Family Vacation Decision Making: The Role of Woman

ABSTRACT

Most people spend their vacations with their family and decide where, how, and when with their spouses. The woman's role within the couple has become more and more influential in certain purchase decisions. This influence is strongly related to their lifestyles and values. For the tourism sector and its marketing strategy, it would be very useful to know the role that women play in vacation decisions. So, this article aims to analyze the influence of women's lifestyles and values on family vacation decisions. The information is based on 300 questionnaires addressed to married or cohabiting women. The results show differences in vacation decisions depending on the profile of the women (professional vs. traditional) and their preferences in activities.

Keywords:

• Vacation decision making
• the role of woman in decision making
• tourism sector
• consumer behavior

Acknowledgments

The authors gratefully acknowledge the financial support of the Regional Government of Aragón (Excellence Research Group S-09) and from the Department of Science and Technology by means of the I+D+i project (ECO2009-08283).