A Framework for Understanding Golfing Visitors to a Destination

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to determine whether there are differences among visitors to a destination based on their golfing frequency in the previous year. By constructing a framework for understanding the golf traveller, golf and tourism industry representatives can better understand the contribution that golfers make to a destination based on factors such as satisfaction, perceived value received from the golfing experience, trip length, expenditures, travel decisions, and motivations. The results indicate that there are significant differences between golfers based on golfing frequency. Dedicated golfers are very different from infrequent and moderate golfers on three of the four variables used to profile these visitors. Findings from this research may provide golf and tourism marketers with information that will lead to branding strategies, allow for the development of market segmentation models that help in target market selection, and provide the foundation for the development of a customer relationship management (CRM) system.

A cross national study of golf tourists' satisfaction

“…These studies have examined whether novelty (Petrick, 2002b), experience use history (Petrick, 2002a) and attribute and information satisfaction (Petrick & Backman, 2002) were related to golf travellers' satisfaction. More contemporary work has focused on golf attributes (Krohn, 2008;Hutchinson, Wang, & Lai, 2010), emotions (Hutchinson et al, 2010) and service quality and value (Hennessey, Macdonald, & MacEachern, 2008;Hutchinson et al, 2009;Moital & Dias, 2012). These studies, which are of a quantitative nature, have assessed the relationship between satisfaction and its predictors through a range of statistical methods, including ANOVA (Petrick, 2002a), standard (Petrick, 2002b) and stepwise (Petrick & Backman, 2002) multiple regression and more recently, structural equation modelling (Hutchinson et al, 2009;Hutchinson et al, 2010).…”

Understanding how sporting characteristics and behaviours influence destination selection: a grounded theory study of golf tourism

“…Unsurprisingly travel costs influence destination selection and fanatical golfers are more likely to choose challenging and costlier courses than infrequent or golfers (Hennessey et al, 2008;Priestley, 1995) Yet 'cost' is considered as a reflection of the overall vacation cost rather than specific course costs. Group trips consider whether the total trip cost is affordable to all those wishing to participate which impacts decisions made regarding quality of amenities and facilities as well as course selection.…”

“…Focusing specifically on golf tourism Petrick (2002) and Hennessey et al (2008) identified variables to segment participants.…”

Exploring perceptions for Cyprus as a sustainable golf destination: motivational and attitudinal orientations of golf tourists

“…Dedicated golf tourists are usually elderly people, enthusiastic players characterized by higher income, less price sensitiveness, and higher spending than the other two categories. This group of golf tourists can generate serious growth in an area's tourism (Henessey et al, 2008). Correira et al (2007) in their description of golf tourists in Algarve, Portugal conclude that golf tourists in the destination are older males and repeat visitors that visit to participate in golf activities mostly because of the desirable weather conditions and the quality of the courses.…”

“…According to Hudson and Hudson (2010), golf tourists spend more on their vacations in comparison with leisure travelers and generally are of higher-spending social groups. As Henessey et al (2008) suggest, golf tourists can be categorized into three types of groups: infrequent, moderate, and dedicated. Dedicated golf tourists are usually elderly people, enthusiastic players characterized by higher income, less price sensitiveness, and higher spending than the other two categories.…”