Access to Tourism: Gender, the role it plays in Advertising to Target Markets and the Decision Maker towards Holidays Taken

Abstract: Looking at gender and access to tourism, this paper considers the changes in tourism associated with women, as well as the use of women advertising to influence male decisions. The main focus of the paper was to discover the changes in tourism, to include women as the dominant decision maker of holiday destination planning.

Key Words: Access to Tourism, Gender, Gendered Advertising, Dominance in Decision-Making Processes

Access to tourism can be influence and restricted by many factors, the key factor of this paper looked at gender and how the differences in male and female roles changed with the growth of the tourism industry (Lawton, 2009; Pritchard, 2001; Rainisto, 2003). Issues of inequality, power and control are seen within the growing tourism market between gender roles showing the limits of access to tourism (Swain, 1995). A limit towards the female role is the use of stereotypical images of women, used to influence decisions of male audiences. The use of these adverts are used to encourage men to travel more for leisure purposes, as it is seen that more women than men travel for leisure holidays (Scott, 1986; Wearing & Wearing, 1996). Men are more likely to be encouraged by the use of adverts, this has been shown by men making decisions based on small amount of information, whereas women are more reserved with their decisions and collect as much information as possible before making decisions (Kim et al, 2007).

It has been shown that travel plans between genders can differ; men are more likely to choose a destination based on the sporting and action-adventure activities available, whereas women are likely to choose a destination based on the culture and security of the place (Mceczkowski, 1990). Research has shown that more women than men are more likely to travel for leisure purposes; however women have tended to feel that there are limitations affecting access to tourism, with factors of physical, social and family constraints creating barriers that may discourage women in participating in leisure activities (Jackson & Henderson, 1995). The difference of gender and destination choice has been proven to change when other characteristics are considered, this included age which showed that similarities in young men and women were shown to desire the same leisure destination (Carr, 1999). This change in destination difference showed that motives of the push and pull factors influencing decision making of tourist behaviour, as well as personal preference difference and similarities of gender considered in different age groups (Meng & Uysal, 2008).

With the use of stereotyping adverts being used to influence male decisions in tourism, women may lose interest in destinations using stereotypical images of women. These adverts have been shown to receive negative perceptions from female audience as the images create false advertising of the destination, as well as false images of women (Liu et al, 2009). A change is social behaviour has been noticed from the use of these images, meaning tourism markets may notice differences in the participation of women in tourism. Social marketing has been used as a strategy to enhance women�s participation in tourism to examine economically viable strategies of advertising to both males and females that will attract both genders (Bright, 2000). The effects of this strategy have been shown to encourage and influence positive ideals of tourism to both genders, as well as more women showing dominance in the decision making processes of destination choice (Andreasen, 2002).

The decision making process of tourism destination provides an analysis of tourism behaviour, and the factors and variables that may influence the choice of the decision maker (Moore et al, 2012). A study by Moore et al, (2012) found that the main influences of decision making while on holiday resulted in, the length of stay at the destination and the amount of money available to spend. However, the role of the decision maker has been researched within tourism to discover who makes the decision of the choice of holiday destination. Many authors have evaluated that families and couples have been shown to make joint decisions considering holiday making decisions, although it has been analysed that the female of the family shows dominance in the final decision made (Fondness, 1992; Mottiar & Quinn, 2004). The choice-sets model has been used by many authors to evaluate how decisions can be made when conflict occurs when deciding on a holiday destination (Spiggle & Sewall, 1987; Marayana & Markin, 1975; Botha et al, 1999; Un & Crompton, 1990). The use of the model discovers alternatives that both individuals may have in common to analyse whether a decision can be made, however if conflict occurs and no suitable alternatives can found, it is often found that the female alternative is chosen. The reason for this decision is because it found that the female shows greater dominance within the decision making process (Jang et al, 2007).

References

Jang, H, Lee, S, Lee, S.W & Hong, S.K. (2007) Expanding the individual choice-sets model to couples� honeymoon destination selection process. Tourism Management, 28, 1299-1314.

Meng, F & Uysal, M. (2008) Effects of Gender Differences on Perceptions of Destination Attributes, Motivations, and Travel Values: An Examination of a Nature-Based Resort Destination. Journal of Sustainable Tourism, 16 (4), 445, 466.

Moore, K, Smallman, C, Wilson, J & Simmons, D. (2012) Dynamic in-destination decision-making: An adjustment model. Tourism Management, 33, 635-645.

I chose to post a comment on this paper because my own topic of female travellers is remotely related to this one. It is highly interesting how the gender differences seem to be significant although our Western culture should be so equal. It is also a fact that gender is one of the most important forms of segmentation, also in tourism industry.

As the author suggests, gender may be a remarkable limiting factor for tourists. Although women are nowadays closer than ever to gain equality with men, they seem to still feel more restricted than men when it comes to leisure activities, like tourism. The changes in tourism are appearing and this paper states that its main focus was to discover these changes that include women as the dominant decision maker in holiday planning. However, I could not really see this focus while reading this paper.

The author states that women tend to gather much more information about the destinations before making the final decision compared to men. This is true according to many studies on the field. Men are willing to make decisions a lot quicker and they rely rather on their own opinions than the facts gathered from other sources. I wonder if this has something to do with the fact that women feel more restricted to travel. They feel that they need to rationalise their decisions, to make the chosen destination seem like a smart and secure choice. Furthermore, this might just be the reason why women usually get the last word when it comes to holiday decision making. They have some valid arguments why some specific destination should be chosen over the others, as men�s opinions are usually based only on their own views. Jang et al (2007) even suggest that gathering all the available information is women�s strategy to avoid the possible conflict in decision making.

Women seem to be more rational about these choices and they are usually in charge even if the decisions are supposed to be made together. Within the group, like a family, women tend to be the ones who initiate the conversation about possible holiday in the first place. They usually also gather the information in advance and then pick several options from which the joint decision can be made with the group. This is why women can be seen as the �gatekeepers� of the destination decision.

In conclusion, I would have wished to see more concentrated discussion on the topic and more detailed information about the decision making factors. I was also left wondering what the author means by �social marketing� and how this appears in the field of tourism, especially in the women-oriented marketing. Also a clear discussion on why women usually have the greater dominance in the decision making would have been interesting.


Jang, H, Lee, S, Lee, S.W & Hong, S.K. (2007) Expanding the individual choice-sets model to couples� honeymoon destination selection process. Tourism Management, 28, 1299-1314
Kim, Dae-Young; Lehto, Xinran Y. and Morrison, Alastair M. (2007) �Gender differences in online travel information search: Implications for marketing communications on the Internet�, Tourism Management, 28(2007), p. 423-433
Mottiar, Ziene and Quinn, Deirdre (2004) �Couple dynamic in household tourism decision making: Women as the gatekeepers?�, Journal of Vacation Marketing, Arp 2004 (10), p. 149-160