Journal of Travel Research

Evidence is presented on the concurrent validity of three individual-level measures of consumer decision-making variables. The results of a small-scale empirical study support the hypotheses that first-destination awareness (measured using unaided awareness), preference (measured using a constant-sum scale), and choice (measured using conjoint analysis) are related positively. Support of the hypotheses indicates that vacation travelers can be segmented meaningfully by consumer decision-making variables. Travel and tour ism marketing strategistsfor specific state, province, city, and local destinations may want to consider doing annual tracking studies using unaided awareness, constant-sum prefer ence, and conjoint analysis measures.

Using consumer demand analysis to separate the factors affecting travel, this paper analyzes the impact of on-going and one-time events on travel from the U. S. to Europe in the summer of 1986. The results suggest that, barring the dramatic one-time deterrents to travel in that year, travel to Europe in 1986 would have exceeded 1985 levels.

A significant component of overseas travel is the pilgrimage to the ancestral lands of ethnic groups in the United States. This article examines variables that correlate (and those that do not) with this tedious and expensive purchase by studying a specific ethnic group in North America.

Changes in trans-Pacific airline service are analyzed from 1979, the start of airline deregulation, to 1985. (Analysis of rate structure is excluded.) Shifts in availability of ser vices and capacity are presented and the conclusion is that rapid growth in trans-Pacific service means that long-haul, non-stop service between the perimeters of the Pacific may become very important in the future.

This article proposes several means by which tourism in the Caribbean basin can be encouraged.

The purpose of this study was to estimate the determinants of demand for observed length of stay for cross-country skiing using a nationwide survey. Costperperson, distance traveled one way, number of trips, number of persons in group, number of contacts, exis tence of man-made structures, and prominence of non-recreational activities were examined by two-stage least-square regression analysis to explain length of stay among cross- country skiers. This observed demandfunction explained 58% of the variance in length of stay. However, unlikeprevious studies which have shown distance traveled to bepositively related to length of stay, this study revealed a negative relationship. Characteristics inherent to the activity itself, in this instance cross-country skiing, are offered as an explanation for the discrepancy from previous findings.