What Makes Our Stay Longer or Shorter? A Study on Macau

ABSTRACT

Yield management introduces new indicators to improve the profitability of a business. In the case of tourism, Dwyer et al. (2009) introduce yield management to measure the impact of tourism at a destination, with the yield management indicators: average stay and average spending. These indicators are considered critical to an understanding of the potential of tourism at a destination. Therefore, this research aims to examine the determinants that most influence tourists’ length of stay. The duration of tourists’ stay was measured by the number of nights at the destination and analyzed with a Poisson regression model. The model was tested with a database of 847 observations obtained from a survey among tourists visiting Macau. Results suggest that those who are repeaters, travel in larger groups and spend less tend to stay longer. In terms of practical implications, there are several destination attributes that authorities should pay more attention to improve the standard of facilities and services and in order to maximize the length of stay.

摘要

收益管理之研究引入了新的指标以提高企业的获利能力。对於旅遊业, Dwyer及其研究团队於2009年提倡 (一) 平均停留时间 和 (二) 平均支出, 作为两项收益管理指标, 以测量旅遊业对旅遊目的地所产生的影响, 并有助了解旅遊业的潜力对於旅遊目的地的重要性。因此, 本研究旨在研究最能影响遊客停留时间的决定因素。遊客的停留时间是根据旅遊目的地的住宿天数来衡量的, 并使用卜氏回归 (Poisson regression) 模型进行分析。该模型使用从一项有关澳门遊客的调查中所获得的847个观测样本来进行测试。结果显示 (1) 再度到访旅遊目的地的旅客, (2)团客, (3)花费较少的人, 均会倾向於旅遊目的地停留更长的时间。因此, 就实际意义而言, 旅遊局应多加注意几项有关旅遊目的地的属性, 特别是改善目的地的设施标準和服务水平, 从而令旅客尽量延长於当地的停留时间。

KEYWORDS:

• Length of stay
• tourist spending
• destination attributes
• Poisson regression
• Macau

关键词:

• 停留时间
• 遊客消费
• 目的地属性
• 卜氏回归
• 澳门

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Ali Bavik

Ali Bavik is an Assistant Professor at the Institute for Tourism Studies (IFT) in Macau, SAR China. His research interests include tourist behavior, corporate social responsibility, psychological contract, and leadership. He has published a number of articles in high profile academic journals and conferences in topics related to tourism and hospitality management. He is a part of the Editorial Board of the Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Insights. E-mail: [email protected]

Antónia Correia

Antónia Correia is Professor of Tourist Behavior and Tourism Economics, University of Algarve and Dean at tourism, sports and hospitality school at Universidade Europeia, both in Portugal. Her main research interests focus on consumer behavior, tourism economics and modeling. She has a number of papers published in tourism, leisure, and economics journals. Antonia is also a member of the editorial board of several journals including Journal of Travel Research, Journal of Business Research, Tourism Analysis, and Anatolia. E-mail: [email protected].

Metin Kozak

Metin Kozak is Professor of Marketing in the School of Tourism, Dokuz Eylul University, Turkey. He holds both Master’s and Ph.D. degrees in tourism management. His research focuses on consumer behavior, benchmarking, destination management and marketing, and sustainability. He acts as the co-editor of Anatolia: An International Journal of Tourism and Hospitality Research and has been to various universities in the US, Europe, and Asia as a visiting scholar. E-mail: [email protected]