Women the taste-makers in tourism

Using data derived from a statistical sample as well as interviews, women are the taste-makers of American tourism because they dominate in the decision-making process. Culturally-specific motivations, generated within a narrowly-defined home community, prompt travel to “in” destinations and the traveler later gains social approval at home for having been to a currently-popular vacation center. The implications for market research suggest that to attract American tourism, the destination must be appealing to American women, and it must be marketed through, channels that American women see and/or read.