Unique experience for group
travelling in specialized travel
organizations in the Netherlands
By: Karin Behling
University of Groningen
Msc BA Master Thesis
Strategy and Innovation
Unique experience for group travelling
in specialized travel organizations in
the Netherlands
Author: Karin Behling Student number: 1713620
University of Groningen; Msc BA Strategy & Innovation 1st supervisor: Pedro de Faria
Abstract
The purpose of this thesis is to investigate how a unique experience for group travelers can be managed by specialized travel organizations in the Netherlands. A conceptual model is build from the theoretical foundation, which provided insight in elements which need to be present in a group travel for a unique experience to occur. In this qualitative study, four travel organizations participated and filled the open-ended questionnaire. From this data is concluded how a unique experience can be managed, if those necessary elements are present in group travels, if they are manageable, and their relation to a unique experience. From this is concluded that a unique experience for group travelers can be managed by travel organizations in the Netherlands through knowing the participants, supporting consumer experiences (i.e. accommodation, transportation and guides) and partially by the components (i.e. pleasure, surprise, perceived freedom and involvement).
“There are no foreign lands. It is the traveler only who is foreign.” – Robert Louis Stevenson
Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION ...5
PROBLEM DEFINITION...8
THEORETICAL REFLECTION ... 10
DEFINITIONS... 10
TOURIST ROLES AND THE NEED FOR NOVELTY... 12
TRAVELLING IN A GROUP... 14
Guide... 14
Motivations ... 15
Advantages ... 16
ELEMENTS IMPORTANT IN A TRAVEL AND THEIR EFFECT... 17
CONCEPTUAL MODEL... 24
RESEARCH STRATEGY AND METHODOLOGY ... 26
RESULTS ... 28 TRAVEL ORGANIZATIONS... 28 Activity International ... 28 Koning Aap... 29 Sawadee... 29 VNC ... 29 UNIQUE EXPERIENCE... 30 IMPORTANCE OF EXPERIENCES... 34 MOTIVATION ASPECT... 35
IMPORTANT ELEMENTS IN A TRAVEL... 38
COMPONENTS... 41
Pleasure... 41
Surprise ... 42
Perceived Freedom... 43
Involvement ... 45
SUPPORTING CONSUMER EXPERIENCES... 47
Accommodations ... 48
Transport... 49
Guides ... 50
CAN A UNIQUE EXPERIENCE BE MANAGED BY THE SPECIALIZED TRAVEL ORGANIZATIONS?... 53
CONCLUSION... 55
LIMITATIONS AND FURTHER RESEARCH ... 60
REFERENCES ... 61
Introduction
Discover Southern Africa in three weeks, hike to the Machu Picchu in Peru, sense the spirituality in North-India, flow through the Nile on a boat excursion in Egypt, or spend the night in the Amazon of South America. Endless possibilities are accessible to explore the world. More people feel like seeing more of the world and desire to visit other continents. There are many different ways of traveling to discover the world. So, how do travelers want to explore this world? Alone with a backpack and no reservations made in front, book all the accommodations in front but still have a lot of freedom, or travel by an organized group tour?
As mentioned above, there are many options when you decide to travel. First of all people need to consider their desires and expectations while thinking about how they want to travel. Travel provides a form of change by enabling people to do or see something different. People apparently need change (Blichtfeldt, 2007) and desire to experience something new and special (Lee and Crompton, 1992).
Lee and Crompton (1992) mention the desire to experience. Tourism is called the marketplace of experiences (Volo, 2009). Travel and tourism is without doubt one of the pioneer examples of the experience economy (Quan and Wang, 2004) and perhaps more than any other service industry, tourism holds the potential to extract strong emotional and experiential reactions by consumers (Otto and Ritchie, 1996). Activities and settings provide opportunities for experiences, these experiences are influenced by the travelers’ perception and how the experiences are considered after the activity (Kay, 2009). Consumers are looking for experiences that enable them to realize their dreams and achieve their desired lifestyle (Smith and Wheeler, 2002). While comparing different travel styles group traveling focus on experiences. When looking at websites and brochures of travel organizations that provide group travelling, ‘experience’ is the word that is continuously repeated.
regarding their experiences. This can be said since group travelers must do every day what is planned and will (sometimes) have to leave an ‘attraction’ earlier than wished or stay at a place less interesting to one another. Given that, experiences are essential in a travel and are probably more difficult to obtain during an organized travel. Therefore, this research will focus on group travelers with a packaged tour.
Lund et al. (2005)1 proposed the experience compass (see appendix 1). Through this compass products can be rated with a high or low experience value. This compass illustrates that group travelling has a high experience value. It is all about the experience that a tourist2 desires to obtain during a travel. This paper will explore positive experiences of group travelers in relation to the travel organizations. Experience can be described as a competitive advantage of products (Pine and Gilmore, 1998). This is important to the travel organizations to expand their travels (the products) and create a competitive advantage. Furthermore, this research is focused on travel organizations which are situated in the Netherlands. The focus is on the Dutch market since people in the Netherlands travel a lot and has the money to travel with an organization. In this case, travel organizations are those which provide organized group travelling all over the world. Group travelling comes into existence when individuals travel with a travel organization. This travel is arranged in a group and is a packaged tour. A packaged tour is a trip planned and paid for in advance. Those travels are arranged from beginning to end and include (mostly) airplane tickets, accommodations (e.g. eating and sleeping), transportations (e.g. bus, train, boat and / or airplane), route/planning (e.g. places to visit, view point stops, route to drive). These trips depart to countries all over the world and see the highlights (and more) of a country. As this research reflects the experience of group travelers, an introduction is desired to this matter. An experience is an observation of facts or events (Oxford dictionary). This experience will be obtained during a travel, since it is an observation of (a) country/countries. Therefore this thesis will go beyond ‘experience’ and discusses a positive unique experience. There is an essential distinction between a satisfactory experience and a unique and memorable one. To tourists, experiences can be made memorable if they encounter with different people, landscapes, cities and cultures. This especially occurs if tourists
1
Cited in article from Lorentzen, 2009. This article is not available in English.
2
experience cultural differences from everyday life and how things are done at home (Morgan & Xu, 2009).
Problem definition
activities, planning, accommodations, guide, transportation etc.). The question rises how organizations deal with the experiences of their travelers since it is such an important aspect in traveling. Moreover, what are elements which needs to be present in a travel for a unique experience to occur and are these manageable by the organizations? Travel organizations intent to deliver a unique experience to their participants. Therefore, the focus of this research will be on the travel organizations. This leads to the following research question:
How can a unique experience be managed for group travelling by specialized travel organizations in the Netherlands?
Several sub questions are proposed which support to answer the research question: 1) How can organizations influence the unique experience of the travelers? 2) What is the effect of travelling in a group on the unique experience?
Theoretical reflection Definitions
“As goods and services become commoditized, the customer experiences that companies create will matter most” (Pine and Gilmore, 1998, pp.97). According to Pine and Gilmore (1998) an experience can be a competitive advantage of products, since experiences are memorable. Furthermore, they state that an experience is obtained from the interaction between a staged event and the individual’s state of mind. However, many individuals may share similar experiences. “The ‘experience’ of leisure and tourism can be described as the subjective mental state felt by participants” (Otto and Ritchie, 1996, pp.166).
A tourist experience is also described as an opportunity to differentiate from everyday life (Cohen, 1972; Goossens, 2006; Mannell & Iso-Ahola, 1987). An experience product appears when there is a “relationship” between the customer and the product (Lorentzen, 2008). Experience is also described as “a steady flow of fantasies, feelings, and fun” (Holbrook and Hirschman, 1982, pp.132); “the interaction between destinations and tourist –with destinations as ‘theaters’ at which experience takes place, and the tourist as ‘actors’ who have to play their own role (depending on the extend to their immersion)” (Stamboulis and Skayannis, 2003); “a tourist experience happens in the mind of the tourist and the ‘essence’ is encoded in the ‘experience sequence’ that makes an individual’s experiences unique” (Volo, 2009, pp. 120). Many definitions of experience are proposed. However, to clarify this research, one definition will be applied. The definition of experience used is of Pine and Gilmore (1998) because it relates the most to this research:
“An experience is obtained from the interaction between a staged event and the individual’s state of mind.”
Since this research deals with a unique experience a definition of unique has to be proposed as well. The Oxford English Dictionary state unique as:
These two definitions need to be combined to state a definition of a unique experience that is sufficient to this research. Most importantly is that the definition will be proposed in relation to group travelling provided by travel organizations in the Netherlands. The definition of experience is interpreted that the staged event reflects the travel itself organized by travel organizations. The occurrence of a (unique) experience also depends on the tourist (the individual’s state of mind). Ultimately experiences can change in the mind of the tourist how valuable they are, because needs and the mind of a tourists change over time (Andersson, 2007).
Since the experience is investigated as unique, the tourists need to remember/feel it as memorable, unlike anything else, remarkable or unusual. The definition as proposed of experience still can be used, but something needs to be added for unique and in relation to group travelling. Therefore, the definition of a unique experience for group travelers of travel organizations in the Netherlands is stated as:
A unique experience is created from the interaction between the packaged tour and the tourist which results in a memorable, one of its kind experience.
the theoretical foundation will provide information were a delighter needs to consist of. For a unique experience to occur organizations should aim at the accomplishment of the delighter need and therefore have to exceed expectations of participants.
Tourist roles and the need for novelty
The definition of a unique experience for group travelers is classified and is the key subject of this research. Therefore the literature will help to understand how a unique experience can be created. First of all, the tourist role in this context needs to be explained. Cohen (1972) introduced a typology of four different tourist roles. These tourist roles are composed in relation to experience and the combination of novelty and familiarity. The four typologies are : (1) the organized mass tourist; least adventurous, a guided tour, familiarity is at a maximum, novelty at a minimum, (2) the individual mass tourist; the tour is not entirely preplanned, not group bounded, familiarity is still dominant but the experience of novelty is a bit greater, (3) the explorer; arranges trip alone, novelty dominates however the tourist still has some of the basic routines and comforts of his/her own lifestyle, (4) the drifter; tries to life the same way as the people of the visiting country, highest form of novelty and familiarity disappears almost. The organized mass tourist and the individual mass tourist are ‘organized’ tourist; the tourist travels with a tourist organization (travel agencies, travel companies, hotel chains etc.). The explorer and the drifter are ‘non-organized’ tourist; they are very loosely attached to the tourist organizations. Taking this research in account the group travelers are according to Cohen ‘the organized mass tourist’, since this type of tourist travels with is a packaged-tour that is guided. The individual mass tourist will not fit into this research since this tourist type is not group bounded.
novelty has a negative effect from being scared, incomprehensible or confused. However, too little novelty results in boredom, dull and a travel without challenge (Andersson, 2007). So, the amount of novelty has to be in the middle and proper to the group.
Research showed that novelty seekers preferred self-guided travel while familiarity seekers strongly preferred packaged tours.Individuals vary from each other in their selection of travels. Some people want minor changes for daily routine, others prefer more radical activities like exposure to unfamiliar environments, social contacts and above normal expenditures (i.e. be involved in activities that cost more than someone normally spend)(Faison, 1977). All types of travel provide tourists a degree of novelty since new things, sights, cultures, etc are explored that are different from their own. During group traveling people are exposed to unfamiliar environments and deal with new social contacts, that is why people that participate in group traveling are likely to experience novelty. However; packaged tours will (probably) provide more familiarity to travelers because of the surrounding of people of their own country and type of accommodations and transport that is arranged. For travel organizations it is important if participants experience a degree of novelty and are satisfied after the travel. Travelers who experienced novelty intent to take a similar kind of trip in the future, except they will not return to the same destination (Bello and Etzel, 1985; Weaver et al., 2009). According to these findings it is expected that those people will travel again with a travel organization but to another country/countries. Moreover, they found that both novel and familiarity experiencers made use of travel agents. Consequently it can be said that novelty experiencing is not unique to a particular societal group, which means that it applies to all types of travelers (group travelers, backpackers, and even people that go camping in their own country). It is more likely that the desire to experience novelty is spread throughout the population. Furthermore, a novel experience can and will also occur when people do not travel large distances for long periods of time at great expenses (Bello and Etzel, 1985; Weaver et al., 2009).
Travelling in a group
Previous paragraph indicates which type of tourists group travelers are. They are travelers who need a higher level of familiarity around them during the travel, although they also desire novelty. As stated before, group travelers will experience novelty as they explore the country traveled to. Since this research examines group travelers this phenomenon needs to be studied in depth.
The most important aspect of group traveling, arranged by travel organizations, is that those travels are organized in advance and thereby are defined as packaged tours. Packaged tours are popular with customers because they make travel easier and more convenient (Hsieh et al., 1994). Travelers search for benefits, both package and non-package travelers like to see as much as possible and experience new and different lifestyles while traveling overseas. Package travelers (generally) have more interest in high quality restaurants, first class hotels, resort areas, and guided tours to see everything (Hsieh et al., 1994). “Tour groups share a number of characteristics and peculiarities which influence their formation and development. These include the setting within which they form and develop (bus, plane, hotel); the physical proximity of their members; the amount of shared leisure time; the brief existence of these groups; their heterogeneity (age, sex, nationality, motivation, culture); their shared circumstance (a strange environment with different customs and languages, which will encourage group affiliation); and the realization of sharing a new experience, which for most of them has meant a great deal of work, and is quite unrepeatable” (Quiroga, 1990, p. 187). This refers to the ‘environment bubble’ as discussed before of Cohen (1972).
Guide
customers have with people, processes, and products of a travel organization. This can be reflected to group travelling since the interaction between the participants and guide during the travel can create a unique experience.
Research of Geva and Goldman (1991) prove that both the guide’s conduct and its expertise are the most important factors in a group travel. Also Wang, Hsieh and Huan (1999) explained the essence of the tour guide. The guide will be the exclusive person of contact regarding the travel organization and will influence the travelers’ perception of the trip since the group dependents on their guide(s). This indicates that the guide have an influence on the unique experience of group travelers and is thereby important to the travel organizations. Since the guides are the ones that create the ambiance and guide the travelers throughout their travel, the expertise and realization during a travel of the guide will influence the perception of a traveler. That the travel is guided is a benefit to the travelers and reflects partly why tourists travel with an organized group. Still the question remains why people prefer to travel with a packaged tour. To answer this question motivations of group travelers and advantages of packaged tours will be described.
Motivations
experience motives which is related to packaged tours since the key motivation of group travelers are cultural reasons. She found four motive dimensions (i.e. social consumption, novelty, learn local culture and relaxation). Social consumption consists of buying goods and souvenirs and consumes (food and drinks) onsite. It also includes aspects that are important after the travel for instance telling friends and relatives about the travel. Moreover, by the travel they want to enhance their social position. Novelty is a concept that is already discussed, but in this context of cultural experience tourist motive characteristics it reflects change from daily routine and forget about demands of daily life. Travelers desire to learn about the local culture and thereby also their history. Relax physically and mentally and to be entertained by others explains the fourth motivation initiated, relaxation.
Advantages
identified, travel organizations are able to focus on those motivations during the planning of travels to expand a unique experience for group travelers. These motivations and advantages make clear why travelers choose to travel with packaged tours and what they find important during a travel, the key is cultural reasons and convenience.
Elements important in a travel and their effect
From above can be concluded that people may travel because they desire to experience something new and different. Empirical studies done into the field, tourists’ motives discovered novelty seeking as a key motive. Novelty in the context of a tourist’s perception is the perceived newness of objects (historical landmarks, architecture etc.), the environment (the cultural atmosphere), and other people (residents or visitors, in this research also the group) (Lee and Crompton, 1992).
Experience is triggered by novelty and therefore the concept of novelty is related to the unique experience. To achieve satisfaction the motivation to travel has to be triggered as well. As stated above, for tourist of group travelling familiarity is important. However, these tourists also search for novelty, although they need a particular level of familiarity. So in this case, the novelty concept also relates to this research. In addition the key motivations of group travelers are relevant. These are convenience, cultural reasons and getting the most out of a travel. What is important in a group travel is made clear. This research examines how a unique experience for group travelers can be managed by travel organizations in the Netherlands. For that reason there need to be an understanding of elements that can shape a unique experience in a tourist mind.
one hand the relationship with the guide and the other tourists of the packaged tour and on the other hand the contact with local people. So an experience is according to Morgan and Xu (2009) created by the interaction between the tourist and a destination. The group traveler itself has according to them influence on their experience in how the interact and observe the environment.
Several authors investigated dimensions / elements that construct the novelty concept in relation to experience. The novelty concept, as discussed above, is relevant in relationship to elements that can create a unique experience, since this reflects how travelers (desire to) observe the environment. Lee and Crompton (1992) measured novelty (measurement conducted with travelers) as a construct that consist of four interrelated but distinctive dimensions which influence the experience of travelers: thrill, change from routine, boredom alleviation, and surprise. For a complete perceptive of the context of these dimensions they will be defined. Thrill: an activity that offers excitement. This excitement is produced by a happening that involve some risk. This element is measured through questions such as: ‘I sometimes like to do things on vacation that are a little frightening’, ‘I enjoy activities that offer thrills’, and ‘I enjoy experiencing a sense of danger on a vacation trip’. This factor can vary the most among group travelers, since older people rely more on personal safety than young travelers. Moreover, not all travelers like to be involved in frightening activities (e.g. rafting, skydiving) or frightening surroundings. A component that (most likely) will appeal to more travelers is adventure. Adventure is noticeably linked with exploration (Weber, 2001). In this context this means that group travelers desire to explore a new country and continent. It can also be said that people desire to experience what is hidden and unknown, that is the adventure (Quinn, 1990).
Change from routine: People desire to experience something new and special (Lee and Crompton, 1992). This can be provided by doing and seeing something different. Travelers will experience new and different things such as, new cultures, architecture, and environment. During the travel the participant will experience a change from routine, since travelers are involved in activities different from their daily routine.
Surprise: Unexpected events are a result of the difference between what somebody believes and what somebody observes (Smock and Holt, 1962). This dimension will occur when travels are unpredictable and when a travel is not planned in detail. However, the packaged tours are planned in advance and participants know the places they will visit. Still there remains a part of surprise in the travels. This can emerge from cultural differences, nature, sights more beautiful or interesting than expected and unexpected events along the way.
These four elements will contribute to experiencing the degree of novelty in group travelling. Together the four elements will measure the degree of novelty that relates to the unique experience of group travelers. Now four dimensions are assigned that influence the experience through novelty. The novelty concept and dimensions that relate to a unique experience are discussed, but also factors that do not relate to the novelty concept have to be carried out.
Lee and Crompton (1992) as well as other authors searched for determinant which are important in travel. When comparing different determinant, more insight is presented if a unique experience can be managed. Unger and Kernan (1983) mention six determinants of the subjective leisure experience. The determinants are defined through the discussion of these elements in the literature. The six determinants are tested on different types of leisure (e.g. dining, camping, cooking, watching TV, dancing etc.), but can also relate to group travelling. The measured determinants are: intrinsic satisfaction, perceived freedom, involvement, arousal, mastery, and spontaneity.
Intrinsic satisfaction: This determinant can be seen as the core reason of leisure (e.g. the motivation to travel). When people travel, their (primary) motivation is based on intrinsic feelings. Intrinsic satisfaction can be achieved by the determinants arousal and mastery.
Perceived freedom: When people travel they are free from work, they are without obligation. The activities undertaken in a travel need to be carried out voluntarily. According to the group travel the participants will sense freedom, since the travelers knew beforehand what to expect in general and more specific travel is undertaken voluntarily. More important in relation to packaged tours is if travelers perceive freedom during the travel, since the activities for everyday are planned.
daily life. Important in relation to the group travel is to what extent the participants are involved in the activities since the travel is arranged in front. Tourists will follow the guide and drivers will take them to the next place. Examples of involvement could be: they know where the go to, which route the travel etc. However, group travelers can be caught up with the environment and/or culture.
Arousal: this occurs through novel, complex, or dissonant incentives. In group travelling arousal is a determinant that will be achieved. This can be said since travelers will discover (a) new country/countries and meet new people. These countries will present different cultures, architecture, nature and other activities than daily life. This determinant can be related to the novelty concept mentioned above. Arousal will be obtained through the travel. The level of arousal influences the value of an experience (Andersson, 2007).
Mastery: If travelers achieve what they wish to accomplish in a travel they realize mastery (Neal et al, 1999). For group travelers this can be that they want to observe a cultural phenomenon. Mastery seems to be closely linked to arousal which means that this element can be reached by discovering cultural characteristics. This determinant takes the adventure/thrill element of Lee and Crompton (1992) in account, since it includes observing something that is hidden or unknown to the traveler.
Spontaneity: this can be accomplished when the leisure activity (in this case the group travel) do not consists of routine, planned or anticipated activities. This can be linked to the element surprise of Lee and Crompton (1992) and is accomplished when unpredictable ‘activities’ occur. Earlier study conducted by Mannell and Iso-Ahola (1987) also demonstrated that change to daily routine on the one hand and intrinsic satisfaction on the other hand are stimulus for travelling. The main conclusion of the study of Unger and Kernan (1983) was that the first three determinants (intrinsic satisfaction, perceived freedom, and involvement) appear across a variety of situational contexts. The last three determinants (arousal, mastery, and spontaneity) appear to be more activity-specific. The determinants intrinsic satisfaction and perceived freedom are closely related. The same is applied to the determinants arousal and mastery. The authors state that intrinsic satisfaction is the essence of leisure and the other five determinants are secondary ‘causes’ of the sensation of happiness (Unger and Kernan, 1983).
different determinants are (almost) fully achieved they will (together with other concepts) manage the unique experience for group travelling.
When comparing the elements of Lee and Crompton (1992) and the determinants of Unger and Kernan (1983) some of their theories are overlapping. Therefore, their theories will be connected to each other and hereby uniform elements are created that affect the unique experience for group travelling.
Figure 1: summary of joining elements and determinants.
Towards a better understanding of the tourist experience Quan and Wang (2004) build a conceptual model. This model shows the relationship between daily routine experiences and tourist experiences, whereby the tourist experience consist of two parts. It is divided into the peak tourist experiences and supporting consumer experiences, which are integrated as a structured whole (see appendix 3). Peak tourist experiences are those experiences that represent the key motivations of tourism. These experiences are the reasons why people travel, since they want to experience something different from their daily lives. Supporting consumer experiences are experiences of satisfying basic consumer needs like eating, sleeping and transport, which are not the major motivations to tourism. In addition to the proposed supporting consumer experiences the guide will be added into this element since he/she has influence in the quality of the trip. In case of the packaged group travels the guide has to a great extent influence on the satisfaction and through that the experience of a travel.
the total tourist experience. While the supporting consumer experiences can not exceed the peak experiences, it is possible that elements of the supporting consumer experiences turn into peak experiences. For example, “a tourist with the original motivation of sightseeing may find that local foods are so attractive that she or he goes to a food festival instead of a famous sightseeing” (Quan and Wang, 2004, p.300). An example for group travel may be that an accommodation, for instance staying in the Amazon with Indians and sleeping in a hammock, was so impressive that it turned into a peak experience. This happens when something is not expected and includes some element of surprise (Mossberg, 2007).
Therefore, travel organizations can influence the unique experience by taking the supporting consumer experiences (accommodations, transport and guide) as important like the peak tourist experiences (the travel itself, route, sightseeing, and the country). When all these elements fit the expectations of the tourists, they can consider it as more memorable, special and so can be called unique.
Conceptual model
To be able to answer the research question, how a unique experience for group travelling can be managed by the specialized travel organizations in the Netherlands, the theoretical reflection provided insights about elements that need to be present in a travel that a unique experience can come into existence. This data is combined into a model which reflects what is necessary for a unique experience to occur. This model needs to be validated by travel organizations which provide group travelling. For the travel organizations the knowledge about how a unique experience can be managed can lead to adjustments and improvements to the travels. These improvements, when specified as new to the organizations, can be indicated as innovations. This innovation can originate when the travel organizations present something new, which is offered in such a way that the value will be determined by the travelers (Wijnberg, 1995). The innovation can be expressed through product (i.e. technical improvements and style innovations related to the offered travels to totally new concepts of group travelling) and transaction (i.e. change in publicity, marketing and sales; how to approach travelers) innovations, (Jacobs, 2007). Tourism has already been associated with organizational and structural innovations (Stamboulis and Skayannis, 2003). Innovations can be desired to add more value to the travels and attract more participants. First of all needs to be finding out if and how the elements of the model can be managed before reflecting of those innovations can occur.
Influencers of the unique experience are reflected in the other two boxes which are directly linked to unique experience. The components are intangible aspects that facilitate a unique experience. These components are composed from the theories of Lee and Crompton (1992, elements of novelty) and Unger and Kernan (1983, six determinant). The determinant intrinsic satisfaction is placed between parentheses as this is left out of the research. It is mentioned in the model as it belongs to the determinants stated by Unger and Kernan (1983). This determinant is not taken into account when proposing the components.
Research strategy and methodology
The conceptual model is the basis of this research and is proposed as a result of the theoretical foundation and problem definition. This model is the input to establish a research around the unique experience of group travelling. This industry is chosen as experiences are essential in traveling. Experiences are personal and individual related, therefore it is interesting to find out how to manage a unique experience for a whole group. The purpose of this study is descriptive, since the research is concerned with finding out how travel organizations can manage the experience of their participants. The methodology used is qualitative research since perceptions and denotations have to be discovered (Baarda et al., 2005). This research is conducted via a survey with open-ended questions (Cooper and Schindler, 2006). Qualitative research will contribute more to this research since more in depth answers are generated as organizations need to indicate themselves to what extent components come back in their travels. Moreover, they provide examples of it, for example, how organizations deal with evaluations of participants.
The conceptual model is the key to the questionnaire (see appendix 4). The questionnaire reflects the building blocks to a unique experience and by doing so, the research question can be answered. The analysis is at company level since the analysis is from the point of view of the travel organizations. Therefore, the specialized travel organizations in the Netherlands were approached to fill the questionnaires and these will be analyzed and interpreted. Organizations could participate in this research by face-to-face interviewing, interview via the phone or fill the answers and send them by email. Through obtaining data from travel organizations which provide group travelling the test measures what should be measured and is thereby validity is covered.
participated in this research. The other four organizations could not participate as a result of unexpected busyness or their reasons were not specified. The organizations that have participated are Koning Aap, Sawadee, Activity International and VNC. A face-to-face interview was conducted once; two of the questionnaires were completed and send by email and one interview was conducted by phone. The questionnaires completed via the email had a brief explanation with it (see appendix 6) to explain more about the questionnaire and how they wished data were treated.
Results
As stated in the research methodology, four specialized travel organization have participated in this research. The data obtained from those interviews will be discussed here. The results are provided in relation to the conceptual model, which means that the structure of the results is composed around this model. First the travel organizations will be introduced, subsequently the unique experience will be initiated from the point of view of the organizations, then the components and supporting consumer experiences are declared.
Travel organizations
The data for this research is obtained by interviewing four specialized travel organizations. These organizations provide packaged group travelling and are situated in the Netherlands. The organizations will be introduced to point out their own characteristics and background, as this can have an influence on the results.
Activity International
Activity International (AI) was established in 1988 and has since then grown to a company of 9 employees. This organization assists people who desire a special holiday or travel and tries to add something extra so participants experience another way of traveling different from the ordinary tourist. They offer besides group travelling, language courses and volunteer work. Therefore, AI cooperates with partner organizations which are established in the different countries they travel to. During the interview the focus was on their group travels. Approximately 60% of the people who travel with AI are, between the age of 18 and 24. Almost 40% is between 25 and 39 years old and only a very small percentage of the people that conduct in a group travel from AI have reached the age of 40 or more3
. Overall, relatively more woman than men participate in their travels and the groups generally consists of singles or friends. The relatively young age of the travelers can be explained by the reason that most travels are for a longer period of time (most fulltime working people do not have this much holidays) and since many young people want to travel after graduating a study or take a sabbatical in between. According to AI, many participants share the same characteristics that disseminate adventurous, flexibility, curiosity, willing to explore and/or expand their scope of the world and the desire for
3
more than a regular vacation. Therefore, the target group of this organization is young travelers who participate alone or with a friend with the desire to experience something new, as they search for adventure, are curious and want to explore and/or expand their scope of the world (www.activityinternational.nl).
Koning Aap
Koning Aap (KA), operating since 1985, provides almost 110 different travels all over the world with their main goal to expand the perception of their travelers and show them the authenticity of foreign countries and cultures. From their experiences they observed that travelers are flexible, interested in other people and cultures, and who will try to get the most from every situation. The participants of KA are on average between 40 and 65 years old and groups consist of couples, singles and (groups of) friends. The employees of this organization are professional region experts due to their long experiences and their guides have a large knowledge about the countries KA travels to and the people that live their (www.koningaap.nl4).
Sawadee
For more than 27 years this organization offer group travels. Sawadee aims for their participants to go through the real country. They try to accomplish this by seeing the highlights of a country as well as visiting the less discovered areas of a country. The focus of this organization is based on durability and adventure. These two elements are brought forward to their participants. According to Sawadee, their participants distinguish themselves as independent people who are fond of adventure and action, which is expected since this organization provides mainly adventurous travels. Participants consist of couples, friends and singles with an average age between 30 and 55 years old (www.sawadee.nl5).
VNC
VNC Asia Travel offers group tours focused on experiencing foreign cultures and nature. Since 1973, VNC started to provide travels to China and have, since then, extended their portfolio. Nowadays a team of 20 employees work on the development and organization of their travels. Their guides have extended travel practices and knowledge about the countries through the years. Their aim is to provide travels with considered routes, attention to diversity and, during a visit of a city, the real characteristics are searched. VNC attempts that participants go through a
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http://koningaap.nl/over-ons
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real experience and that they return inspired from what they have seen. The target group of this organization is people with an age of 50+ (interview en www.vnc.nl6).
The introduction of the organizations provides an insight about the differences among them, although these organizations offer the same product. Differences are manifested through their focus and target groups. Focus is manifested in (1) travelling different than the ordinary tourist, (2) perception and authenticity to observe local culture, (3) considered routes to perceive the real country, and (4) durability and adventure. However, there are similarities between the focuses. Three of the organizations point out to perceive the real country and local culture as their focus, yet they are expressed through different objectives (i.e. different from ordinary tourist, considered routes and perception and authenticity). This means that organizations try bringing participants in contact with how people live in a country, which can only be accomplished by seeing more than touristic attraction. One organization focuses on adventure and durability where adventure is put forward in activities (such as hiking, rafting, and also more primitive circumstances) provided during a travel and durability in respect for the local nature, milieu and local habits.
The groups all consist of individual travelers, couples and/or friends. The main difference is found in the target groups, which vary from the youngest individual traveler till the oldest. The organizations all have a certain overlap in the age of participants, but in general it can be said that they are subsequent. The youngest target group is from the age of 18 till 40, followed by the age of 30 till 55, 40 till 65 years old and the oldest target group has approximately the age of 50+. Although the focus of three organizations is primarily on the real country and local culture, the main difference is found in the attracted target groups. Therefore, the different target groups will be taken into account while threatening the data. These organizations fit to this research since they provide group travelling and are situated in the Netherlands.
Unique experience
Before discussing the outcomes related to the conceptual model, more attention needs to be drawn on the unique experience. The unique experience is central in this research and is
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examined from the point of view how travel organizations, which provide group travelling, can manage it. The conceptual model shows how this experience can be obtained. Therefore, these results will examine the building blocks (i.e. components and peak tourist experiences with the supporting consumer experiences) as proposed in this model. However, the results will start from the center of the conceptual model which indicates the unique experience. The theoretical reflection declared insights to state a definition of unique experience in relation to group travelling and travel organization. The definition stated is:
A unique experience is created from the interaction between the packaged tour and the tourist which results in a memorable, one of its kind experience.
As this research will provide data to find out how a unique experience can be managed, it is important to know how travel organizations reflect a unique experience. What is according to them a unique experience and how will this occur? Furthermore, do travel organizations think that their travels provide a unique experience? For that reason these questions are raised to the organizations. Their perspectives will individually be discussed.
“It is our mission to deliver a unique experience in foreign countries to our travelers. With our programs we try to bring travelers in contact with other cultures to accomplish a unique experience (www.activityinternational.nl7).” This mission from AI reflects that they find a unique experience important, as it is their mission to deliver it to their participants. Besides that, it is indicated that they think this experience can be expressed through the interaction with the local culture. That they try to accomplish a unique experience through the interaction with a local culture is explicable, since (as indicated before) the key reasons to travel for participants are cultural (Quiroga, 1990; Kay, 2009). Cultural reasons express themselves through nature, animals, habits, architecture and inhabitants. AI tries to provide the key motivation (i.e. cultural reasons) of travelers with something a traveler wants to achieve (i.e. a unique experience). They pointed out that this experience relates to a single traveler. As mentioned before, their travelers are relatively young participants and what needs to be addressed is that according to AI for most of them it is their first travel. “Most travelers are planning and preparing the trip for a long time. For those travelers it is the first trip and is a new experience. Often this travel shapes a person and therefore it is a unique experience for them (Activity International).” As it concerns a
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young target group it is most probably their first trip alone and far away from home. It is their opportunity to explore the world and themselves. Many travelers graduated from high school or university and will discover more about themselves and what they want during a travel, which is describes as it shapes a person. As it is their first trip they will be overwhelmed with new experiences through different cultures, habits and the nature. The combination of those elements can express into a unique experience. Plausible is that all those new perceptions can lead to a unique experience, since it refers to the entire travel.
Koning Aap presents this in another way and state that their travels are unique and therefore a unique experience will occur during a travel. They position this statement as: “most experiences are hard to plan even when a travel is well organized. A unique experience is created through different elements. What can be realized is a travels which consist of as many of those elements. They are certain that all travels consist of pieces of these elements. Perception and authenticity are first and foremost important in a travel, not the destination but the experiences are essential (www.koningaap.nl8).” The first two statements are contradicting as they state that the travels are unique, but experiences are hard to plan. This indicates that, during a travel, events occur that create those experiences. That a travel consists of different elements is accepted in this research and indicated in the conceptual model. The essence of experiences is acknowledged by this organization as well, as they say that not the destination but the experiences are essential.
Another organization, VNC, state also that their travels are special and generate a unique experience. However, they say that unique is a dangerous word since it can be interpreted in different ways. Therefore, unique will be defined different by participants as it also describes that this experience will be different for a single traveler. If even interpretations of unique are dissimilar for travelers, then it will be varied when participants perceive an event as unique. The main objective of VNC is that their participants sense and observe the real country. What they wish to achieve is ‘intensity’ and therefore VNC shows their participant a country from the more non passable routes. They try to offer a different trip, as this organization has an excellent knowledge about the countries and know where and where not to go through there extensive knowledge of countries and professional local guides. What can be observed is that VNC tries to achieve a unique experience through their knowledge of a country in twofold; (1) by expressing their knowledge about a country to the participants and (2)
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through visiting characteristic places of a country noticed through this knowledge. VNC attempts to distinguish them form other organizations through their great knowledge. They share this knowledge with the travelers by providing sufficient information about places, history, culture etc. and by showing those elements of a country that are not all tourist attractions. This also represents the non passable routes which are provided in the travels. When travelers see more than tourist attractions they are more able to observe the real country as they will interact with inhabitants, nature and culture.
According to Sawadee unique can be expressed in extraordinarily, everlasting, huge, fabulous, fantastic, formidable, massive, tremendous, unprecedented, unforgettable, stunning and seldom. This means that an experience has to be reflected by participants in such a direction. Sawadee mentioned in their interview that a unique experience is different for every traveler. For example, if a traveler never flew before this can be for him/her so special that it is called a unique experience. Another traveler does not even consider a meeting with a witch-doctor in West-Africa as a unique experience, as it is not observed as unique. This difference can be explained since every person experience different, but in relation to group traveling it can depend on previous travel experiences as well as expectations. Therefore, it is complicated to state a definition for a unique experience. For Sawadee it is important to provide an experience that participants will carry with them for a long time and that they want to share this experience with other people and thereby re-experience it themselves. To accomplish this, Sawadee includes activities in their travels that will not happen in the native country of the travelers. This indicates that they seek for those characteristics of a country which cannot be found in the Netherlands. When participants observe facts which are deviant from their own situation it will impress them. Those are perceptions that will be communicated to relatives. It can be said that an experience is observed as unique when travelers want to share it, and talk about it for a long time. What can be recognized from this is that the urge to share experience is also identified by Kay (2009) as a motivation to travel.
organizations declare the importance of an individual traveler in relation to a unique experience. From this can be concluded that it is essential for the organizations to know their participants. If organizations know their travelers they are more able to deliver a unique experience, since desires are communicated. As expected a unique experience is important to the organizations, and is something they pursuit. Although most organizations think that their travels are unique, the results have to reveal if such an experience can be managed.
Importance of experiences
Although a unique experience is expressed differently by the travel organizations, the importance of it is acknowledged by their aims and how they think to achieve this experience. The acknowledgement of the importance of experiences was expected, since other researches pointed this out (Lee and Crompton, 1992; Quan and Wang, 2004; Volo, 2009; Kay, 2009; Andersson, 2007). More insight is provided by the organizations about the unique experience itself, nevertheless this does not indicate how experiences of their participants are received. The organizations showed the importance of the individual traveler in relation to a unique experience, however how organization obtain knowledge about experiences of their participants in unknown. How important are experiences of participants to the travel organizations and how are those experiences treated? In other words, how are experiences of participants acknowledged?
participants at the end of a travel. When dissatisfaction comes forward after a travel, the organization cannot do anything to turn the travel into a satisfactory experience.
The organizations find experiences of their participants most important, since these evaluate the offered product, the travel. With their perceptions and experiences organizations are able to measure the quality, satisfaction and attractiveness of their programs, which indicates the upmost importance of experience to the organizations. The experiences of participants are significant to the organizations for the evaluation of programs and for references to their travels. As expected, participants will consider traveling again with an organization if the travel meets expectations and needs. Furthermore, they will discuss their travel with relatives which provide word of mouth advertising. As a result, travelers’ satisfaction will lead to repeat participation and attract new customers.
In my opinion the measurement of experiences is essential to travel organizations. With the review and experiences of participants, organizations are able to bring even more value added to the travels. Added value can be adjusted to the programs since the desires of travelers in a program are recognized. To be able to meet demands it remains important to be critical about the product and customer needs, therefore participants’ evaluations are indispensable. Motivation aspect
All organizations in this research have indicated the same key motivations of their participants. Additionally, some organizations provided extra motivations. Organizations proposed motivations to travel in general and motivations that are directly related to group travelling. First of all the motivations of traveling in general are proposed which resulted from needs, values and attitudes (Kay, 2009; Goossens, 2006). Organizations specified that general motivations of travelers are the desire to explore the world and wish for a cultural exchange by observing the difference between their own culture and the culture of the visited country. Other motivations are to be in an adventure by exploring new things, but also relaxation is mentioned. A motivation that is outstanding, since only one organization proposed it, is to experience something special what travelers can think and talk about for a long period of time. Motives to explore the world and cultural exchange are related to cultural reasons stated by Quiroga (1990) as key motivations, since the both include discovering a country by their nature, animals, architecture and different culture (i.e. inhabitants and habits). Also Kay (2009) pointed out the wish to learn (about) a local culture. She also argued the demand for relaxation and sharing experiences with friend and relatives. This indicated that travel organizations observed the approved motivations of their participants. Key motivations are essential to travelers and all organizations pointed them out. This means that the organizations acknowledged similar motivations than participants have stated in earlier researches, so organizations accepted the general travel motivations.
for participants (Quiroga, 1990; Sheldon and Mak, 1987), which can be managed well by organizations as they arrange everything around a travel in front.
All organizations indicate convenience, saving time and social interaction as positive characteristics of traveling with the group. Social interaction can affect the unique experience as the interaction with the group will influence the travel. While traveling with a pleasant group, experiences can be more intense. However, when traveling with an unpleasant group a negative effect can arise to the perception and experience of a participant. The importance of the interaction with a group regarding an experience is stressed. According to Sheldon and Mak (1987) a motivation to participate in an organized travel is the group itself. They explain this motivation as the opportunity to make friends, which will probably happen sooner when traveling with a pleasant group. The group will be an influencer on the experience, since their interaction will pressure the mental state of participants in a positive or negative manner. Yet, if a result of a travel is to stay in touch with other participants it can increase the whole experience, as those people can revive memories about the travel. Reviving memories also relates to the concept of telling about experiences (Kay, 2009).
motivations or (2) they did not communicate them as they perceive those motivations as less important or irrelevant.
The motivations proposed by the organizations are, except one, related to those stated in earlier studies (Kay, 2009; Quiroga, 1990; Sheldon and Mak, 1987). These researches are performed from the point of view of the traveler. Noticeable is that personal safety is not proposed as a motivation to travel with an organized group by the organizations. The motivation that people fear to travel alone comes close to this motivation but is interpreted differently. One of the organizations reviewed this as not speaking the English language properly although not considering the travelers personal safety. In my opinion participants will choose to travel with an organized group for personal safety, especially when participants desire to visit turbulent countries (i.e. political instability, threat toward foreigners, and were old values are maintained, for example acceptance of woman’s clothing). For some travelers a Dutch speaking guide will be crucial in a travel as this can be one of their motivations to travel with an organized group. In general it can be said that travel organizations identify participants’ motivations properly, especially their key motivations. This can be concluded since motivations of the travelers as well as the view of the organizations are overall corresponding. As a result, the motivation and thereby the component ‘motive’ and key tourist experience can be managed by travel organizations. Motivations of their participants are recognized whereby these elements can be accepted in their travels. Furthermore, from my point of view, the acknowledgement of motivations is a starting point to manage a unique experience, as these motivations can be realized.
Important elements in a travel
Important elements in a travel is a facet which is not reflected in the conceptual model since it already state elements found as important in relation to a unique experience of travelers, however it will be discussed since it can contribute to the management of a unique experience. When the important elements are determined, the activities where organizations focus on are acknowledged. These elements will be compared to the conceptual model to notify if organizations denominate the same elements. In addition, travel organizations are inquired to what they think participants find (most) important in a group travel.
elements a travel needs to consist. Three of the organizations provided data in relation to the more tangible aspects of a travel, which are the accommodation, the guide, the program itself (i.e. good balance between activities and moments of rest), sustainable style of travel and price/quality combination. The accommodation and guide are elements that are subscribed in the conceptual model as supporting consumer experiences. This indicates that those are elements which need to be present and satisfactory in a travel for a unique experience to occur. A sustainable style of travel (i.e. respect for the country traveled to) and price/quality combination are not initiated as relevant to position in the conceptual model. In my opinion, participants expect respect for the country and its inhabitants from the organizations and desire this since their main motivation, as stated before, are cultural reasons. It can be assumed that participants will compare travels from different travel organizations and thereby identify for themselves the price/quality combination. Quality can be express in the amount of days of the travel, places to visit and/or types of accommodation. In addition, one organization finds the communication with their participants highly important. This includes information days, response to questions, travelers meetings, after-sales service through a questionnaire and a welcome home package. This communication is provided before and after the travel and will not increase the possibility for a unique experience to occur during the travel. Therefore, the communication is important to participants, tough it will not affect the experience during a travel. It is fact that some of the important elements of travel organizations are proposed in the conceptual model. Therefore, the analysis if a unique experience can be managed will have added value to them, as they focus on these elements in a travel.
elements are also stated in the conceptual model, and can lead to a unique experience. When discussing those elements it will be shown if they can be managed.
What travel organizations find important in their travels is discussed. The question was raised during the interviews what participants find important in a travel according to them. It will be considered if organizations can live up to expectations of participants and if those elements are provided to them. If elements which are important to participants are proved, it is more likely that a unique experience occur. The travel organizations provide organized group travels for many years and obtained knowledge about what participant search for in a travel.
otherwise participants will not be satisfied. It is the basic elements participants expect to receive in a group travel.
The important elements for the organizations and travelers are set out. Some elements (i.e. accommodation, guide, perceived freedom and pleasure) are corresponding with the proposed elements in the conceptual model. Though not all elements are identified so travel organizations do not precisely know which elements together create a unique experience. However, in their missions and goals is declared that they try to deliver a unique experience to their participants. While organizations did not indicate all elements, it does not mean that they are not present in a travel since they may not be perceived as important regarding a unique experience or element which should get more attention.
Components
The building block components of the conceptual model consist of five different elements. One of the components, motive, is already discussed above. The remaining components are pleasure, surprise, perceived freedom and involvement and are elements were travels search for in a trip. Besides, they are influencers of the experience of participants. These components will be discussed below. Data will indicate if organization apply and/or recognize those elements in their travels. As a result, the data will provide insight if those can be managed.
Pleasure
The component pleasure consists of mastery and thrill (also referred to as adventure). As discussed in the theoretical reflection, mastery will be achieved when travelers accomplish what they wish for in a travel (Neal et al, 1999). This element is realized by the traveler and the travel organizations are not able to execute this, since every traveler has different wishes. However, the organizations indicated what participants find important in a travel (discussed above); these are the elements participants wish for in a travel according to the organizations and should be provided in travels.
consist of novel experiences. “Situations can occur during a day that are unexpected, that is what makes it an adventure.” Obviously, travelers can decide to involve in activities that encourage thrill and adventure, like rafting, tubing etc. (Koning Aap).
Although travel organizations state their travels consist of pleasure, there can be argued if this can be managed. Although participants will perceive novel experiences and have unexpected events, will they appreciate this as an adventure? Adventure will most probably be expressed in excitement. It can be assumed that participants will express their feelings as excited (for a moment) during a trip. This is because a certain level of excitement can be expressed in for example an upcoming activity, sightseeing or during one of those unexpected moments. Unexpected moments can for instance be observed through seeing wildlife, local culture and its habits, beautiful surroundings etc. Individuals obviously perceive different and these moments can occur in someone’s mind at different times. However, during a travel it is expected that most participants will perceive (a) particular moment(s) as an adventure. Therefore, travel organizations can add activities and/or sightseeing’s which encourage adventure. This can vary from an elephant ride, visiting a local tribe, jungle tour etc. Activities which guarantee adventure can be offered in a travel as well (i.e. rafting, abseiling, skydiving etc.) although these will not be appreciated by all participants. These activities are the manageable ones, as they guarantee pleasure, although they will not be appreciated by all travelers organizations can offer them so they can choose to participate or not to participate in them. Since not all participants of group travels will appreciate those guaranteed pleasure activities, those unexpected moments should be present for all travelers as well. The component pleasure has been examined from different perspectives, i.e. activities which guarantee it, activities were it is expected and those unexpected moments. From this can be stated that for the greatest part pleasure can be managed, except for the unexpected moments. Organizations can offer activities that guarantee pleasure and add those activities in their travels that participants perceive this.
Surprise
unknown factors such as accommodation (sleeping and eating), how they perceive a guide, addition places to see and/or visit.
The results are uniform and the travel organizations recognize there are elements of surprise in the trips. Even though participants know which places they will visit it remains intangible until they will experience it themselves. Participants are many times surprised about how destinations really are (Activity International). Places not described in the program can be shown by a guide, or activities described in the program bring an unexpected moment, such as the birth of an elephant, or a flat tire on the edge of a precipice (Sawadee). Moreover, an element of surprise can occur anytime while travelling from A to B (VNC). From this can be concluded that though participants know what to expect, since the travels are pre-planned, there remain elements of surprise. These surprises can arise from so many occasions and will be different for every traveler. The word surprise explicates it already, since it is something not expected. Travel organizations are right to say that there is surprise in their travels, as during a trip unexpected moments will occur to participants. From my point of view, surprise can be managed a little by adding specific activities and accommodations that surprise travelers. For example, when participants stay in exclusive accommodations or when non expected activities are adjusted in the program. It can be concluded that a certain level of surprise is always present in group travels, which starts with the surprise of whom the other participants of the group are. Moreover, surprise can be managed for a small part by travel organizations, although for the most part it will occur during those unexpected moments which cannot be managed.
Perceived Freedom
Perceived freedom is as pleasure and surprise an intangible component that is even more difficult to measure. It is measured through questions about how much free time is available to the participants, if the amount of free time can change when desired, and how participants spend this time.
