Valuing shipscape influence to maximise cruise experience using a choice experiment

While many studies have identified the important aspects on the ship to cruisers, none has evaluated these attributes to determine cruisers’ willingness to pay for each attribute. This paper is the first to use a choice experiment to unbundle the overarching cruise price to explore the preferences of cruisers. The absence of a status quo effect suggests that cruise passengers are novelty lovers who welcome innovative offerings apart from those who cruise specifically to “get away”. Overall, males, Gen X-ers and first timers were willing to pay the most for a cabin with a view while the desire to be pampered influenced preferences for cabin comfort and shore excursion choice. Concern over value for money explained whether a respondent would be more prone to choosing the new options presented instead of remaining with the status quo.     

Non-Asian Tourists' preferred attributes: a choice experiment

This study aims to identify non-Asian tourists' preferred attributes for a one-day Seoul tour package by examining theoretical frameworks of values related to tourists' heterogeneity of choice behaviors. The study applies a choice experiment (CE) to capture the systematic heterogeneity of preferences in a non-Asian tourist group and examines whether different individuals' value orientations relate to heterogeneous preferences regarding the tour packages. The CE derives the preferences as a form of marginal willingness to pay (MWTP), a pecuniary value for additional units of the attributes. Historical/cultural destinations displayed the highest MWTP value of all tour sites in Seoul, which was estimated to be $74.32. The results also show that a respondent who emphasizes “money and enjoyment” and “authenticity” values is more likely to choose a tour package that includes more opportunities to visit shopping and historical/cultural sites, respectively.     

Preferences and willingness to pay for bird-watching tour and interpretive services using a choice experiment

This study identifies the activity and experience preferences of bird-watchers and estimates their willingness to pay (WTP) for bird-watching-related ecotourism tour and interpretive services using choice experiment methods. An on site survey was conducted of tourists attending the Cheonsuman International Birdwatching Fair, South Korea's most popular bird-watching festival. Results indicate that respondents are more likely to prefer intermediate length bird-watching courses, interpretive opportunities and services, seeing special birds, and lower admission fees. WTP for bird-watching interpretive services is approximately $10.14 per person per visit, whereas WTP for additional diversity in bird species is $12.64. Courses with bus tours are preferred to courses with no bus tours, but long tours are not preferred. WTP is $14.24 for an intermediate length tour and $8.09 for a longer tour compared with the no bus tour. It appears that as the levels of service attributes associated with the bird-watching ecotourism resources increase, the respondents are more satisfied and willing to pay more for bird-watching tours than if the levels of service attributes are lower.