is not yet globalized; therefore, tourist consumer behavior of each country is still different and needs to be understood according to the fact that there are many determining factors influencing travels’ supply and demand (Horton, 1984; Assael, 1995; Sharpley, 1996). Swarbrooke and Horner (1999, p. 3) state:
The subject of consumer behavior is key to the underpinning of all marketing activity which is carried out to develop, promote and sell tourism products. Clearly, if we are to optimize the effective- ness and efficiency of marketing activities, we must try to understand how consumers make their decisions to purchase or use tourism products. If we understand their behavior patterns, then we will know when we need to intervene in the process to obtain the results that we want. We will know who to target at a particular time with a particular tourism product. More importantly, we will know to per- suade them to choose certain products, which we will have designed more effectively to meet their particular needs and wants. An understanding of consumer behavior is therefore crucial to make marketing activity more successful.
Believing in the above concept, it is a task of this paper to prove if the above statement is correct. Therefore, this paper sets up a framework for in-depth analysis as follows: