Household Expenditure Patterns for Tourism Products and Services

The growing importance of the tourism industry, coupled with demographic, social and economic changes, highlights the need to study consumersAE expenditure patterns for tourism products. Using 1990 Consumer Expenditure Survey data, this study examined leisure travel expenditure patterns of households, especially food, lodging, transportation, and sightseeing/entertainment expenditures. The results show that demographic and socioeconomic and cultural factors have a varying effect on each of the four expenditure categories. The research findings bear implications for marketing segmentation in various components of tourism industry, and suggest an effective research approach to develop pragmatic segmentation strategies.