Predictors of tourists’ shopping behaviour: Examination of socio-demographic characteristics and trip typologies

While the importance of tourism shopping is widely recognised and tourism destinations are aware of the contributions of shopping, there is still little known about the actual behaviour and expectations of tourists, and what influences their preferences and behaviours. Previous research findings consistently indicate that certain associations exist among age, gender and trip typology or trip activity profiles with tourists’ shopping behaviours and preferences. Therefore, the current study examines the effectiveness of age, gender and trip typology as predictor variables for tourists’ shopping behaviours. Shopping behaviours are examined by tourists’ actual involvement in five different categories of ‘shop or browse’ activities. The results indicate that there are distinct groups prevalent in certain categories of shopping activity participation and age, gender and trip typology are significant factors influencing the preference patterns in certain categories of shop or browse activities. Therefore, trip typology, age and gender can serve as useful indicators for configuration of tourist shopper consumer profiles, and the implications are suggested. Better information about patterns and predictor factors of tourist shopping behaviour can lead to improved planning, marketing and management of sales, expenditures and opportunities in the industry.