Decision making by specialist luxury travel agents |
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| Affiliation: | 1. Griffith School of Environment, Griffith University, 4222, Australia;2. International Chair in Ecotourism Research, Griffith University, 4222, Australia;1. Australian Institute of Business (AIB), 27 Currie Street, Adelaide, SA, 5000, Australia;2. School of Management, University of South Australia, GPO Box 2471, Adelaide, SA, 5001, Australia;1. School of Global Business & Economics, The Changwon National University, 9, Sarim Dong, 641-773 Changwon, Gyeongnam, Republic of Korea;2. School of Accounting & Finance, The University of the South Pacific, Suva, Fiji;3. QUT Business School, The Queensland University of Technology, 2 George Street, Brisbane QLD 4001, Australia;4. Bolton Business School, The University of Bolton, Deane Rd, Bolton BL3 5AB, United Kingdom;1. Department of Economics, Faculty of Economics and Business, Campus Oscar Lucero Moya, Universidad de Holguín, Avenida XX Aniversario, 80900, Holguín, Cuba;2. Office 301, Module 12, Department of Applied Economics, Faculty of Economics and Business, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Francisco Tomás y Valiente, 5, 28049, Madrid, Spain;3. Office 1.06, Pabellón 2, Department of Applied Economics II, Faculty of Economics and Business, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Campus de Somosaguas, s/n, 28223, Pozuelo de Alarcón, Madrid, Spain;4. Group for Research on Innovation, Productivity and Competitiveness (GRIPICO), Spain;1. School of Management, Harbin Institute of Technology, 92 West Dazhi Street, Harbin 150001, China;2. School of Tourism and Hospitality Management, Temple University, Philadelphia, PA 19122, USA;1. Yuexiu School of Hospitality Management, Zhejiang Yuexiu University of Foreign Languages, Shaoxing City, Zhejiang 312000, China;2. China-New Zealand Tourism Research Unit, The University of Waikato, Hamilton 3240, New Zealand;3. Department of Tourism and Hospitality Management, The University of Waikato, Hamilton 3240, New Zealand |
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| Abstract: | We report an ethnographic study of specialist travel agents in luxury wildlife tourism. Agents consider 30 factors in 5 groups, related to client, destination, attraction, operator and agent. They consider the groups in sequence rapidly and intuitively. They are driven by a powerful regard for the high expectations of wealthy clients, and a sense of responsibility to the clients, but they assume authority over the decision. They rely on personal experience with each particular place and tourism product, and sell only what they know. One of their skills is to project themselves into the client's perspective so as to imagine a trip in great detail. This process contrasts strongly with the explicit deterministic approach used by retail travel agents in high-volume lower-priced subsectors, where earnings are driven by commission and incentive structures. For high-end agents, establishing long-term relationships of mutual trust with individual clients and tour operators is paramount. |
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| Keywords: | Power Expectations Empathy Experience Expertise Marketing Tacit Wildlife |
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