decision making process; however, women had a greater influence on the three stages of family decision making, especially regarding information search. The results indicate the necessity of increasing the range of research on consumer behavior in tourism and family decision making.